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Boredom.

Not suddenly discovered, never heard off spell that would disintegrate her very essence.

Not a brave knight that would challenge her as the Queen of all Evil, trying to cleanse the world from her influence.

Not the reckoning that those two bastards promised with their return. Good luck with that by the way, she already was leagues ahead of them from that time.

Not that wimp of an ex-husband that thought that they were still in a stalemate. She had to help him so many times already that it wasn't even funny. She even had to rein in her minions so humanity would be able to survive.

Not even slipping on a soap in her bath, she was immortal after all.

It was boredom that would be the end of her.

The never changing scenery of her domain didn't help, the dark ground reaching to the horizon and the black pools ever birthing more and more minions.

Occasional dust crystal poking out of the ground.

She even once spent a few years watching one as it grew to kill the time. Okay… maybe it was a few hundred years but who would count? She still was able to stop any attempts of her ex-husband at reaching her.

If not for the fact that she didn't want to give him that satisfaction she would already let him end her.

That wimp probably wouldn't even be able to do that, just trying to bury her or something…

"My Lady! I've finished my work!" One of her human minions suddenly barged in, his glorious mustache (buffoon's own description) quivering with excitement.

"Already? That was fast…"

"I live to serve, My Lady! Truly, setting up a fully functioning and untraceable CCTS tower in only half a year is probably a new record!" Hearing her murmured words the still excited scientist replied, smiling as if she gave him a pat on the back.

Half a year? Wasn't he here only a few days ago? Never mind. Now that he was here he could provide some entertainment at least.

"Doctor… Watts, could you jog my memory about the project you just finished?" By those two bastards… She nearly forgot his name. That would be embarrassing, she would need to kill him and find someone new.

"Yes! The Cross Continental Transmit System! It's a technological marvel that originated from the Kingdom of Atlas that…"

"Atlas? That one that floats with magic for some reason?" She interrupted, suddenly remembering that she was supposed to send someone to verify that.

"That would be the city of Atlas, my grace. The whole kingdom was renamed as Atlas a few years after the city of Atlas was elevated to its position today." Watts replied, pushing a pair of glasses up his nose with one finger, making them glint with light for some reason.

Wait… Did he have glasses before?

"Wait… the Kingdom of Mantle was renamed?" That would explain the strange way her newest recruit looked at her when she talked about it.

"Quite a few years ago, yes."

"Hmm… had to slip my mind. Continue with your explanation." The everlasting Queen of Grimm gestured with her arm, not wanting her minion to think too much about her slip up. She could always replace him but searching for good minions was always such a chore.

"Yes, the CCTS is a marvel of technology that allows for nearly instant communication across the globe with anyone!" Okay… she didn't think that those grand gestures that the mustached man was performing were needed but for each his own.

"Like with a Seer?"

"Well… that's a fairly good analogy, My Lady. The difference is that this one uses Scrolls and personal computing stations, which are heavily distributed across the population at this point." He agreed, taking out a small black box the size of a folded hand fan out of his breast pocket. It didn't look like a magic scroll in the slightest.

"Fascinating." If her voice sounded bored it wasn't her fault. Ages of regression in magic and spellcasting only for humans to create a substitute for the good old Astral Projection spell…

"Would you like to see it for yourself, My Lady?"

Well… why not? Maybe she could entertain herself with it for a few moments at least.

Gesturing to her minion to proceed, the mustached man marched up to her throne and with a slow movement opened up the earlier mentioned 'scroll', revealing a dimly glowing glass like surface.

"This is a Scroll, My Lady. This device allows you to access the Dust Net." Watts immediately started to explain, pointing to a small picture of a globe covered in lines.

"What purpose would that dusty net serve?" She asked, looking over a few more small pictures.

One looked like a… shower head with a second head in the place of a hose?

Two clouds with small tails, one white the other blue. Whole clouds, not only the small tails.

Oh, she recognized that one! It looked like that 'camera' thing one of her past minions loved so much. She still had a few albums with pictures that the girl took around the world to show her Queen how the world was progressing.

"The Dust Net, My Lady. It's the name of the network that connects all the devices." She couldn't detect any sign of malice or humor from the mustachio's voice. Good, she wasn't in the mood to search for a new pawn.

"What can this… Scroll do?" She asked, pushing the conversation further.

"Well… maybe it would be best to try the messaging function first?" He gestured to the picture of the two clouds, touching it with his finger.

To her surprise a few windows popped up, mostly empty.

"Now, this device isn't connected to any chat rooms for now, but I do have my contact added right here." He continued, pointing to a picture of a lightbulb with 'FatherOfScience' written just beside it.

Using the art of a delicately raised eyebrow that was perfected across the millennia she prompted Watts to explain further.

"Ahem… it's a common practice to use something called nicknames or usernames while operating in the Dustnet. It helps with keeping a small degree of anonymity in case one would need it."

Seeing a small prompt asking if she would like to enter her username, she placed her finger on it. The picture on the scroll changed into an array of letters and symbols, all neatly arranged in small squares. The arrangement was a bit strange. Why would someone place Q in the first place just to follow it with W and then E was a bit perplexing but she already slipped enough in front of her minion, there was no need to do it more.

"I'll handle it from now on. You can leave." She waved him off, starting to slowly type her preferred name letter by letter.

"As you wish, My Queen. If you would have any need for me all you need to do is press on my username and type me a message or if you wish to talk to me you need to press the call button, just here." He finished his explanation, gesturing to the strange shower head. Why would someone use that as a symbol to call someone was once again, perplexing.

Bowing once more, Watts quickly walked out of the room, probably skipping down the halls to his chambers with those strange alchemical apparatus and glowing screens where he likes to spend so much time.

And she wasn't kidding about the skipping part, she once saw him do it through one of her Seers.

Focusing back on the strange little thing in her hand, she continued to type.

"QueenSall…"

"My Goddess! I've returned!" Tyrian Callows announced, jumping into the throne room through one of the windows, like always.

If not for the years she lived there would be one Queen of Grimm with a heart attack more on this planet forsaken by Gods.

Putting her new entertainment down in her lap, she reflexively looked at the newcomer with a glare, her chin slightly raised to look down on the peons like a true Queen of Evil should. To her horror the half scorpion deviant trembled as if in ecstasy, his hazy eyes gaining even more of that manic gleam.

"Have you completed your task?" She decided to ask, hoping that the mentally challenged man would remind her somehow how she got rid of him last time.

"But of course, my Goddess! This humble servant of yours wouldn't even dream to show up before you if your orders weren't made reality!" He happily announced, not cluing her in the slightest what her orders were.

"Good… what are the results this time?" She tried once more.

"Only the best! Your words were made reality, as they should be!" And once more he replied in the vaguest way possible.

A slight vibration from the device in her lap made her pause in slight surprise. For the first time in years she felt that small, miniscule spark of curiosity, wondering why it did that out of nowhere.

"Tyrian. You are one of my most devoted followers." Okay… it was bullshit time it seems. The fact that the adult man in front of her shivered in delight from her words alone made her already established hatred of the brother Gods only stronger. Couldn't they curse her with death or something? Just kill her? At this point the inflicted suffering was plainly inhumane.

"Your next task is a dangerous one, however I expect you to succeed." Think… where could I send him to get rid of him?

"Yes! I'll devote my whole being to this divine task! My body and soul is yours to command, oh the most wonderful Goddess!" The scorpion faunus dropped to his knees, thanking her for the orders.

At the beginning such things amused her greatly. Now? Now she couldn't care less.

"I have plans for the Kingdom of Mistral. You are too create a safe haven for our operatives, one that wouldn't be discovered by our enemies." Here, that would get rid of him for a bit. Now she only needed to remember to create some 'plans' for that country later.

"As you command! I'll depart at once!" Jumping to his feet, the crazy man started to mumble something to himself, then switched to cackling maniacally before defenestrating himself with great gusto.

Such joy.

Looking back at the device she was playing with before the interference, one of her eyebrows rose when she saw that it was displaying something different than when she put it down.

To the left there was a column named 'Rooms', with '4Teens' highlighted on it.

In the center was a larger, empty window with a small line of text and a small picture of a smiling and waving knight, 'Now talking with: RustedKnight69' written on top.

"RustedKnight69: Hello! How are you doing?"

Who was that? And what's with that name? What kind of knight would let his armor get rusty?

Fiddling with the device for a few more minutes, the all powerful Queen of Grimm managed to find out how to respond, slowly typing her reply.

"QueenSally : Greetings. Why would I disclose such information about myself to someone named in such a ridiculous way?"

Wait… why did her name appear like this?!

"RustedKnight69: Ahahahaha. True. My older sister always says that I shouldn't talk to strangers on the DustNet so much." The reply came rather fast, only a few seconds after she sent her own message.

"RustedKnight69: She always says that most of the time there are old people on the other side of the screen, only waiting for young impressionable guys like me to corrupt."

"Oh… if you only knew." Salem said to herself, a small smirk gracing her face. One so small that people would have problems in telling the difference, but the fact remained that it was there.

"QueenSally: Are you trying to imply something? You were the one to start this conversation."

"RustedKnight69: Nah, I don't really care if you are a fifty year old bald guy with a beer belly or something. I just like to talk to people."

Her smirk disappeared as fast as it crawled up on her face.

"QueenSally: I'm a lady, thank you very much!"

"RustedKnight69: And I'm tall, blonde and muscular. We can be whatever we want to be here!"

That reply gave the timeless woman pause. True, she was older than many kingdoms. She also didn't feel any older than the day that Ozma released her from that damned tower.

Was she ever allowed to be what she wanted to be?

One would think that countless years of living would change one's perspective, the sheer amount of experience changing the individual.

Thinking about it, there wasn't that much experience, was there?

Her younger days were filled with arcane lessons, locked up in her tower by her family because they feared her power.

Then Ozma entered her life, a gallant knight freeing her from captivity. Life was supposed to be good after that, and for a few years it was.

She gave birth to four beautiful girls, Ozma died, those two bastards refused to bring him back, she brilliantly decided to wage a war against the Gods.

Well… thinking back it escalated really quickly…

After that she got cursed by those two bastards, they ran away shortly after when they realized that giving immortality to their enemy wasn't that brilliant of an idea. They cursed her partner to become a soul parasite, jumping from host to host after death.

He showed up in her castle when their daughters were in their teen years, then like any respectable father he sneaked out in the middle of the night with them so they wouldn't need to live with the Witch that caused the Gods to abandon their world.

Feeling understandably angered she chased after them only for the supposed love of her life, the one that she challenged the Brother Gods for, to attack her with magic.

He hurled a few siege class spells at her.

In an enclosed space…

That brilliant move caused the small fort they were in to collapse on top of them, crushing everyone inside.

Being immortal, she survived the ordeal. In her sorrow and anger she tried to destroy herself in the Pools of Darkness that the God of Darkness left behind.

Turns out that her immortality extended to surviving the raw destructive forces of the universe too, who would have thought?

It took her a few centuries to get out of the pool, the darkness and nothingness surrounding her was surprisingly soothing but after some time her new nemesis caused her to get out.

After soaking for so long in pure darkness, her emotions understandably weren't that stable. Seeing one of Ozma's reincarnation on the throne of the country she once governed she might have overreacted a slight tiny bit, unleashing a tide of the Grimm that swatted away nearly everything.

Fast forward a few thousand years and nothing really changed after that.

The country that once was the mightiest kingdom in the world lies reduced to purple dust, her tower being the only thing that's still standing. Once beautiful land now is known as the Grimmlands, a continent that is impossible to survive on.

"RustedKnight69: Well… I guess that it was nice talking to you but I need to go now. Feel free to send me a text if you want, I'll reply later. Cya!" The Queen of the Grimm read once more after feeling yet another set of vibrations from the Scroll in her hands.

The brief retrospection brought a melancholic mood to her, a few memories resurfacing. Both good and not so much.

The countless lifetimes she lived, watching as the world around her moves while she's stationary, everlasting… What was the point if the sheer boredom was enough to cause her physical pain at this point?

Maybe having someone to talk to outside her normal circle would be refreshing enough?

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