Alexia

Silence fills the clearing as I stare dumbfounded at the bowing Hound of the Apocalypse, unsure of what to say or do right now. And he just continues bowing, seemingly waiting for me to give him the okay to raise himself up again.

Uh, okay, um, what do I do now?

I send a slightly panicked look towards Gramps, not feeling comfortable in the slightest with this situation. But the old man just turns his head and begins inspecting a random tree as if it had just grown a human head or something.

Traitor!

Give me a fight to the death or a good ol’ brawl any day, but this emotional stuff is not my strong suit!

I look back at the Hound again, only to finally focus on what he said.

No one ever filled me in on what exactly happened, so all I know is that my father – the man in front of me – never even knew Astrid and I existed. At the same time, though, my father is apparently a genocidal murderer.

What do I-

I hear a sigh coming from my shoulder, making all three of us – me, the bowing Hound, and Gramps – turn out gaze to my right shoulder where the Quantum Architect is perched. And after sighing, he says, “Why are you all making this so troublesome? You’re bothering my recovery and wasting my daughter’s time that should be spent training.”

I’m… not sure what to comment on there. And Gramps and the Hound seem to be rather displeased with what he said too, although I’m not sure which exact reasons they’re unhappy.

“She’s not your-” “Don’t you dare call her your-” both of them begin shouting simultaneously, making me realize what it was that bothered them, only for the both of them to be cut off by a strange purple glitchy box appearing around their mouths.

Then the Quantum Architect – whose name I actually still don’t know – yawns once and says, “His body wasn’t under his own control when his body slaughtered those angel creatures you’re so worried about. So stop worrying, finish this conversation, and go back to training. My own recovery depends on your growth in strength.”

He closes his eyes again after one more yawn and goes completely silent, leaving us all staring in shocked silence at him.

No one says anything for a while as we all stare.

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The Hound… his body wasn’t under his own control? Does that mean he was mind controlled or something like it? Had his soul taken out of his body and put in another, or had someone else enter his body?

Having his soul taken out of his body or having ‘mind control’ put on it should be impossible with his magic. But I guess if someone were to enter his body somehow, they might be able to wrangle control. Somehow.

But… who could be strong enough to steal the body of one of the strongest beings in the universe? And if they’re strong enough to do that, why would they bother using his body to frame him?

And from the looks of it, I’m the one struggling the least with this bit of news.

A thump brings my attention to the Hound, where I find him on his knees on the ground, his hands held up as he looks at them. Meanwhile Gramps is just sending a horrified look at the Hound. As if Gramps had killed the Hound’s favorite puppy or something.

Okay, what happened?

I feel way too awkward to break the silence, especially since Gramps still looks traumatized for some reason, and the Hound seems to be having a mid-life crisis mixed with some relief. As if something he had been worrying about his entire life ended up being erased. Or like he was told something terrible was his fault only to eventually find out that it wasn’t. Which is kinda what happened I guess? Assuming he didn’t already know about this.

The silence stretches on for quite a while, and eventually Gramps falls to his own knees as tears begin to build up in his eyes. And at this point I really want to rush over and do something, but once again, I have no idea what to do. So all I end up doing is turning back and forth between the two while awkwardly reaching for Gramps, only to pull back, unsure what to do.

Eventually the silence is broken when the sound of flapping wings enter the clearing, bringing my gaze to Ethan, who is currently looking between the two with a confused expression on his face. One that vanishes when he turns his gaze to the Quantum Architect recovering on my shoulder.

“I guess the Architect told them about the mind control thing?” Ethan half asks, half states as he tilts his head. And the moment he does so, both Gramps and the Hound turn dead eyes towards him. “Or I guess it wasn’t necessarily mind control, but someone entering his body and doing what they wanted in it?”

But it doesn’t take long for those eyes to fill with rage instead.

Oh, shit.

A loud roar rings out through my clearing as Gramps returns to his true form, practically exploding a large part of my clearing here and making magma shoot out as he shouts, “The dragons knew about this?!” And I can tell he’s genuinely angry. Angrier than I have ever seen him before.

Then the Hound of the Apocalypse slowly stands up as little sparks of black light mixed with black and purple shadow begin flickering all around us and in his eyes. But unlike Gramps, when he speaks, it’s with a chillingly cold tone of voice seemingly empty on emotions, “Please explain to me why your mother chose to withhold this information. And it better be a good explanation.”

I quickly see Ethan’s face forming an o with his mouth, as if he just realized what his clan’s keeping silent could also be taken as.

And while I highly doubt the Ancestral Dragon would care about Gramps or the Hound’s anger, Ethan… is not his mother.

Rest in peace Ethan. I barely knew ya.

I watch the two approach him for a few seconds before teleporting between them.

Never mind. I would rather not have blood spilled in my clearing so close to Astrid’s unconscious form.

Just have to calm down a hydra and the Hound.

Shouldn’t be too hard.

Maybe.