Alexia

I wake up finding myself staring up at the ceiling. But I almost immediately notice the person sitting at my bedside staring at me, proving that what happened wasn’t a dream.

“Morning sleepyhead,” Mom says, making me smile. “You sleep well?”

“Yeah,” I answer, only to remember Astrid and look around the room. Then I calm down again when I sense Astrid outside of the house next to Lysandre and the Hound, who I guess is our father.

That’ll take some getting used to.

“Lysandre is just teaching your sister a bit about being a hydra right now,” Mom explains as I get up from the bed and move over to the balcony to look down at them. “Although she’s certainly a unique hydra, I’ll say that much.”

I frown at that before going ahead and identifying her, making her turn to look up at the balcony.

{Astrid Knight – Shadowblade Hydra – Level 231}

Yeah, unique.

The unique hydra in question appears out of the shadows right in front of me and latches onto me in a hug. And I quickly return it with a smile.

“Glad you’re safe,” I tell her.

To be perfectly honest, her transformation into a hydra really did worry me. After all, I’ve never heard of someone becoming a Class S species before. So there was no telling beyond Gramps’s word that it’d be safe.

But it’s nice to see it end in success without any danger involved after all.

Soon after, both Lysandre and the Hound enter my room as well. Leaving us all gathered together as a family for the first time in our lives.

I never really expected to have an entire family again. Or at least, not more than Gramps and Lexi.

It’s nice.

“You may want to be careful getting so relaxed,” the Quantum Architect’s voice suddenly echoes throughout my room, making everyone stiffen up as he flies into the room and lands on my shoulder.

“What do you mean?” Crystal asks, but he ignores her and focuses on me instead.

“Your grandfather won’t let you rest,” the Architect says, making me narrow my eyes.

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“Wait a second,” the Hound says, “what do you mean by ‘grandfather?’” Then his eyes narrow as he no doubt remembers earlier. “Actually, why are you even referring to Alexia as your daughter? She has no relation to you!”

The Architect turns a disdainful gaze towards the Hound – which looks rather ridiculous considering that he’s currently in a clone of Luna – and says, “She took in my quantum essence when she killed me and evolved, so as far as the universe is concerned, she’s more my daughter than she is yours. And that is how father views it as well.”

My biological father doesn’t take well to that as sparks of black light begin flickering in the room. But then Mom stops him by saying, “Lucas, listen to him.”

He turns his head to her with shock plastered on his face.

“We don’t have a say in this,” she says, shaking her head. “It happened while we were gone, and it’s the reason behind her power now.”

The Hound doesn’t seem to like it, but he surprisingly listens to his wife.

Huh. Interesting.

“Besides,” Mom adds with a shrug and a frown. “There’s nothing we can do if the Quantum Ruler is involved.”

Everyone in the room looks confused at that except for the Quantum Architect, who simply nods his bat head.

“Why?” Gramps asks, a frown on his face as he stares at the Quantum Architect.

Mom purses her lips for a second and answers, “To start off, I think we should explain what the quantum beings really are.”

The Hound and Gramps both frown at that, clearly not understanding what they’re talking about. Meanwhile Astrid and I sit down on the edge of the bed, just watching the events happen.

“Very well,” the Quantum Architect says. “You have my permission to speak.”

Mom nods her head, surprising everyone again with her acting like this. Then she turns to us and says, “First of all, forget what you know about the quantum beings. While they are incredibly powerful beings that are born in and control the quantum realm, that is not all they are.”

The Hound and Gramps narrow their eyes but don’t say anything.

“The quantum beings aren’t entirely free as their power does come at a price,” Mom says, making my eyes widen slightly. “Every quantum being is given a role to fulfil for both the mortal and quantum realms. Such as the Quantum Balancer’s role to bring balance to everything. And the Quantum Architect’s role to bring structure.” Then she frowns. “There are ten different roles, for ten different quantum beings. And the quantum beings all have a hierarchy that they must follow.”

“Do you know what the roles are?” Gramps asks, and now that I look between him and the Hound, I can’t help but realize that they’re very similar in their actions.

Then again, they did say that they used to be best friends. So that might be why.

Mom shakes her head and answers, “I know half of the roles, but not all of them. So I don’t think I’ll be much help there.” She glances at me. “And I don’t know anything about a Quantum Reaper.”

Before I can say anything in response to that, the Quantum Architect interrupts. “The roles, in the order of the hierarchy, are my father, the Quantum Ruler, then me, the Quantum Architect, followed by the Quantum Enforcer, the Quantum Builder, the Quantum Creator, Quantum Balancer, Quantum Vanguard, Quantum Cleaner, Quantum Scribe, and finally the Quantum Archon. And there is only a single quantum being in each role at a time.”

I blink at that before frowning at the lack of any mention about me.

“What about-” the Hound begins, only for the Quantum Architect to continue, cutting him off, “Lastly, we have a single role that has never been filled. One that is both within the hierarchy and separate from it.” His little bat eyes narrow. “The Quantum Reaper.”