Alexia

Mom opens her mouth to speak, only for her eyes to widen out of nowhere with a hint of fear in her gaze. Then she looks between me, Astrid, and the Hound with a sad look in her eyes.

“Mom?” I repeat, worry bleeding into my voice.

“I’m sorry, sweetheart, but I can’t tell you now,” she says, sounding almost as if she’s in a rush. “I have to go, but I’ll be back soon, okay?”

My eyes widen in both fear and surprise, and I can’t help but reach for her, but she moves back. And I’m not the only one as the Hound does it as well.

“He’s coming,” she says in a quiet voice, making me quickly realize that the one who sealed her away that she just mentioned – the Quantum Judge – is coming to do the same thing he did all those years ago.

I feel rage filling me up, and I see the Hound growing angrier by the second as well. Even Gramps looks pissed.

Astrid’s still asleep though.

Wait, shit!

“What about Astrid?!” I exclaim, making the sad look on Mom’s face grow even sadder at that as she shakes her head.

She’s just going to leave without saying anything to her?!

But I quickly understand why when I feel something in the quantum energy around us. A disturbance that I’ve come to understand very well at this point as teleportation.

“I love you all,” she says while reaching out and grabbing my face before kissing my forehead. Then she hesitates for a brief moment and kisses the Hound, shocking the man in the process.

And without another word, before I can even say anything, she vanishes in a black and gray flash of light. Only for a purple flash of light to fill my room afterwards as reality itself begins to glitch and a strange looking portal appears in the middle of the room. One that I can’t see the other side of.

Everyone in the room including myself immediately prepare ourselves in case we need to defend ourselves, but the moment a man steps out of the portal, time itself freezes around us. The Hound, Gramps, and even the air and energy itself around us. Everything just freezes in place.

Everything except me and the one in front of me, who looks vaguely surprised at the sight of me. Likely because I’m not frozen.

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The man has the same purple hair and glitchy purple eyes that every quantum being seems to have. But unlike the other quantum beings I’ve seen, he’s wearing what looks like a purple and black robe, and for some reason I just… can’t seem to mark down his appearance in terms of age. It’s like his body is constantly changing between elderly and youthful. Sometimes it even looks like he’s nothing more than a child.

Overall, a rather off-putting appearance, if I’m being honest.

Then he narrows his eyes slightly, looking me up and down for a moment.

Right. I’m a quantum being. Status effects and things that target the spirit don’t affect me.

Meaning time magic meant to freeze me in time won’t affect me at all, since it should be a status effect. Which basically announces who, or at least what, I am to him if he didn’t already know.

“Quantum Reaper,” the man in front of me says with a light nod of his head.

This is the one chasing Mom… why does he look so depressed? The quantum beings I’ve met so far have all been extremely arrogant. This is the first time I’ve seen one that looks borderline depressed.

I freeze slightly when I remember that the quantum beings up till now can read my mind, only to find that the man doesn’t react at all. Which means that he either can’t read my mind like the other two, or he just doesn’t care about what I think.

“Quantum Judge,” I state, making his eyebrows furrow ever so slightly. Almost as if he doesn’t like the term Quantum Judge.

“Tell me where she went girl,” he says, being both incredibly rude and incredibly direct in his attempt to give me an order.

I narrow my eyes, scowling at the man as I state, “And why the hell would I do that?”

His mostly indifferent if not slightly irritated look turns into a scowl to match my own. Then he states as if I should care, “Because the universe demands her punishment.”

That just has me raising a brow as I cross my arms and state, “So what?”

Apparently my response startles him rather strongly. So much so that he takes a step back and mutters, “What? But… how?”

I blink in confusion, beginning to realize that I might be missing something. Because his reaction is too strong for someone told no, and it’s not even anger.

It’s like he’s genuinely confused that I could say anything other than answer his question. Not even that I straight up turned his question around on him.

Quantum Architect?

The Architect lets out a sigh and opens his eyes on my shoulder before saying, “Enforcer, begone.”

Finally the Judge’s eyes turn to the Architect, almost as if he didn’t even realize the Architect was here. Which surprises me.

But not as much as the sight of the Judge bowing his head slightly and turning away though.

I stare after him for a few seconds, just watching him leave through the same way he came in from, unfreezing time in the process. Then I turn to look at the Architect who is still on my shoulder.

“How did…” I begin, only for him to interrupt me, “The hierarchy is absolute.”

Oh. Right.

He did mention before that he was the second highest on the hierarchy. And if I remember correctly… the Quantum Enforcer was third, right?

I feel the Architect nodding his head on my shoulder, not bothering to answer me out loud as the others all look confused at the sudden lack of any danger.

Almost forgot that time froze for them right when the Enforcer passed through the portal.

Time to explain what happened I guess.

Right before that though, I glance at where Mom vanished from, feeling saddened by her disappearance again.

But she’s still alive, and she’s safe. That’s all that matters.

I turn back to the others and begin to explain what happened.