POV: Multiple

Thea (Year 10)

At twenty-five, I'd finally learned to live as both a human and cosmic entity. I stood in the command center of Reality Defense, one hand on my swollen belly, the other adjusting holographic displays. Nine months pregnant with reality's first Order-Chaos hybrid child.

My husband Lyric entered carrying tea. Twenty-four now, still beautiful, still the only person who could look at me without flinching when my eyes showed infinity.

"You should be resting," they said gently. We'd married three years ago in a ceremony that accidentally created temporal echoes across multiple timelines. Our wedding happened in past, present, and future simultaneously.

"Can't rest. The eleven...