A Cat and a Box

"You don't have to tell me anything; I've learned about the lifted restriction. What your reign reversed is your undeniable fate," Papa explained.

Papa started drawing a line on a piece of paper and stopped at a certain point. He declared that Sorin died at that end of the line and added, "This seemed like something no one can change. Not even me."

He followed by drawing branches of time that ended at the same point, all resulting in his death. "This is the result of Elara's reign taking over. She encased you and your soul inside the loop. Not willing to let you and any of us go."

But after that point, time did not progress from her point of view. It meant she was determined to end the world at that single point in time.

"Yet, when the restriction of her reign started to emerge, your reign was triggered and freed right in the middle," Papa pointed at the center of the branches, the point where Sorin took back his power. "Did you know what happened at the time?"

Sorin frowned, "Suddenly, I got a notification that Reverse had been successfully activated."

"And I can't effectively connect myself to the future me or the past me anymore. Everything seemed so far away," Elara said.

Papa hummed, "But you can still send Sorin's and your own consciousness back?"

"With much effort, yes," Elara answered.

"Do you know what it means?" Papa asked.

The two in front of him shook their heads. Papa turned to Mama as he couldn't muster the right words to explain. Mama sighed and put her book away. She straightened her back and said, "Schrödinger's cat. It's a basic quantum paradox problem."

"It means, Elara," Mama turned to her daughter, said, "Your [Time (SSS+)] has become insufficient to predict any of our future anymore because Sorin's [Reverse (SSS)] had turned over the well-established fate. Your box had been opened."

When you opened the box, and the cat was dead, it didn't mean that the possibility of it surviving in a distant parallel universe was gone. And both realities existed at the same time. Now, Elara's and Sorin's reign had made it possible to entertain such a possibility.

"You have become the cat, Sorin. You will be both dead and alive," Mama concluded.

Elara couldn't understand. She turned to her Papa and looked at him, asking, "Then, all of the branches I made... there's more than it?"

"Previously, there's none. But since you had triggered another reign to collaborate by pushing it away, now, there's an infinite amount of possibility," Papa answered.

Mama sighed and calmly explained, "You have stopped yourself from evolving to a higher being because you wanted to delay the world collapsing, but that's also why you can't see anything past your reign, Elara."

While Elara was the box, Sorin was the cat. But now, the box had been opened, and the loop had been broken. Sorin... was alive.

At least for now.

"All problem has their solution. That's why I calmly played along," Papa said. "Because I have my own restrictions, and this is not my reign to meddle."

"Does it mean Papa actually has your own answer?" Elara asked.

Papa turned to Mama. He answered, "After much deliberation, my answer won't change. Different from Sorin, as a cat, Papa might choose to destroy the flask and release the poison myself."

Not only Sorin and Elara... it seems Papa and Mama had started figuring out what would happen to them.

"You're just like Elara," Sorin said suddenly at Papa.

The long black-haired man turned to his son-in-law. He smiled. "Yes. I am her Papa, after all."

Sorin felt that Elara was wrong. The one being unrealistically devoted was not Mama but Papa. After knowing that Mama's time was much shorter than him, he was ready to follow her to death.

"Please don't hastily knock the flask and release the poison, Papa," Sorin said. He sneered, "The poison might spread to my box and kill me too."

Papa hummed and nodded. "Let's hope my unstable atomic nucleus doesn't lose energy by radiation," he blinked at Mama and sharply said, "Don't die."

Mama scoffed and then blushed as if Papa's cryptid and blunt message to her was some sort of a romantic letter.

"Following the topic of avoiding the Geiger–Müller counter, I will find a way to keep ourselves alive. You don't have to worry about your Papa and Mama; we can solve this ourselves. But then, there will be a task neglected as a result," Papa said.

[DING!]

Papa said as Sorin's notification screen popped out, "Judging from the climates, there will be a diplomatic problem happening soon in Haran, the Academy of Ancient and Cursed. A member of a referred ancient family is going to attend the Academy as a magic student."

Papa was supposed to be the one taking care of that.

[New quest!]

[Haran! Diplomatic intricacies!]

Quest Rank: [B+]

"While you're there, how about taking world history class too? You still lack knowledge," Papa said.

[DING!]

[New side quest!]

[Learn the real history of the world!]

Quest Rank: [Tutorial]

"Ah, right. Tell your Brother to help you. He had an acquaintance there that might help smooth out everything," Mama reminded. "Learn well from him, too."

[DING!]

[New side quest!]

[Get stronger!]

Quest Rank: [Tutorial]

Sorin blinked at the three consecutive quests appearing. His head had been hurt because of such hard topics since the morning, and now appear these quests. He sighed, "Hah, fucking Schrödinger..."

"Accept."

He accepted the three of them and felt that he had stepped into the realm he had never been before. He didn't know whether it would weigh differently on the scale of fate later.

"Now, daughter," Papa called Elara. "Do you know where you lack?"

Elara nodded.

"I'm torn between getting stronger and risking destroying this world easier, or keep being weak and not able to see past my reign," Elara answered.

"What is your choice?"

Elara looked at her Papa, then her Mama, and lastly, Sorin.

"If I get stronger, can I trust you to stop me if I ever want to destroy the world?" Elara asked.

Mama then chirped, "If Sorin gets stronger and you don't, you'll risk forgetting his name because of the restriction."

Elara widened her eyes. "T-then I'll get stronger!"

Papa and Mama laughed while Sorin felt a weird feeling he had never felt before. What was it?

Ah, yes.

Family.