?nigmaVerse

Present Place. Present Day. Present Time. Hahahaha.

"What the hell are you laughing about all of a sudden, huh?!" Remy demanded, turning to glare at Alice, his tone sharp with venom and accusation. His hands twitched, betraying his hidden volatile demeanour, as he eyed the baseball bat in his backpack at his feet. Eva and Bart flinched at the sudden aggression from the usually carefree man, while Ramona remained unfazed, familiar with his outbursts.

Alice's laughter ceased abruptly, and the air turned frigid. Her midnight-blue cosmos-like eyes, slowly side-eyed him, making deliberate eye contact. Her very presence seemed to explosively expand, engulfing the SUV's interior. The passengers, except Eva, felt an overwhelming suffocating pressure, sweat pooling on their skin. Remy, feeling scrutinized and insignificant, was dwarfed into a speck of dust under Alice's hardened gaze, a silent warning to behave or face severe consequences.

Breaking the dangerous tension, Alice retorted, "I am surprise that none of you have noticed what's the bigger problem with the world outside. It's as obvious as a neon sign," her voice dripping with sarcasm.

The passengers, finally able to breathe again, peered out their windows and noticed the strange anomalies: buildings, screens, cars, and roads glitches, blending new and pristine with old and familiar. The most glaring clue was the advertisements switching between many different dates.

Ramona and Remy paled, their faces filled with hyperventilating panic. Yet amidst their expressions was a glimmer of recognition. "This is not supposed to be happening! Not again! I want out!" Remy thought angrily. Ramona's fretful mind raced. "She better have a good explanation and make a good deal for us or we're done taking more orders!" Both reached for their phones, frantically texting someone.

Alice glanced at Remy and Ramona coldly yet knowingly. Deep within her gaze, pure, unadulterated rage simmered, later cut by waves of melancholia as she looked into the rear-view mirror at Bart and Eva. Bart rested his head against the window, watching the scenery pass by with a hint of optimism beneath his hopeless expression. Eva had shrunk into her seat, trying to feel small and forgotten, guilt washing over her for failing her mission to exterminate Apophis and save the world. She fidgeted, scrubbing her hands together as if trying to remove unseen dirt.

Alice's regretful eyes returned to the road. The SUV shook as the world quietly quaked, not enough to displace them but familiar nonetheless. The glitches began to spread across the city like an infectious disease.

"Alice, do you have any idea what might be causing this? Two different times, I mean," Bart mumbled, his face still squished against the window.

"Theoretically," Alice replied, unsure where to start. "Be careful what you reveal," Schrödinger cautioned her mentally.

"Let's hear it. It's better than having no explanation for this phenomenon, even if it's just a theory," Bart softly encouraged.

"It might be caused by an Interstice, an anomaly in the fabric of spacetime linking different parallel universes, each with its own timeline. For me, you, and Eva, it's 2203, while for Remy and Ramona, it's 2023. These Interstices form where our timeline intersects with others, allowing the transfer of matter and information. The shaking and glitches we're experiencing could be the result of this Interstice's influence, connecting our time in 2203 to another, like 2023, or perhaps other timelines."

Bart straightened up, eyes wide with curiosity and concern. Eva perked up, and Remy and Ramona stopped typing on their phones. "So, you're saying we're overlapping with another timeline?"

Alice nodded slowly. "Yes. Imagine multiple timelines like a network of nervous systems. Usually, they run parallel and never touch, but sometimes, due to anomalies or disturbances in spacetime, they intersect or overlap. When that happens, you get these Interstices. The more they intersect, the more pronounced the effects become—like the shaking and these 'glitches' we're seeing."