THE MOMENT
"The gift of the universe awaits....," The voice sounded like an angel in Gregory's mind. It didn't startle him when he first heard it that morning. Instead, on hearing the friendly voice he felt called to. He knew he needed to visit the rose garden even before she began promising infinite power. He made his way out of the manor and into the garden. A fine mist sat atop the rose bushes as if frozen there by the cool morning air. He did not know where he was going but each decision at every path seemed obvious; he knew where he was going when he needed to. He followed the narrow stone walkway to the back of the garden and there, in a corner surrounded by thorny bushes, he saw it.
"Take it. It belongs to you...," the voice whispered in his mind. A thin glass card sat half buried in the soil and it was unlike any he'd ever seen. It glowed with vibrant blue energy and a '41' glowed brighter on its face in golden numbers. "....you are chosen..."
Gregory did not have the fortitude to hesitate, nor any idea why he should. He knelt and reached for the glass card; but, froze just before making contact.
"Hey, he hasn't gone crazy yet," a new voice giggled behind him. Two girls emerged from a black portal; one had dark hair with orange highlights and the other with short, side-swept rainbow hair.
"I hope they're all this easy now that Sharp Development is helping Turbo track them down," Monday, the girl with rainbow hair, replied as she knelt and opened a small, saucer-sized portal beneath the glowing blue node. It sank into it and disappeared.
"Are you sure your mom's not mad at us?" Quinn asked. Monday shook her head as she joined her friend again.
"She's too busy trying to save the multiverse to be mad," she said. "Personally, I think she's happy to have a big project like that again. Helios does most of the administrative stuff and I feel like she was getting restless just being 'Owner of Sharp Development'. Either way, I'm sure she's not mad," she nodded.
"But, that doesn't mean we didn't mess up," she sighed.
"We had no idea Error 23 was that serious though..," Quinn tried to reason it out but Monday shook her head.
"We knew we didn't know what we were dealing with; I should've told her sooner."
"But, you didn't," Quinn shrugged. "All we can do now is try to win the derby match." The answer made Monday laugh.
"The fate of the multiverse rests on a roller derby match...," she giggled as she opened another portal for them to exit.
"Not the first time," Quinn laughed too as she stepped into the portal.
"Oh, wait," Monday paused and turned to look down at the time-locked Gregory kneeling by the rose bush. "If I don't fix him, he'll go insane looking for it." A rainbow crown of light appeared over her head and her voice took on a magical quality.
"You found it. The power of the universe or whatever is inside you already. You can live a good life now," she said. The crown dissipated and she followed Quinn out through the portal. Gregory blinked as he reached for the node and it was gone when he opened his eyes again.
"Huh," he looked around and half-heartedly pushed some soil out of the way to see if it was there. "I guess I got it already...," he chuckled to himself with amused confusion as he stood up. The morning was still cool, the sun was peeking out of the horizon and he was surrounded by a lovely fragrance and hundreds of roses.
"It's a gorgeous morning...," he smiled to himself as he walked away from the corner. He chose a path just because it looked nicer than the narrow path he came in on. He didn't visit the rose garden often enough but he decided to change that in the future. He had no idea where this new path led; but, that didn't matter. Gregory knew where he was going.