Thanks for the feedback! This indeed was a bit more of a world-building episode, as the previous chapter was rather action focused. You have some interesting ideas on what the Meta actually are, so I will go through a quick explainer.

In this fictional world, Meta is mainly just a last name, but for a specific family. All Metas can use something called infinity casting, an ability that they pass down through the generations... hence, why all Metas can use it. There other types of infinity casting that work much differently and have nothing to do with time travel, and the second part("casting") is a reference to the larger and more common system of casting that Metas also use, but this is a working knowledge for our purposes within the story.

While there are non-human races in this world, the Metas are largely human(I actually hadn't thought much about including non-human Metas, due to some undisclosed restrictions I had in my notes... I'll keep that in mind as an idea, though. Sounds like it could be interesting). Mira is the daughter of Victor and Janet Meta, so she is a full fledged Meta by birthright. Because all Metas are descended from other Meta, they pretty much universally marry non-Metas, so there is nothing really unusual about this.

I do indeed try to be very dialogue and character interaction focused in my stories. I don't particularly like lengthy descriptions of things awkwardly crammed into place, and when they are unavoidable I will have them either exist as a character's train of thought, or by having a knowledgeable character explain them to an uninformed character.

I had someone previously suggest a summary be added to each new chapter, so people can pick up at the most recent chapter and have a decent idea of what is going on. Since you are not the first to be generally confused by certain aspects, and don't have the time to go back and read the increasing number of previous parts, I will try to start including a running summary on each new chapter. Even if I have to be extremely general on various plot points and I would definitely recommend reading the whole series from the start, it seems like it will benefit a growing number of people.

But again, thank you so much for the feedback. I love getting lengthier comments like this, as I feel they provide so much more insight into how other people view my writing. Have a fantastic day!