Chapter 164: Dimensional Stability

Words : 1276 Updated : Sep 19th, 2025

Chapter 164: Dimensional Stability SAGE POV The basement burst with dimensional energy the second Caleb disappeared into Luna’s mind. I threw myself forward, grabbing Lily’s shoulders as reality bent and twisted around us. "Don’t let go of his hand!" I shouted over the roar of tearing space. "I can’t hold on!" Lily cried. Her fingers were white-knuckled around Caleb’s limp hand, but I could see the tension on her face. "Something’s pulling him away from me!" The walls around us flickered between solid concrete and empty space. Through the cracks, I caught glimpses of other realities - forests made of crystal, cities floating in purple skies, worlds where the rules of physics worked completely differently. "This is impossible," Viktor gasped. "The dimensional walls are collapsing. If this keeps up, we’ll be scattered across different realities." But that wasn’t what scared me most. What scared me was watching Lily fight to keep her mate bond intact while reality fell apart around us. Because as she did, something amazing was happening. The chaotic energy flowing through the basement began to organize itself. Not disappearing, but making patterns. Settling into beats that matched the beating of Lily’s heart. "Lily," I said quickly. "Look at me. What are you feeling right now?" "Terror," she said instantly. "Pure terror that I’m going to lose Caleb before I even got him back." "Good. Keep feeling that. Don’t let go of it." "Are you insane?" Aiden demanded. "Why would you want her to be scared?" "Because her fear is stabilizing the dimensional breaks," I explained quickly. "Watch." I pointed to the closest crack in reality. As Lily’s terror for Caleb grew stronger, the crack stopped growing. In fact, it started shrinking. "I don’t understand," Brock said. "Emotions," I said, bits clicking together in my mind. "They’re not just feelings. They’re supports. They tie us to our home reality." Elena laughed from across the room, but it sounded different now. Hollow. "Clever little witch. Too bad you figured it out too late." I spun to look at her, and my blood went cold. Elena’s body was there, but her eyes had gone totally black. Not the empty black of Void Walkers, but a deep, hungry darkness that seemed to swallow light. "You’re not Elena," I whispered. "Elena was just a tool," the thing wearing her face said. "A bitter girl eager for power. Easy to control. Easy to control." "Who are you?" Prince Ash commanded, ice crystals forming around his hands. "I am the space between spaces," the creature answered. "The void that appears when reality forgets to fill itself in. I am what remains when feelings die." Another wave of dimensional energy crashed through the room, but this time it was centered on the Elena-thing. Where it touched, colors faded to gray. The concrete walls became flat and dead. "It’s draining the emotional resonance from our reality," I realized with horror. "It’s trying to turn our whole dimension into a void space." "Stop it!" Lily yelled, but her voice was getting weaker. Holding onto Caleb while fighting the dimensional chaos was exhausting her. That’s when I noticed something else. As Lily’s emotions grew stronger - her love for Caleb, her fear of losing him, her desperate hope that they could save Luna - the world around her became more solid. More real. "Dmitri," I called to the vampire prince. "I need you to get everyone to focus on their strongest feelings. Right now." "What?" He looked confused. "Just do it! Everyone think about the person you care about most. Think about how much you’d hate to lose them." "Sage, what are you—" Aiden started. "Trust me!" I interrupted. "Aiden, think about your pack. How much you want to protect them. Brock, think about your family. Prince Ash, think about your country." As each person focused on what meant most to them, I watched the dimensional cracks slow their spread. The void energy coming from the Elena-thing met resistance, like it was pushing against an unseen wall. "Emotional resonance," I breathed. "That’s why magical beings get more powerful when they have something to fight for. That’s why mates make each other stronger. Emotions don’t just give us power - they give us a reason to live in reality." The Elena-thing’s face twisted with rage. "Impossible. Emotions are weakness. They make people unpredictable. Chaotic." "No," I said, understanding rushing through me. "Chaos isn’t the opposite of order. Emptiness is. Void is. You’re not trying to bring balance - you’re trying to erase everything that makes life worth living." I turned to the others. "The Void Walkers aren’t bad. They’re being controlled by this thing. It’s been using them to drain emotional connections from different worlds, trying to turn everything into empty space." "But why?" Lily asked, still gripping Caleb’s hand tightly. "Because empty space is easy to control," I realized. "If there are no feelings, no connections, no reasons for beings to fight for their realities, then everything becomes predictable. Manageable." The Elena-thing smiled, and it was the most terrifying look I’d ever seen. "Finally, someone understands. Yes, I seek to manage the chaos of life. To bring perfect order to all realities." "By destroying everything that makes them worth saving," I shot back. "By removing the variables that cause suffering," it corrected. "No feelings means no pain. No loss. No sadness." "And no love," Lily said furiously. "No joy. No hope. No growth." As she spoke, her mate bond with Caleb flared brighter. For a moment, I could actually see it - a golden thread connecting her to wherever his consciousness had gone. "Lily," I said quickly. "Your emotional link to Caleb isn’t just keeping him anchored. It’s keeping our entire reality grounded. But you’re burning yourself out trying to hold everything together." "I don’t care," she said through hard teeth. "I won’t let go of him." "You don’t have to let go," I said, an impossible thought forming in my mind. "But you do have to trust me. Everyone, I need you to physically touch Lily. Right now." "What?" Brock looked confused. "Emotional resonance works through relationship. If we can link ourselves to Lily’s bond with Caleb, we can share the load. Help her hold reality together while he’s gone." "That’s never been tested," Viktor warned. "Neither has letting reality collapse," I pointed out. One by one, the others reached out to touch Lily - Aiden’s hand on her shoulder, Brock’s on her arm, Prince Ash and Dmitri each taking one of her hands. Viktor paused, then placed his palm against her forehead. The moment we all linked, I felt it. The overwhelming love Lily had for Caleb, but also her fear, her hope, her drive. And through that connection, I could feel him - lost somewhere in Luna’s fractured memories, but still alive. But as our combined emotional resonance stabilized the dimensional breaks around us, the Elena-thing’s expression changed from rage to something far worse. Satisfaction. "Perfect," it said softly. "Now you’re all linked. All united through the same emotional anchor." Too late, I realized what we’d done. By connecting ourselves to Lily’s bond with Caleb, we’d made exactly what this creature wanted - a single point of control for multiple supernatural beings. "When I sever that link," the Elena-thing continued, raising one hand that now dripped with void energy, "you’ll all lose your anchors to reality at the same time. Six beings, scattered across six different worlds, with no way home." The void energy began to form into a blade aimed directly at where all our links met. And there was nothing any of us could do to stop it.

Chapter 164: Dimensional Stability

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