Chapter 170: New Responsibilities

Words : 1135 Updated : Sep 19th, 2025

Chapter 170: New Responsibilities LILY POV I reached toward the voice calling me "daughter" before anyone could stop me. The moment my fingers touched the bridge of light Sage had made, everything changed. I wasn’t in the basement anymore. I was standing in a place that felt like the heart of everything - a vast space filled with swirling galaxies and floating islands of pure energy. "Welcome home, little one," the voice said, and now I could see who it belonged to. She looked like me, but older. Wiser. Her hair flowed like starlight, and her eyes held the depth of endless space. She was beautiful in a way that made my heart ache with recognition. "Who are you?" I whispered. "I am what you will become," she said softly. "The original Guardian. The first being to sacrifice herself to protect reality itself." "That’s impossible. I’m just an omega monster who got in over her head." She smiled, and it was like watching suns being born. "That’s exactly what I said, eons ago, when I first found my abilities. I was just a young woman trying to save the people I loved. But sometimes, little sacrifices grow into something much bigger." As she spoke, images flashed around us - countless realities, infinite possibilities, all connected by threads of light that looked strangely like the pack bonds I’d been forming. "Every time you chose others over yourself," she continued, "every time you put love before fear, you strengthened the connections between worlds. You became not just a Guardian, but a bridge." "I don’t understand." "The void entity was right about one thing - the barriers between planes have been weakening. But not because of chaos. Because beings in different realities have been losing their links to each other. Forgetting how to love across differences. Forgetting how to sacrifice for something bigger than themselves." She motioned to the swirling energies around us. "This is the Heart of Reality. The place where all options meet. It’s been dying, slowly, as beings throughout the infinite dimensions have become more isolated, more selfish, more afraid." "And you want me to fix it?" I asked, feeling overloaded. "I want you to do what you’ve already been doing," she said. "Build links. Help beings understand that they’re stronger together than apart. Show them that love is worth any sacrifice." "But I don’t know how to—" "You’ve already started." She waved her hand, and I could see them - silver threads extending from my heart across various realities. Some led back to Caleb, to the twins, to everyone I cared about in Silver Peak. But others stretched further, linking to beings I’d never met in worlds I’d never seen. "Every person you’ve helped, every connection you’ve made, has created a new thread in the web that holds reality together," she explained. "But now you have a choice to make." "What kind of choice?" "You can go back to your simple life as an omega werewolf. I’ll remove your dimensional abilities, close the bridges you’ve opened, and let someone else carry this load." The deal was tempting. I could go home to Caleb, settle down, have the quiet life I’d always dreamed of. "Or?" I asked. "Or you accept your job as an inter-dimensional mediator. You travel between realities when needed, helping beings who are losing their links to each other. You become the bridge that holds everything together." "What would that mean for my pack? For Caleb?" "It means sometimes you’ll have to leave them to help others. It means carrying responsibilities that spread far beyond Silver Peak. It means making choices you can’t even imagine yet." My heart clenched at the thought of leaving Caleb behind, even temporarily. But then I thought about Luna, about how she’d been my sister in every lifetime and I’d never known. About all the connections I’d missed, all the love I’d failed to notice. "If I don’t do this," I said slowly, "what happens to everyone else? To all the other realities?" "They fade," she said sadly. "Slowly, one by one, as beings forget how to care about anyone beyond themselves. Eventually, there’s nothing left but empty space." I thought about the void entity’s plan - perfect order through eliminating feelings and connections. Maybe it wasn’t evil, just desperate. Maybe it had watched reality die and decided that emptiness was better than slow decay. "I can’t let that happen," I said. "Even knowing what it will cost you?" I looked back toward the bridge that led home, where I could see my friends and family waiting anxiously for my return. Caleb’s face was tight with worry. The triplets looked ready to fight their way through dimensions to reach me. Even Luna was reaching toward the light, trying to help her sister. "They’re the reason I can do this," I realized. "Knowing they’re out there, knowing love like this exists - it gives me something to fight for." The original Guardian smiled, and I felt warmth rush through me. "Then you accept?" "I accept." The moment I said it, power rushed through me. Not the chaotic dimensional energy I’d been fighting with, but something steady and sure. I could feel every reality, every link, every thread of love that held existence together. And I could feel where those threads were breaking. "Your first assignment," the Guardian said, "is closer to home than you might think." She waved her hand, and I could see Silver Peak, but not as I’d left it. The basement was empty except for one figure - the void creature, standing over Luna’s unconscious form with void energy crackling around its hands. "It’s going to kill her," I gasped. "Not kill," the Guardian amended grimly. "Transform. It’s going to turn Luna into a void creature like itself, using her as a weapon against you." "I have to stop it!" "Yes. But first, you need to understand something important." Her face grew serious. "The void thing isn’t your enemy, Lily. It’s your brother." The words hit me like a physical blow. "What?" "Another Guardian, from eons ago. He chose the path of order over connection, thinking that eliminating chaos was the only way to save reality. Now he’s so lost in the void that he’s forgotten what he was trying to protect." "You want me to save him?" "I want you to choose," she said. "Kill him and end the threat quickly, or try to remind him who he used to be and risk losing everything." As she spoke, I watched the void creature bend over Luna, its hands glowing with terrible energy. In seconds, my sister would be lost forever. "Choose now, daughter," the Guardian urged. "And remember - this is just the first of many impossible decisions you’ll face as reality’s protector."

Chapter 170: New Responsibilities

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