CHAPTER 127: CALEB’S DESPERATION

Caleb POV

"LILY!" I screamed as her hand slipped through mine like smoke.

She was dying right in front of me. One second she was solid, the next she flickered like a broken light bulb. The spatial tear was pulling her in, and I couldn’t grab hold of her.

"I can see her!" I yelled to the others, but they were all fighting the new Void Walkers coming through the reopened first tear. "She’s disappearing!"

Lily’s eyes met mine through her ghostly form. She was scared. Really scared. And that made something angry wake up inside my chest.

"Don’t you dare give up on me," I whispered, even though she probably couldn’t hear me over all the fights.

I reached for her again, but my hands went right through her body. It was like trying to hug air. The planar magic was eating her alive, pulling her into some place between worlds where she might never come back.

That’s when the other Lily spoke up. The older, sadder version of my mate who claimed to be from a timeline where everyone died.

"She’s not just fading," Future Lily said. "She’s being pulled into the void between worlds. If she disappears totally, she’ll be lost forever."

"How do we stop it?" I asked.

"You can’t," Future Lily answered coldly. "In my world, this is where she died. This is where you all failed."

"No." The word came out harder than I meant it to. "That’s not happening. Not to my Lily."

I’d already lost her once before, back when she first got her skills and couldn’t control them. I’d watched her flash in and out of existence for weeks, never knowing if each time would be the last time I saw her. I wasn’t going through that again.

"Caleb, get back!" Aiden shouted as a Void Walker’s blade whizzed past my head. "We need to retreat!"

"I’m not leaving her!"

"She’s already gone!" Brock yelled, blood running down his arm from a fresh cut. "Look at her!"

I did look. Lily was barely visible now, more ghost than person. Her mouth was moving like she was trying to say something, but no sound came out. The spell she’d been casting was still going, slowly closing the second tear, but it was killing her.

That’s when I remembered something Elder Iris had told me once, back when Lily’s skills first showed up. She’d said that mates could share strength through their bond, especially in life-or-death scenarios.

I’d never tried it before. Never even knew if it was real. But right now, it was our only shot.

I closed my eyes and reached out with more than just my hands. I reached out with my heart, with the invisible thread that linked me to Lily. The bond we’d felt since the Winter Moon Festival, the link that made us mates.

"Come on," I whispered. "Come back to me."

At first, nothing happened. Then I felt it. A tiny spark, like hitting a live wire. Our mate bond was still there, stretched thin but not broken.

I grabbed onto that feeling and pulled with everything I had.

"What are you doing?" Future Lily asked, sounding shocked for the first time.

"Something you probably never thought of," I shot back.

I poured my strength into the bond. My energy, my life force, everything I had. If Lily needed power to stay strong, I’d give her mine.

The result was immediate. Lily’s form flickered back to almost solid. Her eyes widened as she felt our link snap back into place.

"Caleb?" she gasped, her voice weak but real.

"I’ve got you," I said, even though I was starting to feel dizzy from giving her so much energy. "Just hold on."

But Future Lily was looking at us with an expression I couldn’t read. "That’s impossible. In my timeline, the tie was already broken by this point."

"What do you mean?" I asked, though I was pretty sure I didn’t want to know the answer.

"The dimensional magic," she explained slowly. "It doesn’t just pull people into the void. It destroys relationships. Breaks ties. Makes people forget why they were fighting in the first place."

I felt ice in my stomach. "Are you saying—"

"In my timeline, you and Lily stopped being mates right about now. The magic tore your tie apart, and after that, nothing could save her."

"That’s not going to happen," I said firmly, but I could feel the dimensional energy trying to weaken our link. It was like unseen hands trying to pry us apart.

"It already is happening," Future Lily said sadly. "Look around you."

I looked. Aiden was fighting automatically, like he’d forgotten why we were here. Brock kept looking around in confusion, as if he couldn’t remember who some of us were. Even Sage seemed lost, her magic weaker than before.

"The void magic makes you forget," Future Lily explained. "Forget why you care about each other. Forget what you’re fighting for. That’s how we lost."

"No," I said again, but this time my voice shook. I could feel it happening to me too. The edges of my memories were getting fuzzy. Why was I here again? Who was this girl I was trying to save?

Then Lily grabbed my hand.

Even though she was still shimmering, still barely solid, her touch was warm and real. And the moment our skin touched, everything came rushing back. Our first meeting at the Winter Moon Festival. The way she’d looked at me when the Triple Moon Mark appeared. Every laugh, every kiss, every quiet moment we’d shared.

"Don’t let go," she whispered.

"Never," I promised.

But as I said it, I saw something that made my blood turn cold. Future Lily was happy. Not a happy smile. A knowing, terrible smile.

"You think your love can beat dimensional magic?" she asked. "How sweet. That’s exactly what my Caleb thought too."

She raised her hand, and I saw she was wearing something that certainly hadn’t been there before. A band made of the same dark crystal as the Void Walkers’ weapons.

"What is that?" I asked.

"Insurance," she said simply. "You see, I didn’t come here to help you. I came here to make sure this timeline fails too."

The crystal band started glowing, and suddenly the dimensional tears began growing faster. Both of them, spreading like cracks in glass.

"Why?" Lily gasped, her form flickering worse than ever.

Future Lily’s face twisted with old pain. "Because if I can’t have him, no version of me can."

That’s when I understood. This wasn’t really Future Lily at all.

This was something else. Something that had taken her shape, her memories, her face. Something that wants to destroy every timeline where we might be happy.

And we’d just let it walk right into our most desperate moment.

"Everybody run!" I yelled, but it was too late.

The thing wearing Lily’s face laughed as both dimensional tears exploded outward, and the last thing I saw before the world went white was Lily’s frightened eyes as she disappeared completely into the void.

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