"Your grandmother?" Elara’s voice broke. "That’s impossible."
Being human for a while, the thing smiled with teeth that sparkled like broken glass.
"Nothing is impossible when you’ve lived as long as I have, child."
"You killed my parents," Elara said in a low voice. She was so mad that her hands were shaking.
"I had to." Things were going to go badly because of them.
The shape of the thing changed, getting both more beautiful and more scary at the sa ti. "They discovered what you really are."
"What am I?" Elara asked. "The last of the first family. The daughter of the original werewolf-witch mix."
Everyone gasped. Even the robed figures from the other reality stepped back.
"That’s a myth," Marcus said. "The first hybrid died thousands of years ago."
"Did she?" The thing laughed. "Or did she just learn to hide very, very well?" Baby Truth started crying.
"She’s telling the truth," the baby said through her tears. "Elara’s different from all the other Catalysts."
"How different?" Kael asked, moving closer to Elara. "She’s not just a Catalyst," baby Wisdom said sadly.
"She’s the original." "What does that an?" Ronan grabbed Elara’s hand.
"It ans," the thing said, "that she’s not descended from the Creator’s power. She IS the Creator’s power. Made flesh." Elara felt the world spin around her. "No. That can’t be right."
"Your great-great-grandmother was the first being to combine werewolf strength with witch magic," the creature continued. "She was so powerful that the Creator himself fell in love with her."
"The Creator can’t fall in love," Darian said. "He’s a cosmic force." "He beca human for her," the creature answered. "Just like I beca human to hunt her bloodline."
"You’re the Devourer," Tobias realized. "I’m the Devourer’s wife," the creature anded.
"And I’m tired of watching my husband destroy everything our brother-in-law creates." "Brother-in-law?" Evelyn asked.
"The Creator and Devourer aren’t brothers," the creature said. "They’re married to sisters."
The nine babies all started talking at once, their voices mixing together in fear. "The first hybrid had a sister," baby Truth said.
"Who married the Devourer," baby Wisdom added. "But she got tired of destruction," baby Love ended.
"So I decided to stop it," the creature said. "By ending the one bloodline that could challenge my husband." "But you failed," Elara said. "I’m still here."
"You’re here because your parents were smarter than I thought," the creature admitted.
"They hid you so well that even I couldn’t find you." "How did they hide ?" Elara asked. "They made you forget," the thing said.
"They locked away your witch powers and made you think you were just a werewolf." "But I am just a werewolf," Elara argued. "Are you?" the thing asked.
"Then how did you give birth to nine children who can reshape reality?" Elara looked down at her kids. They were all looking at her with wide, knowing eyes.
"The werewolf in you created the bond with the triplets," baby Truth said softly. "But the witch in you created us."
"No," Elara said. "That’s not possible." "Feel inside yourself," baby Wisdom urged.
"Really feel." Elara closed her eyes. For the first ti in her life, she looked deep inside her own soul.
And she found sothing that shouldn’t be there. Magic. Real magic. Not vampire magic, but sothing older and stronger.
"Oh gods," she whispered. "It’s true." "Now you understand," the thing said.
"You’re not just any Catalyst. You’re the first. The original. The one all others are copies of." "But why kill her parents?" Kael asked angrily.
"Why not just tell her the truth?" "Because her parents found a way to break the cycle," the creature said.
"They discovered that if the original hybrid awakens her full power, she can rewrite the rules entirely." "What rules?" Ronan asked.
"The rule that says creation and destruction must be balanced," the creature responded.
"With her full power, Elara could make a universe where only creation exists." "That sounds good," Darian said.
"Does it?" the thing asked. "What happens when nothing can ever die? When nothing can ever end? When existence becos endless suffering?"
"There has to be another way," Elara said desperately. "There is," the thing said.
"But you won’t like it." "What is it?" Elara asked. "You have to choose," the thing said.
"Wake up your witch skills and risk destroying everything with eternal creation.
Or stay as you are and let my husband finally devour all existence."
"That’s not a choice," Evelyn said furiously.
"That’s a trap." "Life is a trap," the creature said sadly. "I’ve been trying to escape it for eons." "There’s a third option," a new voice said from the doorway.
Everyone turned. Standing there was a woman who looked exactly like Elara, but older. "Who are you?" Elara asked.
"I’m you," the woman said. "From a tiline where you chose to wake up your powers."
"What happened?" Elara asked. "I saved everyone," the older Elara said.
"But I also dood them." "How?" Kael asked. "I created a world where no one could die," the older Elara explained.
"Where no one could feel pain. Where nothing bad could ever happen." "That sounds perfect," Ronan said.
"It was hell," the older Elara responded. "People stopped trying. They stopped growing. They stopped living. They just... existed."
"So what’s the third option?" Elara asked. "You teach your children to choose balance," the older Elara said.
"Not between creation and destruction, but between order and chaos." "How?" baby Truth asked.
"By showing them that so things are worth preserving," the older Elara said.
"And so things are worth letting go." "But the Convergence is almost complete," the thing said.
"In thirty minutes, all paths will rge. She has to choose now." "Then I choose," Elara said strongly. Everyone held their breath.
"I choose to trust my children," Elara said. "Whatever happens, we’ll face it together."
"That’s not a choice," the creature said furiously. "That’s avoiding the choice." "No," Elara said.
"That’s the only choice that matters." The creature scread in anger.
"You stupid girl! You don’t understand what you’re doing!" "I understand perfectly," Elara said. "I’m choosing love over fear."
"Love won’t save you when reality collapses," the creature warned. "Maybe not," Elara said.
"But it’s the only thing worth saving reality for." Suddenly, the building shook. Outside, the sky turned bright red.
"The Convergence has started early," the robed Evelyn said in fear.
"Soone triggered it." "Who?" Marcus asked. "," said a voice from everywhere and nowhere at once.
A figure appeared in the middle of the room. It was huge, dark, and hungry. "Hello, wife," it said to the thing.
"Miss ?" The Devourer had arrived. And he was looking straight at Elara’s children.
"Ti to eat," he said with a smile that could swallow worlds.
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