Mate's Revenge

Chapter 5: Mate's Revenge

[Unknown POV]

Witch Lassie succeeded. I opened my eyes after hearing Paul's comments and saw that I was resting in my bedroom. I took up my phone to reopen my calendar after taking a quick look at the time on the clock above my bed.

I grinned as I saw the date—July 24, 2021—and got out of bed. Right now, I am eager to see White Star Lake.

But how would we steer the Leyte Mountain forests without Witch Lassie leading the way? Paul posed a competent question.

I went back in time to last year. Winchester will visit my pack a year from now, for the period being. But how would I discover her directly that I was in the past?

Even though I had learned this understanding for more than 30 years, the odd thing was that, up until that juncture, all I knew about her was that she was a witch. Also, she didn't leave me with any connection data when I rescued her and the phoenix close to the volcano eighteen, no, seventeen years ago.

That phoenix, hold on! I recalled a crucial detail. I should have been able to locate the Phoenix Blood I previously had by now, since Paul and I had traveled back in time to a year ago. I looked about the room, but I couldn't locate the glass vial that Witch Lassie had charmed to contain the magic blood.

What on the earth was transpiring? Theoretically, if my spirit toured across time and returned to a previous reality, the things I had before wouldn't change unless I did anything to alter the past, like chucking the phone out of my grasp. But in truth, once I woke up, all I did was sit up and stand on the floor; I did nothing to alter the past. Where did the Phoenix Blood that I once held go?

James, something went wrong, Paul remarked.

I gave him a headdot. I had to meet my partner at White Star Lake immediately, but I had no clue how to contact Witch Lassie at the moment.

Anyway, the first thing I needed to do was go straight towards Leyte Mountain. I quickly got into my SUV and sped for the southeast after leaving Chris, my beta, a note indicating I was leaving.

A small girl with red hair who stood little more than four feet tall was waiting for me at Leyte Mountain's entrance to the forest that led to White Star Lake ten hours later.

A "Witch Lassie?" I wondered if the little girl, who seemed to be between 3 and 4 years old, was the witch who claimed to have lived for more than 200 years as I stared into her amber eyes.

You're 10 minutes later than I anticipated, James. My name was shouted out by the little child as she produced a smartphone. "Do you know the Alpha of the Silver Moon Pack? It's very rude to keep a lady waiting for you," she added, pointing at the time on it.

Okay, at this point, there was no question in my mind that the little girl in front of me was not Witch Lassie.

Why did you change into a tiny girl, Lassie? Magic?" I knelt and questioned her.

"Do you believe that the only substance needed for time and space travel is phoenix blood? I used all of my magic to unleash the Phoenix Blood's power before sending the souls of the three of us into this realm. It's kind of me to ask you to pay a portion of your future life now that I'm in this condition. The dog sighed.

Hold on. This planet, just what do you mean? I'm not in the same place I was before. My mouth sprang open in shock. Witch Lassie wasn't telling an untruth in front of me, but I knew that.

"Whatever transpired in the past cannot be modified in the world. But that's a different answer if you take into account the multiverse. In various occurrences during your life, you will have to make a decision.

"For instance, let's say you were on the fence between studying Psychology or Applied Computing when you applied to colleges and ultimately decided to go with Psychology. However, have you ever considered how your life might have turned out if you had selected the field of applied computing? Lassie provided a clear illustration.

A multiverse? Do you imply that once I make a decision, another "I" in another reality will make a different decision?

A magically created illusion of a dandelion came before my eyes as soon as Lassie nodded and waved her finger. "It reminds me of dandelions. When you make a decision, the alternative that you didn't choose causes the creation of a brand-new parallel reality. In the illusion, a dandelion seed broke off and dropped next to the first dandelion, where it quickly germinated.

"So, our universe and the original world are not connected in any way? Why is time travel possible in this universe? I saw the divided dandelion seeds, which had barely developed to the point of blossoming.

I ascertained the cause and inquired, "Is it because this world's rate of time flow is slower than that of my home world? We are thus in the "present" and not the "past" of this globe.

That's it, Lassie said with a snap of her fingers and a grin of appreciation. You thought twice before deciding to accompany me to save your partner, didn't you?"

I gave him a headdot. Yes, I did pause there and then. As I followed Lassie into the Leyte Mountain's forest, I was still unsure.

The dandelion in front of me suddenly split open additional seeds, some of which were sprouting up quickly and others of which were just beginning to develop.

"You can treat all of these seeds as newborn parallel zones," Lassie added. Some of them will move through time more slowly than your original universe, while others will do so more quickly. I can explore that planet more slowly by using my powers. With the aid of Phoenix Blood, we have now successfully traversed the spacetime chasm. And the world in which we were reborn had a slower pace of time. When you paused, it was produced.

There aren't many distinctions between this world and the original one we previously lived in, so I shook my head and asked her once again. The two big variations are that time moves more slowly here than it does there and that I don't possess Phoenix Blood. Right?"

"Exactly." Then, she said, "What's wrong? " as she nodded. Are you concerned that your partner is not the same woman from the Whitestar Lake Pack? Or, are you concerned that this Emily is not the same Emily you remember? Lassie seemed to be reading my mind as she smiled mockingly and gave me the impression that she was just waiting to mislead someone.

I c****d my head, "I do worry that in this world, my future mate will not be that girl." Emily was also on my mind. Would the Emily in this other universe experience the same end as the Emily in my world?