Vaelora knew pain. She knew it intimately. She knew of loss. Of Grief. Of despair. She knew the consequences of what abandonment could do to one’s own soul, and she knew it well. The dream visitor’s words were lost on her as Vaelora focused on the pain of what his brother must’ve felt when he had learned he had been left behind.

Vaelora knew what it was like to be left behind.

And though her rage for the dream visitor surged brightly within her, a fire burning as hot as the darkness that often grasped her soul, it was the emergence of three doors—three choices—that stilled her beating heart.

She would not kill nor harm the dream visitor, even as her red-toned eyes slid into narrow slits toward its ghostly silhouette. He deserved to remain in his prison—the one of his own making—as he recalled his choice to leave behind his brother, his blood.

But Vaelora would not leave him behind. Not like him.

She did not wait to hear anything more. As soon as that third door opened and the shrieks of the wolf echoed painfully in her ears, she rushed forward.

Already, there were others. Others whom Vaelora wondered if they felt similarly as she had.

They did not tear into him, whether that had been the goal of the dream visitor’s words or not; they tore into his chains, freeing him.

Just like Vaelora wished to be free.

She barreled forward, a scream atop her lips as the chained wolf’s own wails echoed in her soul. It rattled some deep-seated emotion she refused to name, but as the tears pricked and fell down her cheeks, she aimed teeth to iron and readied herself to yank.

I will free you, she murmured, blubbering out through hasty breaths as she grabbed a chain that no one had yet touched. And she yanked, she clawed, she gripped, and she grasped—uncaring of how the searing metal seemed to burn through her flesh, and the magic of his bounds fought desperately to remain intact.

She didn’t care about any of it.

He didn’t deserve this at all.

And while no one had saved Vaelora, she would do right by him and save this chained wolf’s life.

Even if he wished to kill them all in the end.