Maybe it was something within Hadeon’s DNA, something wrong and foul that led him down paths that could ultimately get him killed. Perhaps, he was a glutton for a pain he could not name? Perhaps, he thought himself unworthy. When could one see a pattern, played out again and again, and finally say to oneself that it was you (him) that was the problem all along?

Hadeon listened intentionally, at first, to the dream visitor’s words. A story he wove of pain and loss and hope. Of a world that could still be saved. Of doors that he, Hadeon, had a choice to choose. A path of healing, which Hadeon knew immediately was not for him. A path of war, where he could put his teeth to good use and protect a prize nurtured within a tree. Or a third option, one that might demand everything from him.

He thought of Calista, of the world, and of the people he loved. He thought of his life, of what it meant, and what it could mean if he chose one option over the other.

But in the end, Hadeon knew there was only one choice for him.

It was option number three. A portal to an isle he did not recognize, to face off against a wolf whose pain devoured the world before them.

And where he might’ve allowed his own rage to tear into the wolf bound to this world against his will, as an act of justice for all the despair he had caused so many others, it was the sight of many other faces (many Hadeon would never recall nor recognize) that yanked at the chains binding the wolf.

What are you doing? He called out to them, shock and confusion ripping from his vocal cords as he sauntered forward, brows furrowed along his expression. He has tried to kill us all, he tried to tell them. He is the reason this world is tearing itself apart.

And they all wished to save him?

It perhaps wasn’t or would never have been Hadeon’s first choice. But as his own starlit stare fixed on the sorrow of the chained wolf’s expression, the wailing that pierced his ears, and the hurt that all but exuded from his tortured body, Hadeon felt something ache inside his heart.

Perhaps, he was no killer in this body or the next.

Perhaps, he could not right the wrongs this man had committed.

But he could give him a second chance.

—he supposed.

And so Hadeon surged forward after a second thought and yanked at the chains binding the wolf to the earth. If this were what the world wanted, he would help them free the chained man and hope that they had all chosen the right option.