It was the second dream she had witnessed now with the same person, the same strange language, and the same intimate details of a life she'd never lived herself; but in this case Aiesha was witness to the terror of three wolves, the abandonment of one, the horror of being caught—all of it nightmarish.

She knew what it felt like to be abandoned, she thought. She knew what it felt like to be swallowed by the very earth! It was this that resonated with her the very most. How awful to be left there, to be dragged in to that terrible darkness and swallowed up. The memory of her own experience warred with the dream as it unfolded, until finally there were the three doors open to her.

Believing herself to still be dreaming, Aiesha did not hesitate.

The path to the tree was tempting for only a moment, and then she thought to be a warrior was something she had trained for with Khusobek. It wasn't until she saw a glimpse of that fractuous, tethered body beyond the third portal's yawning mouth, that she knew where she wanted to be.

That poor creature! It shouted and screamed, and she knew just how it felt (at least she thought she did, being more a child than anything herself). She saw the pain in it, and the way it was snared by those chains. To confine a creature such as this! It wasn't right. Freedom was the most important thing—and this poor creature had been left here to suffer!

She didn't realize she had been crying ever since the dream of the three. That her face was wet, and now cold, and that the tears sprang to life renewed upon confrontation with this creature.

Towards the chains rushed Aiesha, intent on doing something, anything to help them be free.