You Didn't Make the Naughty List

Running, running, running… Erys was chased through field and forest, over lava filled plains and swampy woods. His dream continued to take him through all of the places of note during his life. From the far oss islands of his birth, through Boreas and Auster. He could hardly breath and he couldn’t wake himself. As he raced for his life the scenery continued to change. He didn’t notice at all as Chimera entered his cozy quarters, he was deaf to the sound of his voice and the paw against his shoulder. The nightmare held him tightly in its clutches.

Finally he was cornered into Fenmyre, he recognized the paths he took every day, the trees, the faces. Erystotle ran for his very life through the packlands. His heart beat out his chest, there was no way out. At the same moment Chimera carefully wrapped him in his embrace, warming Erys and squeezing him protectively. As Erys turned around to face his doom, his paws slipping over the cliffside above an inky black ocean, a streak of light interrupted the descent of his hunters.

It stopped between himself and the demons. As the warmth of Chimera spread through him, so did the light before him grow to make his pursuers disappear. Erys knew they were defeated, suddenly the tension within him dissipated and the curse that had held onto him for so long released him from its grasp and Erystotle relaxed into Chimera’s embrace.

He sucked in a relieved breath and woke from his dream, hungover from it and unaware of where he was. The scent of the King surrounded him and he realized his arms were around him. He was silent and uncertain as his mind caught up to what was going on. He was having a nightmare, and he’d woken the King because of it. But where he should have been beating him for the transgression he was holding him until it was over.

”Your Highness, my deepest apologies.” His voice was a whisper against ivory and onyx fur. This was not the actions of a cruel man, and Erys was beginning to believe Dalila wasn’t lying to him. Of course Erys did not move from the King’s grasp, never run away, and he would not. If this was where Chimera desired him to be, he would remain.