text: Two old wooden doors stood before Gray. Both of these doors were ancient, covered in scratches, with chips taken out of the wood. The old iron handles looked partially rusted. The two doors were very similar to each other, except for one key difference. Each one had a symbol painted a deep red on them. The door on the left had a symbol of a sword behind held by a clawed hand. The door on the right, a shield. Gray had an uneasy feeling that not only did these doors present her with an important choice, but it was a choice she could not undo. As impulsive as she had been through her entire life, for once she felt apprehensive, worried about making a decision. Before Gray made this decision she had to be sure this was the right one. She turned around to look at where she was. Gray was surprised to see that the place she was in, was just an endless white void. No matter how far she looked off into the distance she couldn't see anything. Looking at the doors again she realized that they were just standing there in front of her. Any sense of reason would suggest that these doors couldn't open up to anything, after all she could walk around them and they were just standing here in this void, nothing was behind them. Still she knew that this choice was going to be important, she just wished she could understand what the choice was. She stood there in silence, staring at these two doors for who knows how long. It felt like hours. Nothing changed around her, it was all just a plain white void and two doors. Looking down at herself she even realized that nothing had changed about her. Her gray scales rough to the touch her red clothes covered in dirt, even her wings, folded against her back felt stiff. Maybe it was because nothing had changed that she felt stagnant. A kobold wasn't supposed to be stagnant; they were creatures of energy, of decision, of creativity and passion. Yet here she was, standing still like a tree and doing a whole lot of nothing. A cold creeping voice came from behind her, deep, feminine, sensual. "I see you've come to a crossroad my little scaly friend." Gray turned around to see a wolf with black fur standing behind her. Even normal wolves were taller than her, but this wolf was even taller than that, towering over her like a dark imposing god and with two bright green eyes that stared down at her with something between contempt and judgment. Gray felt a rush of emotions seeing this creature. Fear of being torn to shreds and eaten, shame for having stood there so long that it could creep up on her, worthless for not being able to make a decision. Gray couldn't look away from it no matter how hard she tried. It was like her eyes were glued on the dark imposing figure. Gray opened her mouth to speak but felt her mouth was dry. Words were hard to form, but she managed to speak. "I'm confused." The wolf nodded. "I can see that, little one." The look in the wolf's eyes softened a touch. "I can also see you carry weight on your shoulders, there’s a great pain over this decision." Gray was able to look back at the door. "I, don't understand what I'm choosing, but I think it's important." The wolf let out a huff. "It is an important decision you make. I know what my answer was, but I also made this same decision long, long ago." Gray stared at the doors. She felt the brush of the cool fur next to her. It wasn't cold like she expected but rather it was pleasantly cool, like sitting in front of the air conditioner on a hot summer's day. "So, what is the question?" The wolf lowered its massive head next to Gray's. That green eye impossibly large next to her. "That is the best question you can ask, it is also a question you must answer yourself." Gray hated that. She wasn't a smart kobold. She wasn't like her friends. She was just dumb. Gray didn't mind though, she could figure most things out through brute force. By the Holy Dragon she even managed to figure out the stupid mail route her sister gave her after she took the new job. Yet this decision before her felt more like a riddle than a question. A sword or a shield, what did these choices mean? The wolf let out a soft whine. "I sense your struggle little one. All of your kin are like children, and I dislike it when children suffer, be they my own, or others. My sister's cruelty toward your kind will be avenged in time, but as my prison weakens I can at least offer some support and aide." Gray looked over at the wolf. "Who are you?" "You may call me Nightmare." The world began to melt around them. The white void melting into a slurry of different colors that made little to no sense at first. Only the two doors remained stationary and visible. The colors soon began to form shapes around them and she started to make out objects. She found herself standing in a large room with toys scattered around the place. There was a bed in the corner, a couple of dressers, various ragdolls on the floor, a couple of plastic toy weapons, and a large dollhouse nearby. In front of the dollhouse sat two young kobolds. Both of them were covered in gray scales with folded wings on their backs. The smaller one of the two had red spines on her back and red eyes, the larger one had yellow spines and matching eyes. It took a moment but Gray recognized them. "That's me and my big sister. Me and Dee, but we're so small." Nightmare purred. "Oh really? I would have never guessed that the smaller kobold that looked just like you was in fact you." Gray gave a hard look at the wolf who only smiled at her revealing fangs as large and sharp as daggers. "You don't have to be rude." "I'm being playful little one." The small version of her older sister spoke quietly. "See, you just need to put the sword on the hip like that and it'll stay in the little belt." The small version of herself eyes widened. "Woah, that's cool!" Dee giggled. "Sure is." Just outside the door behind them Gray heard a voice she hadn't heard in a long, long time. A male voice that sounded rough, and serious. "I can't believe it. The security measures were supposed to keep the dreamers from leaving. How could they know about our kids?" Another voice she hadn't heard in a long time replied, a female one. "Their powers are still being studied, hun. The dreamers might be developing powers that even we couldn't know about. This might be more dangerous than any of us thought possible." Gray took a step forward but felt an invisible wall stopping her from any more progress. "Mom, dad. Their alive?" Nightmare let out a small growl and then looked toward the doors which were firmly cemented into the wall. "They were both warriors. Fighters, soldiers. They fought well, but you know better than most that with such a dangerous profession often comes with loss." Gray looked back toward the two doors herself. "A sword, or a shield." Her dad's voice came out from behind her. "We shouldn't go back. This is too dangerous, we should ask the Princess if we can resign from the program." Her mom replied. "We are soldiers, we are the weapons of the Dragon Lords, as the Dragon Guard, we do not back away from danger, we face it and fight it." "We have kids now. They need us. At least one of us should ask to resign." Her mom snapped. "I didn't realize you were a coward." There was a long silence after that but her father finally replied. "No, I'm not. But bravery doesn't always take the form of violence, sometimes it takes the form of protecting that which is really important. I know what's important to me, but what's important to you?" Her mom replied. "I, I understand where your coming from, but the project is almost done. Let's just give it one more month. You can do that right?" "One month... I can do one month." The world washed away as the blinding white void came over it. She watched as all the colors and shapes were replaced by the empty void once more. Yet again she found herself staring at the two doors. The sword, or the shield. Nightmare spoke carefully. "Does that help answer your question?" Gray nodded. "I think it does. You know, they never came back from the next trip they went on. That was the last time I ever saw them." Nightmare nodded. "I am aware." Gray had already made her choice long ago she feared, but perhaps, this decision wasn't the worst one she could make after all. She walked to the door and put her hand on it. Opening the door with the shield on it she saw a dark void beyond the door. She took a step through it and watched as the entire world was swallowed by that darkness. The doorway behind her vanished. For a moment she stood there in the darkness, alone, cold, and lost. A pair of green eyes lit up in the darkness beside her. Soon a soft blue light spread out in the form of a giant wolf. Nightmare looked down at her. "So you chose to protect those you love, over destroying those that you hate." Gray swallowed. "I've already lost enough in this world, I don’t want to lose anymore." The world began to brighten and she watched as bright green grass grew out of the ground beneath them spreading out like a bottle of spilled milk. Soon large trees with silver trunks began to sprout out of the grass around them shooting high into the sky and toward the heavens. The sky too began to come into focus as a bright pink with green clouds. As the colors spread around her creating beauty and life she looked onward to see off in the distance, far, far away there stood a tree tall and giant above the others. It was so impossibly tall she could swear the tree itself was as large as a city in width and stretched on taller and higher than she could ever see. A large face had been carved into its front, with a massive mustache, kind smile and sleepy eyes. It was the most amazing thing Gray had ever seen. She just couldn't believe it. She went to take a step forward and froze as a cold realization hit her. If she continued forward, even just one step voluntarily, she may never return home. She turned to face Nightmare who had wrapped her massive tail in a circle around Gray. "Nightmare, what is this place?" "A special place, one may even call this realm 'the truth' but I always just saw it as home." From ahead of them she saw two figures approaching. Two kobolds wearing shiny metal armor and waving at her. It was her mom and dad. Her dad with his red eyes and yellow spines. Her mom with the reverse eyes and spine colors. They were both smiling and waving at her. She waved at them. "MOM, DAD!" The world began to fade around the two of them. Once more into that blinding light. She wanted to stay even for a few more seconds. She looked up at Nightmare. Even Nightmare was beginning to fade. Gray was afraid she might be all alone if Nightmare left. She didn't want to be alone. She reached out and grabbed onto Nightmare's fur. It was cool to the touch, but she could feel a warmth deep beneath it. Yet even that sensation was gone as everything was consumed by the white light. *** Gray opened her eyes and looked around. She was in her bedroom. Her blanket was a mess around her and she felt unusually tired and slow. The morning light was bright and shining right into her eyes so she had to roll over to get away from it. She rubbed her hands at her eyes and felt something soft brush against her face. Looking at her hands she saw a few lengths of soft navy blue fur. Gray swallowed. "That wasn't just a normal dream."