Northstar Vale My world is burning to the ground…(MdC members highly welcome)

The self loathing is real

Noctaryn listened quietly, her words kind and reassuring. She painted a vision that was blurry at best, if only because he had never imagined having what she claimed he could in this life. Instinct begged him to scoff and reject the notion, but he couldn’t ignore the flip in his belly.

A wife and children? A family—he could have that? Who would want him? He was a half-breed, caught between wild and domestic. He had no knowledge of life beyond humans.

Despite the wolf in him, he was nothing more than a dog. How he had managed on his own thus far was beyond him. He had no idea what it meant to be a wolf or to live among them. The life he had known at his mother’s side might as well have been a figment of his imagination. It was only preserved by the comfort of howls each night during his first year—songs that were familiar until, one day, they just… stopped.

Never to return. And hope left with them.

“I may be far from them, but never free of them. If only I could be so lucky.”

The scoff finally came then as he continued, now pacing. “I am riddled with scars, both physical and mental. Demons plague my sleep as much as they do my waking moments. I have lived a nightmare, and though I’ve escaped, I have yet to wake up from it.”

He whirled to face her, silver eyes locking onto gold.

“You were unlucky to witness a part of me that I hate, Viskani. How could anyone choose this?” His words came out rushed but without bite. She didn’t deserve heated words, and he wanted to give her the truth. Despite his shame, he didn’t want to hide.