Day by day, it would pull at the chain, trying to free itself. It growled and grew more frustrated.
The chain not long enough for the dog to explore its yard, it could go only where the chain allowed.
So it begged, it pleaded in its own way with it’s owner… lengthen the chain.
Eventually, the owner agreed with the dogs pleas and lengthened the chain so it was long enough for the dog to go where it pleased. Suddenly, the dog had power do do what it pleased.
Only… when the owner returned the next day, he found the dog had wandered in circles, wrapping the chain around it’s own neck in the process and choking itself to an untimely death.
You wield the chain, Mordecai.
There are plenty of dogs around the Slaughterhouse pleading with you to lengthen the chains of their dreams – to have the power to explore the yard of their subconscious.
Everyone wants the power you yield, or so they think.
You and I, we understand the power of dreams.
The symbolism.
Premonitions.
Enlightenment.
But the rest of the dogs in this yard are chained up for a reason. The more chain you give them, the more they will simply choke themselves with that chain.
Viper Roberts. He cut a deal with you that helped you get back at your brother. A deal that gave him power over his yard. Tell me, Dream Guardian, what do you truly think he will do with that…
Embrace it?
Control it?
Choke himself with it?
Nafalmgir sought answers from you. Pleading, begging in his own way for his chain to be lengthened.
But he was simply a rat in your maze, a toy to be discarded when you were finished with him.
You never gave him that chain, kept him tied closely to that tower.
An endless quest with no answers.
It matters not whether we seek to break the chain entirely like Kaine Knightlord did, or have enough control over our dreams to add enough freedom to explore and control the yard of one’s dreams.
At the end of the day, we’re all toys in your realm. Toys that you and your Brother toss about nightly in the toing and froing of our subconscious.
That yard which we are powerless over, that you hold the chains to.
But I am not like the other dogs, seeking control over my chain.
I am satisfied being chained to the pole of my subconscious.
For there, I can see what I need to.
I dream what the lifeforce brings me.
The visions that will bring enlightenment.
For when one stills themselves to stop struggling at the chain like a junkyard dog, they see.
That our dreams aid us.
The chain exists for a reason, to protect us.
You negotiate with the dogs, you lengthen the chain for those that plead their case.
Their blood is on your hands when they ultimately choke on it.
Because it’s your damned chain.