The nightmare was different this time.
I stood in a field of frozen wolves. Hundreds of them. Thousands. All perfectly still, eyes glazed, waiting for my command.
"See?" Seraphine's voice echoed from everywhere and nowhere. "This is what you could have, what you should have. Perfect control. Perfect order."
"This isn't an order." I walked among the frozen wolves. Recognized some faces. Marcus. Helena. Even Erica. "This is death."
"They're alive. Safe. Protected from making wrong choices."
"They're not living." I touched Erica's frozen face. "Living means choosing. Even choosing wrong."
"Then watch them choose death."
The scene changed. Now the wolves were fighting. Dying. Screaming. Blood everywhere.
"This is free will," Seraphine said. "This is what you're protecting. Chaos. Suffe
