The Spirit Bear was running through the rainforest at a speed that defied her exhaustion.
What was she to do otherwise? People's lives, her own kin's lives, depended on it.
The wind moved her deep fur deeper inside, cooling her down, while she jumped over fallen trees.
It felt good.
The air felt musty, with a sweet tang of fruit, beasts, and rot as she ran.
The rainforest was large, the visibility was beyond horrible, and she couldn't help but curse the damned place over and over.
But at least she knew the way back towards the entrance.
And slowly she was drawn to it, as the large opening appeared between exotic trees.
She didn't stop, not once. Not to rest, not to drink, she just kept running until she was out of the Silver Gardens.
However, she had to stop once outside, even if she did not wish to.
The difference in climate, temperature, and scenery was a shock to her body, like a bucket of cold water dropped when one is in a deep fever.
Her body was at its limits already, and now, it was well beyond those as well.
Her large body crumbled to the ground, her paws scraping at the dirt below her.
Her body could no longer hold this form, so the hair began receding slowly towards her back, revealing the exhausted Allegra, who kept on wheezing heavily as the rising sun shone brightly between the leaves.
But there was no time to rest; the dawn was upon her, and her kin would soon start their new attempt at attacking the City of Silver again.
After a minute, the only minute she offered herself to breathe and acclimate, she, ever so slowly, began dragging herself to her feet.
But her feet barely responded to her orders, as they trembled heavily.
The only thing that kept her going now was the food she ate with the weird group of humans and the urgency she started feeling in her heart at the advice Blanc and Celine gave her.
However, this was not a story of old that the High Chief used to tell the young ones at the Ancestral Hold, where resilience, duty, and loyalty would give one enough strength to persevere.
No, the reality was harsher, her body not able to function on hopes, but on rest, to heal and gather energy.
Her knees buckled beneath her weight, and she fell, back-first, on the ground, looking at the clear sky above her head.
She wouldn't die from this, not as long as the enemy finds her.
But others surely would, since she was late in giving them the truth of their situation.
As her eyes slowly closed, despite her attempts to remain awake, she could only apologize to whoever listened.
And she drifted to sleep.
Her dreams were always vivid, clear as the crystal white she wore on her eyes.
Since young, she loved sleeping, being able to control her dreams, being the Queen of the whole continent, flying around like Heru and his clan did, eating delicious food, buying whatever she wanted, living in a big castle, and not holding back her feelings and her tongue.
To laugh with friends, to curse when she saw the injustice and greed of some of the elders and chiefs, to one day love someone, and maybe have a kid or two.
To teach the next generation, to lead properly, and never make a mistake.
In her dreams, Allegra lived.
In the real world, she could wish for the next time she was asleep.
In her dreams, she lived countless lives, conquered, ruled, led, loved, and died.
Yet here, in the real world, she lived none, conquered few, ruled poorly, led others to their death, didn't want to love, and was still breathing.
But this dream she had now was a bit different.
She woke up underwater.
It wasn't deep, nor did she panic.
She woke up with a sense of peace and happiness in her chest, something she had forgotten as of late.
She swam up.
And as the surface tension of the water was about to make way, she realized this dream was not in her control, as most of them were.
Perhaps she did not have the mental strength to control it, or perhaps she didn't care anymore.
So she relaxed her mind and watched the dream unfold.
The water tension broke, and she was able to see what was around her.
She was in a pool, a beautifully decorated one at that.
All around the pool were gardens full of plants and flowers.
In the distance, there was a building so large she didn't believe it could ever exist.
The building touched the sky, as if trying to grab it for its own.
A few childish giggles were heard running towards the pool, but she wasn't able to see them yet, as they were behind the flowers.
"I'm coming to get you!" she heard a man's voice say as he chuckled.
And at his words, the childish voices yelled and began running again, laughing even harder than before.
They passed her view just for a brief moment.
There were three, two girls and a boy, all young but clearly of different ages.
They all had different hair colors, but there was one, one of the girls, the youngest of the three, who, weirdly enough, had the same eye color as she did.
The kids stopped for a moment, all waving at her with wide smiles on their faces, before rushing off again behind flowers, laughing greatly.
Next passed the man who was playing with the kids.
He was… he was… she knew him, she felt that, but the form he had was blurry, no matter how much she tried focusing her eyes.
"Are you enjoying the water?" the man asked.
"I do, it's exactly what I wanted," Allegra replied, without control over her tongue.
"Wonderful, should I bring any of you something?" he asked.
Any of you? Who?
She turned around, and three more blurry silhouettes were in the water as well.
Two of them felt oddly familiar, but she couldn't tell how or why that was.
But the blurriness of them had a weird light color to it.
One had a light blue, one a light yellow, and one had a light red and a light green emanating from it.
It was weird, but one of the silhouettes answered.
"It's warm and relaxing, you know what would work best, a wineskin of red wine."
The other two silhouettes agreed with her, laughing.
"I'm glad, I'll bring you the wine shortly." A smile appeared on the man, between all the blurriness, "But before that, I have to catch some rats who refuse to eat proper food."
"Where are the other two?" another asked.
"Ate and now are sleeping like they haven't slept in a week," the man chuckled.
"Good hunting then," said one of them, before all four, including Allegra, started laughing.
After the laughter subsided, the last of the silhouettes spoke, "Make sure to join us after, my love."
"Aye, aye," said the man before taking off after the kids.
Who were they? Where was she?
Her mind was full of questions, but she let the dream continue.
Or she would have, if not for the harsh tongue that began scraping and licking at her face.