Soren shakes his head, scarcely as a reply, more as a reaction to being affronted with a memory much clearer than his recurrent nightmares. But it would serve as one in the same, for cats did precisely the opposite of raising him.

He can't countenance this, even if it feels as though roots slither from the leaf litter to snag his feet and bind him in place. He stomps a foot as though that had really been happening to him and breaks into a run, swatting at the beast men as he passes. The low-hanging branches rustle and fragment the image, but when they still back into a clearer picture, a word materializes above the cat-shaped heads that float away from the blurry haze of tears.

DENIED

Soren's form shrinks as he tears down the corridor of wilderness.