I lift my hands to shield my face. The dragon's fangs loom over me, brilliantly white and tapered to sharp points. I cringe back, expecting the beast to snap its jaws closed, rendering my body apart in less than a heartbeat.

Instead, the dragon shimmers. Its body shrinks as it lunges towards me, until by the time it reaches my face, it is nothing more than a simple snake with dappled green and yellow scales. It touches down on my shoulder and curls around my neck only to pause at my other shoulder.

I twist my neck to look down on this unexpected fellow. The snake meets my gaze with its gleaming ruby eyes. It gives my an open-mouthed smile, and the little white teeth that were so terrifying before are now downright cute. I grin back at my gatekeeper.

The serpent tilts its head expectantly, and I start a little bit. That's right-- a gift. I'm supposed to give it a gift.

I hesitate uncertainly for a moment before looking down at my hands. My right palm, I realize, still carries the bits of flame and darkness from earlier. Instinctively, I cradle the insubstantial energy in my hands. The snake watches curiously from my shoulder.

Under my fingers, the darkness molds like clay, twisting itself into uncertain shapes. I let it drip down from my fingertips, and it stretches down into a teardrop, the flickers of firelight streaking the darkness with colours. I play with it for a few moments, entranced by the swirling colours, before I finally turn it into a small sphere the size of a marble. It solidifies between my fingers into a shiny black pebble, sparkling with subtle colours. I turn to the snake, holding it up for appraisal.

My gatekeeper gazes at it silently, then takes the gift between its teeth. A sense of pleasure rolls off of it like a wave. It slithers down my arm and wraps itself around my wrist before looking back at me with its intelligent eyes. Though it does not speak, I get a strong sense that it is saying Let's go.

"Alright," I whisper. "Let's go."

Together we stride forward, stepping through the doorway in the stone.

As expected, the scene changes dramatically. The uniform forest is gone, and the gigantic rock structure is nowhere to be seen. Instead, I am standing in a grand garden.

Around me, low trimmed hedges create a spacious labyrinth decorated with brightly coloured flowerbeds. Interspersed among the flowerbeds are weeping trees, their drooping branches swaying gracefully in the gentle breeze. The quiet hum of insects tells me that the garden is full of life, if the little butterflies drifting over the hedges and the chirp of birds in the trees weren't enough of an indication. Water trickles from a simple, circular stone fountain before me.

The snake points its nose beyond the fountain. I take this as it telling me where to go. I tread quietly past the fountain and between the hedges. My footsteps are light on the lush grass under my feet. Soon, I leave the hedges behind, and the garden becomes an orchard, with various fruit trees flowering alongside the beautiful willows, their branches interlocking.

The snake leaves my wrist and leaps forward, moving skillfully through the low-growing branches, barely touching each branch before lunging towards the next one. It appears almost to be flying. I suppose that it is still a dragon. I hurry my footsteps to keep pace with my gatekeeper.

The trees begin to thin, and when we reach the edge of the orchard, the serpent returns to my arm. It nods towards a circular platform, raised slightly off the ground in front of me.

I step onto the platform and look around. Around me, nature is divided into segments, stretching out further than I can see in every direction. Every type of biome meets at this point. I sense that every species of animal in the world is housed here, in this expanse of mountains and forests and ocean.

This must be it, then. The moment of truth.

Instinctively, I sink down into a cross-legged sitting position and close my eyes. I am here; now all I can do is wait for my totem animal to appear.

As I wait, I can feel the warm presence of different animals as they approach and then turn away, like curious onlookers who did not find anything interesting. I do not let myself look. Somehow, I sense that opening my eyes would be very, very bad.

It does not take long before something lingers. I wait apprehensively, sensing it circle me, slowly going around and around, getting closer with each pass.

My heart is thudding in my chest. It has not stopped thrumming since I began this journey, but now it is beating louder than ever, except perhaps than when my Gatekeeper appeared.

The presence finally stops in front of me, but I am terrified to open my eyes.

Suddenly, a cold nose touches my hand, so startling that my physical body, far above, twitches. My eyelids fly open, and I meet the soulful gaze of my wolf.