81. Trapped

Kaladin finds himself trapped in a nightmare vision sent by Odium, experiencing a barren landscape of hostile winds that attack him physically and psychologically. Wit appears in the vision and provides Kaladin brief shelter, food, and comfort before telling him the story of a small dog who attempts to become a dragon, ultimately failing at each transformation but achieving something greater in the process.

Kaladin exists in a place of constant, hateful winds on a barren planet with rocky crags and chasms. The wind speaks to him with contempt, breaking his spirit by corrupting his lifelong love of wind itself. Exhausted and broken, he crawls toward a beautiful white light only to be pulled down into liquid crem, seemingly drowning. Wit suddenly appears as a glowing figure, rescuing him from the crem and pulling him into a bubble of light at the bottom of a chasm. Wit reveals that Kaladin is asleep in a vision-dream sent by Odium, similar to those the Stormfather once sent to Dalinar. Wit says he cannot stay long—approximately twenty minutes—and warns Kaladin that things will get worse. They share Rock's stew by a fire, and when Kaladin asks for a story, Wit agrees and summons his Cryptic spren companion, Design, to provide musical accompaniment. Wit tells "The Dog and the Dragon," a story set in Shinovar about a small dog who witnesses a magnificent dragon and resolves to transform himself. The dog attempts three transformations: acquiring colorful scales by rolling in seeds (which the other dogs mock), learning human speech through writing (which they ridicule as too quiet), and flying using a pulley system (which they dismiss as merely falling slowly). When the farmer's youngest child falls into the well, the dog uses his pulley harness to descend into the darkness and rescues the drowning child. The dog is then welcomed into the farmer's family, given a warm bed and a sweater with his name written on it, yet he concludes he is "an utter and complete failure" because he failed to become a dragon. Kaladin challenges the story's ending, arguing the dog is actually a hero who achieved remarkable things. Wit insists the story has no meaning and that Kaladin must assign his own interpretation. Before sending Kaladin back into the winds, Wit provides an alternative final line: the dog realizes that "no dragon ever had it so good anyway." Wit promises Kaladin that though suffering will alternate with relief, he will eventually be warm again.