A new beginning (Seyn's story, solo)

Darkness. That was everything he could see. Everything he could feel. Everything... he could remember. Who was he ? He had no idea. He couldn't even see himself. He couldn't even remember what "seeing" meant. There was no light. Had there been any ? Another thing he couldn't remember. What was light anyway ? Something meant to dissipate the darkness ? Or was it the other way around ? It didn't matter anyway. Nothing mattered. How long had he been there ? He didn't know. Was this even a place ? He didn't know either. Have he even been somewhere else than this place ? Did he ever see, or hear, or touch ?
A timeless place, in which senses were powerless and thoughts pointless. Yes that was it. What was he even doing here ? He had no idea. All he knew was that he knew nothing. Even "me" was something abstract in this place. The only reason he knew he "was" was the fact he was thinking. This didn't even felt enough though. Only the present existed. Past had been darkness, future will be darkness. Only the present was something : a brief, useless thought.

Suddenly something appeared. Light appeared, but it wasn't lighting anything. Warmth appeared, but he couldn't feel it. He knew it was there, but he couldn't feel it. What was this ? A sun. It was a sun. How did he know it was a sun ? Had he seen one before ? The light was starting to blind him. He closed his eyes, getting back to the reassuring darkness. Wait, he had eyes ? He tried to open them again. The light was still as blinding. He closed them again. He was feeling weird. Actually, he was feeling. His body was lied against something hard. He had a head, a neck, a torso. He maybe had more, but he couldn't feel it at the moment. He tried to open his eyes again, to no avail. He continued to try. He could do it. It took him a long time. He could actually feel time going by now. He had a reference. His heart was beating in his chest, producing a regular reassuring sound. A lot of heartbeats later, he managed to open his eyes. He was inside a cave. The memory was slowly getting back to him. He was a dragon. He also had two wings, four paws and a tail. And he could move them. He had ears and could hear sounds. He had a muzzle and could smell. He was inside his cave, his personal place. He had a mate and two children to be born soon. He was Seyn.

He was feeling groggy, but he managed to move is body. As his eyes moved though something felt off. He didn't remember his cave was that dirty. He had always kept it clean, and now it looked like it had been abandoned for years. Besides there was no sign of his mate. The eggs weren't there. What was going on ? Seyn began to feel worried. What had happened ? He headed out, but there wasn't any sign of anyone. He headed back inside, even more worried. The eggs. Where were the eggs ? He couldn't find them. A small item drew his attention. It was a piece of shell. It looked old, but there was no doubt about it, it was a piece of his eggs. His eggs... had been smashed ? No, the piece was too big for that. It looked as if it already had hatched a long time ago. This was crazy. His mate had disappeared and their eggs already hatched ? What kind of sick joke was that ? His belly suddenly growled, signaling him he was hungry. That was right, he would get something to eat and then he would wait. His mate would come back, right ?

It took him a few hours to manage to kill something worth eating. He wasn't really feeling fit, his movements were not as assured as before. But finally he did catch something. He was lucky preys were this abundant this...
Wait. How could he not have noticed that ? The golden dragon blinked in shock at the realization of what was wrong. The very last memory he had before today, was the winter. And right now, the weather was hot and the preys abundant. It was the summer. It... it just didn't match ! Something had happened between his last memory and now ! But what ? His cave seemed abandoned for years, his mate was not here anymore, their eggs had hatched. And now this incoherence in time ! This was crazy. This was just crazy.
Seyn needed to calm down. He took a few deep breathes, trying to get these thoughts away. It was so unbelievable it was hard not to think about it though. The golden dragon started to eat his prey, still trying to find an explication to all this. Of course he didn't find any. Once he finished eating, he rested his head on his paws, getting in a comfortable position to think about all what was happening. He got distracted as he noticed a golden glint. Intrigued, the golden dragon stood up and tried to find the source of the glint. He soon found it. It was a golden pendent.
Seyn suddenly froze. He knew this pendent. It was the one his mate was wearing. Since the day he gave it to her as a gift, his mate had always been wearing it, even in their intimate moments. She was saying it was great with her black scales. And now, this pendent was in Seyn's paw. And the golden dragon perfectly knew it could only mean one thing. His legs started to tremble as his breathing started to get erratic, his look still fixed on the pendent. Something... something had happened to her. Seyn fell more than he sat and started to cry. Tears flowed on his face as the dragon uncontrollably continued to sob, holding his mate's pendent. His mate got killed by something, and he wasn't there to protect her. He couldn't protect the one dragoness he loved more than any other, the one he would have gladly given his life if it meant saving her. How cruel. He excelled at protecting people. He was born and trained a Guardian. And yet, his significant one was dead.

The golden dragon continued to cry for what seemed hours. He was feeling like he had emptied his body of all its tears. He was feeling exhausted from sobbing and crying, but he couldn't stop. Nor he wanted to stop. Seyn managed to get up and instinctively walked toward his former cave. Their former cave. So many memories coming back now. Never had he imagined that so good memories could be this painful to remember. He almost stumbled as he continued to walk, heading for the inside of the cave. He was feeling empty, but most of all alone and disoriented. Everything was happening too suddenly. The golden dragon lied at the place he used to sleep with his mate, still holding the pendent. With a last tear, exhausted, he fell in a deep dreamless sleep.


The light was blinding Seyn. It took him a minute to get used to the light before managing to open his eyes... and remember the recent events. He felt hopeless as the weight of his sadness continued to crush his heart. He was still tightly holding the pendent in his paw. He didn't feel like getting up. He just stood there, lying in that spot that was bringing back so many happy and painful memories. For a moment, he considered the idea to die. Everything he had had been taken away. Yeah, just dying there and put an end to this sick joke. But his look crossed the piece of egg shell he had seen the previous day. His mate was maybe dead, but his children were maybe still alive. He didn't have the right to die right here. And besides, it surely wasn't what his mate would have wanted. Seyn stood up with a suddenly newfound motivation. He had failed his duty to protect his mate, but he had a second chance by protecting his children.
Seyn delicately put the pendant on a nearby rock, and slowly walked out of the cave. With a last look behind him, he extended his wings and took off. To him, it would be a new beginning.