He floated in darkness with no sense of time or place and only his thoughts for company. Then he saw it, a point of light at the edge of his vision. He had to reach it, had to escape the darkness. The light was his salvation; he knew it, although he couldn’t say how. The light grew brighter as he moved towards it until he was blinded by its radiance. Then he saw, through a haze of green fluid, there were people in white trench coats all around him and he was confined in this liquid. He was going to drown in it; he had to get the people’s attention before he drowned.

He banged on the glass that held him with his claws until one of the trench coats noticed and babbled something to the others. They all gathered around and stared at him until one of them shouted something at the others, who all rushed to obey. The man stalked closer, sneered contemptuously through the class and muttered something incomprehensible. The man’s words were followed by a painful jolt. The man gave another garbled command and more jolts followed until it was too much to take.

His claws scraped savagely across his prison, leaving gashes in the glass. Finally, it gave way before the onslaught and shattered into a million pieces. He was free, free to take his revenge on his captors. The man before him fell screaming to the ground holding his bleeding face in his hands as claws found flesh. There was chaos, white coats fleeing in every direction as those foolish enough to stand in his way were tossed aside like rag dolls.

Then he was beside a pond, staring at his bloody talons. He did not know how he got there, or who he was. He bent down to wash the blood away and caught his reflection in its depths. A horned, purple tinted face stared back at him. He plunged his bloodstained claws into the icy depths and the face vanished in the ripples.

He awoke with a roar; his dreams had been unpleasant as always. There were others with him now, others like him.

“I trust you slept well Vidar? Discover any new insights to your past?” Vidar was what the others called him; he had no other name that he could recollect.

“No.” The one who had asked the questions was Aegir. He had an annoying habit of making the same inquiries every time they awoke.

“For goodness sake Aegir, let him alone for once. He can’t help that he lost his memory.”

“I am simply trying to help him love.” Vidar tuned out the couple as they continued their friendly quarrel and stared out at the night sky.

“Ran’s scolding Aegir again, I see.” observed Jarl, coming to stand beside Vidar. He chuckled to himself, “Maybe you should get a mate, I think Sequana has eyes for you. What do you say; want me to hook you two up?” In response, Vidar leapt off the clock tower balcony, spread his wings and glided off into the night. Jarl stared after him for a moment and then shook his head.