A Night of Dreams

Raw unfiltered emotions flooded through him as flashes of memory appeared throughout his dreams. Memories of him and Erador talking about Sunshine's future as a dragon. Of his learning about the magics within, as well as all of the times he became too curious for his own good, often ending up in trouble or injured in some way. One vision, in particular, stood out among the rest. A dragon much the size of himself sat in an abnormal clearing in front of where he slept. A short layer of slate-colored fur over most of its body. Thicker darker grey fur ran along the spine ending just before the tail-tip and running up toward the shoulders creating a small "cushion" between the wing joints and ending between the base of the horns. The underscales were a darker shade of fur. Its horns were nearly black and swept back in the regular fashion of most dragon horns and the eyes gazing at him were a deep amber. Sunshine would remain motionless, caught in the gaze of the dragon. It felt like an eternity, perhaps it was, that they stared at each other before the Unknown dragon spoke.

"So you do live." The dragon's words penetrated Sunshine's very essence. With a recoil sunshine would find himself standing, the reality of the dream realms never made sense to him. An aura of calm washed over him, which ironically made him far warier of the dragon. They spoke again, soft and comforting with a hint of excitement.

"We will find you, don't forget who and what you are Sunshine." They would say softly reaching out to give a quick pat to the forehead as Sunshine spoke.

"What am I?" He would ask disoriented as the world would falter as it always did, the visions and the surreal reality caving into abstract thoughts and desires. Hunger was the first, then curiosity among the subconscious memories of the magics he had been taught and stumbled upon after meeting Eridor. He ran into the forest in search of food, to then find himself running down one of the hallways of the keep. Eventually finding himself sitting in front of his collar sat upon a stone pedestal. He called it this as the true name for it was something he had yet to figure out how to pronounce. It functioned much like one, however, it rested just above the chest. Despite its gold and metallic appearance, A large green gem, and lack of cushioning, it rested very comfortably. The smooth-flowing runes etched into the metal spoke to him in an indescribable way. He recalled it was for young dragons growing into their power, To limit and foster proper control of the powers they held as Eradors species. He tried to remember more but simply put it on without question remembering how hungry he was.

"Man I'm hungry..." He'd say without hesitation before he was again running without direction through another hallway. He then found himself upon one of the many terraced balconies of Erador's keep. This one had a strange shape, seemingly infinite yet ending right before him in the daylit forest below. He would jump off and relive a surreal version of the other day's crash exclaiming,

"Wait, my whiskers!"

He would jolt awake, the sounds of nature and a blinding sunbeam upon his closed eyes further woke him from his uncomfortable slumber beneath that tree. All the dreams he had were now fading as he regained consciousness. He would start with a quiet hiss as he opened his eyes to the sharp sting of sunlight; retreating as far as he could in the confines of the roots of the tree to try and recollect what had transpired in his mind as he slept.

"Whiskers..? What?" His thoughts raced upon what the dragon said, the vision and words fading as they often did. Who were they? How did they know him? Did they know Erador? Many questions flowed through his mind, but one had an answer and it slowly crept into his mind.

"My... My whiskers-" He would tensely say as he remembered he had them. The realization made him groan in disappointment that he had forgotten an entire body part, but, for a reason. With hesitation, he would shuffle and wiggle his way out of his den. As he stood he would snarl as he was reminded of his injured paw.

"Ghh... Hurts more now..." With a pained sigh, he would hobble over to a small opening he saw through some bushes. He would sit with another quiet sigh and despite the pain of his paw, he closed his eyes and allowed the light and a soft breeze to awaken his mind and senses. After a short while of simply awakening to the softness of the forest, he would hesitantly untuck his long whiskers from out of his neck fur. Allowing them to slide up and over his horns and float of their own accord into his view. He would shiver uncontrollably as it felt like his senses were heightened to an unexplainable extent. He felt as if the small clearing he was in was filled with excessive amounts of energy, each twitch of his whiskers feeding him differing sensations. His senses overwhelmed he would quickly struggle to tuck them back, the sensation of tucking them back into his fur making his whole body tremble.

He would sit there, calming himself and his shivers remembering what he could about these strange appendages. However, he could only remember a clouded memory of how he was transformed into an "adolescent" stage. Skipping most of the "awakening", a phrase that still confuses him. More memories surfaced one by one, most being flashes of raw emotion accompanied by an image of a place or event. He would soon realize he was shaking more now, the sensations lingering and even making unfamiliar feelings rise. The primal fire he always tried to control built within once more.

It felt different from the time he flung himself from his cliff, Like a boiling waterfall of fire. This fire grew more and more even if he would try and calm it. Everything started to blur into sensations visualized, reality maintaining its shape, but only barely. As his consciousness and even pain faded, the last thing he would see would be his whiskers out and feel a sense of completion as he started to wander into the forest he found himself in.