1 Chapter 1: A Long Sleep

Nothing. That was the first feeling.

Nothing.

In the years since his last operation, Rydan had grown familiar with the feeling of emptiness. The feeling of nothing. But this was different. There was no noise, there was no light, there was no touch, no smell, no taste. Not even the weight of his own body.

The last time he felt anything, he was on a mission. A high-level target, protected by walls of steel and men armed to the teeth. It was during that mission that Rydan met his end. An explosion. Fire, heat, then darkness.

And then this.

The vacuum.

An infinite silence, a bottomless abyss. A place where there was no time or space. Just him and nothing.

However, there was a certain peace in this place. No missions, no objectives, no danger. Only him. And the nothing.

Rydan spent an indefinite time in that state, in the dark. Then, he began to review his life, like a passive observer watching a movie.

He saw himself as a child, full of curiosity and laughter. He saw his first days at the military academy, tough and demanding. The memories of their first missions, full of nervousness and excitement. Then the most dangerous missions, the ones that left him scarred, both physical and mental.

He saw the people he had met, the friends he had made, the lives he had saved. And also the ones he had taken.

As memories unfolded before him, Rydan found himself facing every decision he'd ever made, every life he'd touched, every action he'd ever taken. The things he was proud of, and the things he regretted.

The review of his life was long and thorough. Every memory, every image, every emotion, examined and pondered. Over and over again, he relived his life, in all its joys and sorrows, triumphs and failures. He learned, regretted, rejoiced, repented.

And then, when he finally came to the end of his life, to the explosion that brought him to this place, Rydan felt a sense of acceptance. She had lived her life, she had done everything she could, the best and the worst.

Now it was time to rest.

But despite that, there was something inside him, an inextinguishable spark that refused to fade. A spark that cried out for more. More life, more experiences, more opportunities.

And then, in the dark, that spark began to shine.

...….

The spark glowed in the dark, a lone beacon in the vastness of nothingness. And as if answering a call, the darkness began to subside. Slowly, very slowly, the light began to penetrate the blackness, a thin thread at first, but growing with each heartbeat.

Rydan felt a strange shifting sensation, as if he were being carried along by a strong current. He fought against it at first, but soon realized it was useless. She let herself go, the spark of her consciousness sailing through this new river of light.

A feeling of warmth began to wash over him, followed by a series of sensations he had forgotten. The weight of her body, the feel of her clothes against her skin, the pounding of her heart. It was as if it was being put together again, piece by piece.

And then the sound. At first just a distant hum, but growing louder and clearer by the second. Incoherent sounds, a cacophony of meaningless noises. But as time passed, he began to discern individual voices, words that he could understand.

I was coming back to life.

Finally, he opened his eyes.

The light was blinding at first, but little by little, his eyesight adjusted. What he saw left him baffled.

He wasn't in a hospital, as he had expected. Instead, she was in a simple room, lit by soft candlelight. Beside him, a woman, dressed in simple clothes, looked at him with a mixture of astonishment and relief.

"By the gods, you're alive!" the woman said, her eyes brimming with tears.

Rydan opened his mouth to speak, to ask where she was, what had happened. But all that came out was incoherent babbling. His throat felt dry and rough, as if he hadn't spoken in years.

The woman gave him some water, and he drank gratefully. He took a moment to calm his mind, to try to understand what was happening.

He had come back to life. But it wasn't the life she knew.

...…

With each passing day, Rydan , or at least that's what he still felt like, began to realize the enormity of his situation. He was alive, of that there was no doubt. But he was not in his world, not in his time. He did not recognize anything, neither the clothes that people used, nor the architecture, nor the manners and customs.

And then there was his body. Your new body. He was young, so young that he couldn't even stand on his own. A helpless creature, unable to do anything on its own. It was a child, a child, a baby.

This left Rydan in a peculiar situation. His mind was that of an adult, a soldier, but his body was that of a child, yet to learn to walk.

Over time, Rydan began to adjust to his new reality. He learned to move, to eat, to speak the language that everyone around him used. He listened to others, observed, learned. He tried to understand this new world in which he found himself.

But there was something that kept bothering Rydan . Despite his new life, he couldn't stop thinking about his old existence. The missions, the friends, the enemies, the places he had seen and the things he had done. It all seemed so far away now, like a fuzzy dream.

But every time he closed his eyes, he was there again. On the battlefield, in the barracks, in the middle of an operation. The memories were fresh, vivid. As if it had been yesterday.

However, he knew that he could not hold on to his old life. Here he was, in a new world, with a new life. He had a second chance, a chance to live again, to do things differently.

As the days turned into weeks, and the weeks into months, Rydan made a decision. He would no longer be Rydan , the soldier, the spy, the assassin. It would be someone new, someone different.

But who would it be? What kind of person would I be in this new world? That was a question only time could answer.

....

Rydan spent the next few months in a kind of reverie. He watched the world around him, the strange and fascinating details of his new life. At the same time, he reflected on his former existence, and what he could have done differently.

Over time, he began to notice that his mind was becoming clearer, more focused. He no longer saw himself as a foreigner in a new world, but as an integral part of it.

Although he still had memories of his old life, they no longer haunted him. Instead, they seemed more like stories from a storybook, stories from a long forgotten past.

He decided that he would no longer call himself Rydan . He was not the same man he had been before. It was someone new, someone different. Someone who had the chance to start over, to live a life free from the shadows of her past.

She decided that she needed a new name, a name that would reflect her new life. After much thought, he chose the name Solren . It didn't have any particular meaning, he just liked the way it sounded.

And so Solren , the ex-spy, the ex-assassin, the man Rydan once was , began his new life. He didn't know what the future would hold for him yet, but he was eager to find out.

In this new world, with this new life, Solren had a new mission. He was not going to kill, or spy, or fight. I was going to live. I was going to explore this new world, learn from it, grow with it.

And, perhaps, to find a peace that Rydan had never known.