Garion swam in a warm liquid. no more he floated. he opened his eyes but rather then the feeling of stinging the liquid around him only soothed his open eyes. he tried to look at his body but he could see nothing. he realized that he couldn't actually see anything. it was dark. dark warm and calm. he floated at peace with him self. after awhile he blinked.

a soft green light bathed the liquid around him. he swam around. more floated with some clumsiness trying to perceive his own form as much as his environment. he struggled to see for what felt like an eternity before finally succumbing to the relaxing warm liquids again.

for what seemed like an eternity he watched the green light fade in and out of existence. shimmering from a lime green to a dark shade of emerald and back. Garion counted 10000 cycles of the light before he succumbed into the warm darkness again.

***

Garion was jolted awake this time. back into the real world. he had the sudden sensation of gasping for air. he instantly regretted doing so as his ribs exploded with pain. wheezing he realized through a heavy brain fog the small dark room he was in was moving. he had just enough time to perceive the wall in front of in before the room jolted forward slamming his head into the wall. Garion's forehead erupted with pain as he slipped back in unconsciousness.

***

Garion passed over purple and red clouds as the sun dace across the sky above the horizon to his west. he gazed down below at the landscape. he was high enough the mountains appeared to him the a soaring bird would see an anthill. golden line criss-crossed the landscape below cutting it into a patchwork of tiny golden shapes stitched together. as he soared above the shapes began to unify into greater shapes and bigger shapes until only five or so remained each growing and the receding in turn to swallow more and less of the land below. from the north Garion saw a vast ocean of emerald green rolling in an ocean of green. swallowing the entirety of the land scape below. As the emerald land scape swallowed the last of the landscape below the golden line finally faded out of existence and Garion began falling toward the earth below. the green grew closer and closer as it rushed up to meet him. he unfurled his vast wings to slow his fall but it was too last. the earth rushed up to meet him.

***

Garion spluttered into consciousness. the unbreakable darkness of before had been somewhat penetrated by some small glimmered of sunlight beaming through cracks in a rectangle shape around half a foot in front of Garion's face. he raised up his hand to feel his face. his small beard was gone. replaced by maybe a day or so's rough stubble. it was as Garion raised his hand to his head he was truly shocked. his long locks of dark hair where gone. his scalp was now covered in his own one day stubble.

He realised at this point that he was lying down. reasoning that no room would be built to move and be so small he guessed he must be in some form of box. he could feel from the motion of the box that he was moving. and from outside he could hear the sound of at least two maybe three horses trotting along. He was blinded as the small hatch was opened. the small cracks positioned in such away as to prevent him from seeing anything in the outside world. "He's alive." came a gruff voice Garion knew but couldn't quite place from the outside. "Drink wizard"

Garion heard a cork being removed from a bottle and liquid was poured through the hatch. he swallowed gratefully. as his thirst cleared he had a sickening realisation that he couldn't taste water. "what was that?" he managed to mumble as the small window of light blurred out of existence.

***

Garion floated above the forest floor in a small clearing surrounded by oak trees. a well worn path lead through the clearing and Garion could smell the earthy scent of nature. through the trees from beyond where he could see Garion could hear half of a conversation echoing back toward him. He attempted to walk towards the voice to investigate further but found rather then walking he began floating at the pace of a slow jog towards the noise. it would see for the moment atleast he was limited to the form of a spirit. As he drifted through the trees, a tall man dressed in the emerald green robes of a semi high ranking wizard stood in a clearing. Garion was now close enough to make out his words. "do you understand? once the spell is complete you can never speak to me again until it is done." he was saying in a reverent tone.

Garion thought he had heard the voice before maybe in a memory or maybe in a dream. but he was unable to place something in its tone. from where Garion was floating he was unable to see beneath the unknown wizard's large brimmed hat. Garion instead searched for the source of this unknown green wizard's attention and found it was centre on two small cats. a large black cat who was licking its paws seemingly now paying attention. and a smaller ginger cat who was sitting on hits hind legs looks back at the wizard. The wizard planted his large oaken staff into the ground in front of him. and attached a blind fold made of a dark black fabric.

The wizard grope for the staff. the trees around them bowed as the wizard drew in power. if Garion's form had been his physical body he would have had to fight not to be physically pulled towards the wizard by the force of the magical energy ripping through the air. The two cat began to levitate in front of the Wizard. Who began muttering words Garion had no hope of understanding. one of the cats let out a loud mew as the two feline creature began to spin around each other getting faster and faster. They began to glow and blur into one form then back into two. the wizard stopped his chanting. power rushed out from both the grounded point of his staff and the end thrust toward the sky exploded with a rush of green light.

Two identical cats landed before the wizard on the ground. landing with the grace of felines the two animal instantly bolted into the forest. The wizard sank to his knees in the earth between the trees. Garion watched on as he removed his blind fold and looked down at the two cats. the black and ginger cats from before the spell where gone. replaced with two in denticle cats. there matching tortoise shell coats identical down to the last whisker. "Did it work asked the wizard?" both cats looked at him blankly. before noticing each other. the cats instantly began to hiss and spit. before bolting into the trees.

The Wizard looked around the clearing allowing Garion to see his face for the first time. he then realised where he had heard the voice before. this man was Garius Greensleeves. his father. only he was much younger then garion had ever seen him. "who's there?" asked Garius squinting in the direction of Garion's Shade. "Begone omen" Garius said lacing his word with magical power. as the words reached Garion's ears he felt his spectral form dissipate.

***

Garion groaned as he awoke from his dream. Upon waking he found that the box had been placed upright meaning his waking form lay crumpled in the bottom of his tiny floor space. as he stood up he felt the feeling rushing back into his legs. he could hear movement outside. and once again he was blinded by light as the hatch at his eye level was opened. after a few seconds it was closed again and Garion heard the sounds of chains being unravelled followed by a series of locks being unfastened. light filled the small room as the wall in front of Garion's face lifted away to revel a dark grey sky. four powerful armoured hands reached in from the light and dragged him forwards out of the box. he felt rain on his skin as he stepped fourth into the light. he smiled before the hands the hand's brought him out out his tiny prison threw him down into the wet mud. Garion tried to push himself back up but he was two weak. he had the vague realisation he must of not eaten in a week or so as he felt the numbness swallowing his mind once more. Garion fell forwards into the mud grateful if nothing else to be able to full stretch out his body.