by Georgia Skies

Created on: August 05, 2009

Untitled

Prologue

Bryony was flying. 'How ridiculous,' she thought, 'this must be a dream'.

But it didn't feel like a dream, it was far more realistic than any she had experienced before. The colours were bright, the smells were sharp, and the sounds clear. In the distance, he sun dipped lazily below the horizon, washing the sky with the richest hues of red, purple and gold. It was as if a master artist had taken to it with a loaded brush, as he would a blank canvas. The stars were shining gently in the heavens, a vast array of sparkling diamonds on velvet. The night air was warm, and a soft breeze graced Bryony's cheeks, tousling her long, dark hair in its outstretched fingers. She stretched out as she raised higher, savouring the sensation of weightlessness.

Glancing below her, Bryony saw a huge forest. It was like a springy, green carpet and seemed to go on forever, she could barely see the edge. It was dense and thick, stretching in all directions. Somewhere, far below, came the shrill call of a small animal. Almost as abruptly as it began, it was silenced.

A pungent, acrid smell drifted towards Bryony on the air, assaulting her senses and filling her mind with fog. A plume of thick, blue smoke drifted slowly skywards from a small clearing in the trees. Although it was smoke, it looked more like an extremely viscous liquid than gas, oozing its way towards the trees. Curiosity overcoming her, Bryony swept towards the clearing to get a better look at the source.

Below her, in a small triangular clearing in the trees, was a fire. The flames were unnaturally orange, licking up the sides of, what can only be described as, a cauldron. The fire itself wasthin and weak-looking, almost like tissue paper, but was so hot that the effects could be felt from quite a distance. The cauldron was positioned in the middle of the fire, filled with a thick, almost black, liquid. It was from that liquid that the smoke was pouring.

A small man was standing in the clearing. His face was well shielded by the shadows of the trees, and Bryony could pick out no detail. He wore a long robe, and was muttering to himself in an undertone, throwing things into the cauldron from a bag over his shoulder. He walked around the clearing, appearing to do some sort of ritual, before, again, adding something to the liquid.

At that moment, Bryony felt a searing pain in her head and cried out, she was blinded by pain. The feeling of flight left her, to be replaced with the realisation of gravity. As she hurtled to the ground, panic overcame her.

Then everything went black.

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