I felt like I was floating. In the place I did not know, only I existed, and an infinite empty space around me. I did not know if I was here an hour, a day, a year or maybe an entire eternity. Then, in front of me floating a vague shape resembled a human figure. I knew he was looking at me and I knew he wanted to say something to me, but I only heard incomprehensible whispers. I tried to approach him, but the shape began to recede.

'' Wait ... ''

I reached out to grab him, but then the light flashed ...

And I woke up.

I lay on a small bed covered with a thin wool blanket. A small blue-green lamp hung from the white ceiling. I stood up a little to look around. The room where I was were not big and except for the bed there was only a table and two chairs and a small wardrobe with a mirror. On the wall next to me there was a small window covered with blinds, so there was not much to see in the room. I wanted to go to him and look, hoping that he would tell me where I was. I pulled the blanket off and got out of bed. Well, 'I got up' is not the best description of what I did. Because as soon as I tried to raise my legs, they refused to obey and I fell to the floor. I felt like someone had pumped out all my energy.

''Damn it"

I barely turned to catch the bed frame to get up. And then...

I noticed two pairs of red eyes that stared intently at me. I felt my heart accelerate. Terrified, I tried to escape, but I fell again. I looked at them waiting to see what they would do. One creature turned to the table. He went to the chair and grabbed one of his legs with his teeth and began to pull towards me. When he finished he sat next to the second creature and looked at me again.

I was totally confused, but I do not think they want to hurt me. I took my breath and grabbed the chair. I struggled to get up using the chair as a support and slowly began to move towards the window. When I was close enough, I sat on the chair and unveiled the blinds.

A few options went through my mind, but the view outside the window walled me up.

In front of me was a beautiful, though somewhat neglected garden full of red rose bushes, chrysanthemums, sunflowers and a few kinds of flowers that I did not know. The forest to stretch out mainly consisting of pines and spruces, which occupied quite a large area. The only building I've seen in the area is probably a tool shed.

I was looking at this panorama for a while, but soon I came back to reality.

(I need to find out where I am.)

I looked back. Both creatures were still sitting on the floor, and thanks to the light that fell into the room, I could look at them. They looked like dogs, but they were bigger than most dogs I saw. They had red eyes and black fur all over their bodies. They looked at me all the time, which was ghastly on the one hand, but on the other it confirmed me that they did not want to hurt me ...

(I Lives once.)

'' Can you ... come a little closer? '

The dogs got up without delay and came to me.

(Do they listen to me? In total, it does not hurt to try.)

"Sit"

They sat straight away.

"Lie down"

The same.

"Roll over"

And they again carried out my order right away.

(I do not know why they obey me, but it's worth using)

I pointed to one finger.

"You, see if the door is open."

The door was thick and wooden and had a simple handle. They seemed quite old, but interesting carvings made them look like works of art. The dog went to the door and jumped a few times on the door handle, but it did not help.

(Shit, closed, maybe the key is somewhere here.)

Seeing my frustration, the dog withdrew from the door and came to the window. Suddenly, he began to growl, and from his forehead grew a single short corner, and charged to doors.

CRASH!

The door broke in half and came out of the hinges. I looked dumbfounded, not knowing what to say. The dog, as if nothing had ever come back to me. His horn shrank and disappeared under the fur, and he looked at me expectantly.

"Eeee ... good job." Then I gently stroked his head.

I think he liked it, because he started energetically wagging his tail on right and left . I waited longer moment, then staggering I out of the room, and the dogs followed me.

The room I was in was at the very end of a long corridor. Going further, I passed the next rooms which unfortunately were closed, and I was not sure whether the order to break all the doors in this house would be a good idea. At the other end of the corridor, stairs to the ground floor began. Carefully, holding onto the railing, I was heading down, looking around at the same time. Many portraits hung over the stairs. Perhaps the previous owners of this house?

In any case, after 10 minutes, I managed to get down to the ground floor. A pair of huge, brass doors appeared to my eyes. There were beautiful decorations on each of them, and two eagles were sculpted most closely. They were so realistic that I felt as if they could fly off at any moment.

I was just about to try to open it when ...

Bzzzz.

I felt like a electry kick, and the pain resonated all over my body. I looked more closely. A strange energy was waving in front of the door, and her color was disturbingly familiar.

It is...

"... Force field?"

" Near. The correct term for this is "Merlin Shield". This is one of the most powerful defensive spells, although a lot depends on the magician who casts it. "

An unknown voice made me shiver. I turned slowly toward him. There was a tall man in his thirties dressed in a loose white shirt buttoned half the buttons and gray tracksuits. There were only slippers on his feet. As for the look itself, he had black long hair reaching up to the shoulders and hazel eyes. His face was fairly handsome, he probably had a good succes among womens, but the whole effect was spoiled by a huge scar started from the chin, throughout right cheek ending right next to the eye. I guess he was lucky he did not lose him.

What's worse after a moment of staring at him I heard the same sound as from the man in the mask, Blondina and the other two magicians.

Music. Which means that the man in front of me ...

"If you want to ask, yes, I am a magician." As if reading my thoughts with a smile, he confirmed my assumptions. "And no, I do not have any bad intentions for you."

He took a step towards me. The dogs growled at the strange man and came out to meet him.

The man raised his hands in a gesture of reconciliation.

"Relax, I really have nothing to do with you. After all, if I wanted to kill you, I would still do it in Poland. So be so good and tell your familiars to calm down. "

"Familiars?"

"Well, you probably do not remember what happened then. I mean these dogs. "

Both hounds were still hostile to the magician.

" Calm"

A little reluctantly, they withdrew and sat on my sides.

The man breathed.

" Well. Surely you have a lot of questions that I will answer in time, but first you have to answer one of my questions, consent? "

I nodded.

"So Andrew Ceplinski, would you like to become my disciple?"