"Then sing to me Astarion," ... the creature opened its mouth and the melody like pure notes from a single flute danced around the turret. It was as if the walls had dissolved and the room was merging into the emptiness of deepest space. Toby was standing on the edge of a galaxy as he melted into the magic pulsating through his brain, transforming the music into the lines of a riddle. "I have it Daisy ... write down everything I say ...

Within the eastern north there lies an ancient way
Please fill your cup with water from a jewelled bay.
At Floria dawn the Song of Narda shall be heard
If you should chance to glimpse the Spirit Bird.
When moon glows full on ocean pale and cold
Her wings unfurl in silken feathers white and gold.
Your vision straight toward a coloured haven flies
Where Treasures wait in circles for the sun to rise.
Across the lake of crystals, through the silver trees
Ancestral stones unlock with gilded dragon keys.
To seek the centre, wind around the shining paths
When five connect then Lumenor shall rise at last.

The forest glade was a gloomy space flanked by trees tightly packed, where neither owl hooted nor slinking fox or weasel crept from darkened lair to hunt for food. Toby staggered alone and scared, desperately seeking a true path but finding none. The trees seemed to be closing in on him, ruthless as crushing monsters. Toby tried to slow his anxious thoughts, to breathe deeply in the way that his old friend Gabriel had always taught him, but he was already in a cold sweat, his limbs aching from panic and the sheer mental struggle of trying to stay in control.