Three Months and Some Days Ago, Shortly After The People Of Vjoirstead Carried The Mage To Their Village.

Von woke up in Pain.

His Entire body screaming at him, every inch of his skin crackling and burning as pure energy ran through it.

'Dammit, I had no idea he was a mage' he could only think that much regret as the pain numbed his mind, he tried to scream but every muscle in his body was tense making him unable to even draw breath, at the rate things were going, he would suffocate long before the Pain and the damage the Mage had done to him had the chance to kill him, he could feel it, whatever the Mage had done to him was inside him tearing him apart

He watched in horror as parts of his body would spontaneously burst into flames, only to go out a second later as the chill in the wind greedily sucked out the heat from his body that was now turning blue even though he was feeling an inferno inside.

Driven Mad by the Pain he howled, though he could make no sound, his back arched as his body spasmed, he howled and screamed, he continued putting his soul into it he howled till he couldn't muster the energy to react to the pain, it continued for what felt like days before he passed out his mind empty, filled with nothing but the memories and echoes of pain.

He woke up again.

With nothing but an animals instinct, he tensed bracing himself for the pain that had swallowed him, but nothing happened.

He lay there tense, bracing himself for the Pain, but it didn't return, and slowly his mind relaxed even as his body stayed tense, he opened his eyes feeling like this was the first time, his mind slowly regaining faculties to know itself separate from pain

Slowly he realized himself, who he is, who he was a lifetime ago, he glanced around to find the Sun still about to crest, showing that barely anytime had passed since the Life he'd had before the Pain. Glancing around, he noticed more details about the area that he had missed before, he noticed the blue of the sky, the white light of life in the snow, he saw a rabbit 30 feet away and could count the hairs on its head, he could tell the color of its eyes, he could see the life within it, the world was different

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He Was Different.

As his mind and body finally settled, he noticed that his thoughts sharper than before, enough to at least know that he was not clever, but no longer foolish enough to be cruel, his memories were clearer more pronounced shocking him as he saw what he used to be, having felt pain he was changed, Pain had shown him the truth, The Mage had shown him truth through Pain, the only way his drink addled stupid self of the past would understand, Now he understood.

He finally saw himself, Before he big but now he was huge(Authors Note: Think Six feet Seven, with Henry Cavil's body in Man of Steel), yet all of it was toned muscle, the sort he only seen on the bodies of the most elite of Kingdom Knights when he had been a Knight, his skin was there, the color remained but gone were the browning and patches that proved his illness from heavy drinking were gone, he felt much healthier than he had before, even better than when he was a Knight, and somewhere deep inside he felt things he hadn't for years, Loyalty, Strength, Will, And most of all Hope

A new feeling drew his attention, he could feel the something still bringing the pain inside, it was in his chest, with every beat of his heart he felt a burn but knew it was part of the Mage's redemption. He didn't try to move, He knew he couldn't, Once he could he would rise, discard his former self and seek out the Master, he would pledge himself, and he would serve. That was the resolve he held as a branch snapped and dumped snow, covering him completely, but he wasn't worried, he could feel it in the blessing his Lord had given, cold for a few months would not kill him, so he smiled as he slept under the snow.