She stared at him.

Different shades of grey sparkled in the shadows of the great tree.

Her green sparkling emerald orbs peered into the very core of his soul, watching him with a fixated stare.

“What is it that you are looking at?” he murmured, a feeling of annoyance creeping into his unfamiliar sounding voice.

Why was everything so strange?

“Am I dreaming?” he asked softly, gently shaking his head as if to chase away the clouds in his mind.

Sighing, the young man looked around him.

He was sitting beneath a great ancient tree. Lush gigantic branches covered the sky so that he could not even make out a speck of blue. Green lush grass surrounded the tree, a thick soft carpet of life surrounding the ancient tree.

Where am I?

The grey cat blinked once, twice, before gracefully jumping from the tree branch, landing with a soft plop! next to him on the thick carpet of grass.

“Bah!” he growled, glaring at the cat. “Rude, aren’t you?”

The cat looked up at him, emerald eyes almost smiling at him in acknowledgement.

Without making a sound she strolled over towards him and with a satisfied meow stepped into his lap.

“What?” he asked, blinking as the cat promptly curled up in his lap, emerald eyes closed in mock sleep.

“Emerald,” He whispered, softly stroking the feline. “You are, Emerald.”

Lazily the feline lifted her head and looked up at him, those green emerald eyes drilling into his soul, making his head spin. With a clear definite nod of her small head, the cat turned back into his lap, eyes closed once more.

Emerald.

How did he know her name?

And where was he? He couldn’t even remember his own name!

But he did remember her name.

Emerald.