You are lying in a clearing in a glowing circle with weird sigils drawn inside it. You force yourself to stand it's like there's something pressing down on you. You notice a middle aged man pacing back and forth in a purple cloak embroidered with weird gold symbols. You notice the cloak is frayed near the ground, and the man is talking to himself. You are on your knees and elbows as you begin to make out what he's muttering.
"I followed the spell exactly. That should be a fierce magical animal in the circle, but no I get some wimpy waif of a boy. Not even a mighty warrior or orc. The spell was supposed to send me a familiar to defeat that Sorcerer beyond the purple mountains. He's defeated a half dozen kingdoms already, maybe more. How is this twerp supposed to be of any use to me?" he said spinning around and pointing at you. He pauses, as he notices you staring at him. "Oh, you're awake. Finally, maybe we can get some answers!"
He strides up to you and demands, "What sort of animal are you? Perhaps a werewolf?" He rubs his hands with glee and looks up at the full moon overhead, and sighs, "No, not a werewolf."
"Where the hell am I?" you ask suddenly feeling bold. You may be a teenager, but this guy is no buff stud either. You think you can take him. You leap from your crouching position to tackle him, and run straight into an invisible burning hot wall. The circle imprisons you, and you bounce back on your butt.
"Ah, there's some spirit in you, after all," the man says, "Perhaps a shapeshifter? Are those animals? Can they be familiars? I suppose I will have to take you back to my tower and consult my texts. I followed the spell and ritual to the letter. You should be a fierce familiar capable of helping me defeat the Sorcerer King Rowan." He looked at a scroll of paper in his hand, and read, "Sylvan clearing - check, Full Moon-check, Sacred Circle of Argoth- check, I know I read the incantation correctly, and-bother, I should have brought the great grimoire with me, but it's just so damn heavy. Now to get you out of that circle, I really wanted to wait until you transformed into whatever you're supposed to be, but I can't wait around the forest all night. Rowan has spies everywhere, and I'm sure the amount of magic I used to summon you will draw his attentions. So we best get a move on."
He flips the scroll over and pulls a wand out of his sleeve. He aims it at you, and reads some unintelligible words that sound like Greek to you. There's a flash of light. The circle no longer glows. Smoke rises from the extinguished circle. You feel a heavy collar around your neck. The man waves his wand. You're no longer in the circle. You now standing between two wooden handles attached to a cart. The wizard's stuff is now all loaded in the cart including the wizard. He shouts from behind you, "Gidyap!"
Your collar tingles and you zone out. You pick up the handles and begin pulling the cart. It's way to heavy, you think, but the wheels lurch forward under your pulling, and once they start moving, it's not too bad. You proceed down the dirt path toward your master's home. You don't know why you have to obey the guy, probably has something to do with that last spell of his. You are bound to him. Maybe if you could break the collar? Your head seems filled with mist, you cannot think of anything but pulling the cart as fast as you can.
"I suppose I should introduce myself, I am the great wizard Ozymandius, uh. Well, maybe not great, yet, but with you as my familiar, I will be. I am sure of it. I wish my former master Merlin was still with us, but Rowan and his evil consort sealed Merlin up in an ice tomb for a thousand years in a cave up in the purple mountains. I was never really very good at magic, but I did eventually pass all my apprentice tests - barely."
He droned on, and on. Great you were bound to a third rate wizard as his familiar. He prattled on about you becoming a dragon or griffin or owl or wolf or panther or- He knew something about magic, or else you wouldn't be there harnessed to a cart pulling him through the woods. Merlin? Not thee Merlin the Magician? You never heard of Rowan in the King Arthur Tales, though the ice cave sounds familiar. If only you could think clearly. Must pull harder. Master needs to get to his tower. Faster. Pull harder. "And there was the time I set fire to Merlin's hat. You know I don't think he ever forgave me for that..."
You are breathing hard and your clothing drenched with sweat when you arrive at the Wizard's Tower. You stare at the humble white stucco silo and farmhouse. He gasps in accusative voice, "You live in a farmhouse, not a tower!"
"Huh? Oh, it's a tower alright. Just not terribly tall, you see I don't want to draw attention from the Dark Sorcerer King."
"So this is an illusion? The farmhouse and all?"
"Well, it's mine, my great aunt left it to me."
"Oh?"
"Well, unload my cart, and come inside."
"Can't you just magic it? You loaded it that way, didn't you?" you ask.
He glares, and says, "I'm not that powerful a wizard yet. That's why I need a medium or familiar to amplify my magic. Why then once I have that I could just wave my hand and -" He stares at the now empty cart. Then his glare turns to glee. He hops up and down clapping. "Oh, yes, I forgot you are my familiar, and you are already amplifying my magic, even if you're not quite a proper familiar yet." He starts to go into the tower. He turns and looks at you harnessed to the empty cart. He motions, and says, "Come on!" You're no longer harnessed, but still collared. You stumble as your feet run to follow your master in spite of what you are trying to think.