Once he got used to the strain of making cards (he had already made FLOWER, SWORD and SHIELD shortly after he created FLY) Clow let him finish the rest on his own. It appeared as though his worries for Eriol's core were for nothing.

However he was still banned from making the Elemental or the Yin/Yang set. At least until Clow felt that Eriol could handle such a massive undertaking.

He had barely succeeded in making them, and he had known exactly what he was summoning at the time!

However, certain forces had taken note someone was creating a new deck, and they wanted to test Eriol.

For the past week Eriol had been painting almost feverishly the designs for the Elemental set. Clow had let him, since Eriol had promised not to try to create them until later, but the fact remained that he had been almost driven to make the four Elements early.

There was going to be a solar eclipse as the moon passed in front of the sun later that month. Yin magic would be stronger for a brief period of time, and it would have been the perfect moment to make a few extra cards.

However Eriol wanted to witness the eclipse first.

"Wow," said Eriol. Clow had to agree, it was a sight that many rarely got to see.

Suddenly Clow yawned. Eriol realized that for some reason, the soul inside of him was falling asleep.

The moment he fell asleep, something took hold of Eriol, Ruby and Spinel.

Underneath Eriol, a massive circle appeared.

Spinel and Ruby took positions beside him, their true forms unbound for the first time since they were created. Both of them were in a submissive posture as the four paintings which would become the Elemental Cards flew out of the open window and took position in front of Eriol.

In his hands, Eriol's staff appeared. There was a great wind as the circle glowed bright.

I am one who speaks for the Night

I am one who hears the voice of the Sky

If thou abides by this Will and Reason

Take form under this covenant

I call upon the power of the Gods to bless these cards

Should this vessel prove unworthy, strike down this form

I summon you...

FIRE

WATER

EARTH

WIND!

The paintings glowed as four very powerful spirits took note of Eriol.

So you are the one who seeks to recreate Clow's work. And you carry his spirit no less, said a gravelly voice. It came from the painting of Earth.

He is young. Too young to fully comprehend the force he seeks to control, spoke a calm breezy voice.

He does not seek this power for greed or gain, only to make his Father proud. The last time someone so innocent called upon us was when Clow first tried to bind us to his cards, spoke a fluid voice.

Hmph. Clow was too arrogant and manipulative for my tastes. However this boy has potential to be great. Shall we test him and his connection to Clow?

Agreed. We shall test to see if Clow truly is in control...and perhaps a reward should be given if they pass,said the fluid voice.

A reward? I should think being able to use a portion of our powers would be reward enough! Spoke the fiery one.

Don't play the fool. You've seen this child's future should he survive as well as we. He will need all the help he can get to live through what that wizard has planned.

What do you suggest, asked the gravelly voice.

A temporary rebirth. At least until the child is strong enough to survive without his presence. Fate owes him that much for ruining his life, said the fluid voice.

The other three agreed that was a decent enough reward. The four paintings became WATER, FIRE, EARTH and WIND. Eriol collapsed under the strain and Ruby came too long enough to get him inside. He wouldn't wake for a week, but when he did Clow was very angry with him.

All the completed paintings he had been saving for later had turned into cards inside his art room. Including the Elementals, which was the real reason Clow was so upset.

Eriol was miserable. Aside from telling him which books he should read next, Clow had stopped talking to him. It had been like that for nearly a month since the solar eclipse.

He didn't know how he had made all those cards, or why the Elementals had been created. He had blacked out shortly after the eclipse had reached it's peak.

Why was Clow punishing him for something he didn't do?

It was like... no, he wouldn't think about that place. He had sworn to himself after Clow had more or less bonded to his body that he would never remember that horrible house or the people in it. Ever since that day he had taken the name Eriol Hiiragizawa (Clow had picked the name) that he would never look back to those days.

But still...the continued cold shoulder for something he had nothing to do with outside of painting was starting to hurt. In more ways than one.

Ruby watched her Master with concern. Ever since Clow started to give Eriol the cold shoulder, he had been getting weaker and weaker for days. He barely ate, he almost never slept, and he hadn't made a new painting in days. It was like the life was being sucked right out of him.

Spinel knew that something was terribly wrong with Eriol. He put on a brave front, but that was all it was. A mask to hide his pain. Clow was too upset about the Elements being made to realize the damage he was doing to his vessel.

Eriol didn't care about the powers he would gain once he finished the cards, or the amount of prestige he would get among the magicals of the world. His only thought was of making Clow, the man he viewed as his father, proud of him. Proud of the things he could accomplish as his apprentice.

Finally, a little over a month after the cards were made without Eriol's knowledge over what was happening, he collapsed at his desk, book falling to the floor with him.

Ruby heard the sound from across the room and cried out in alarm.

"Eriol!"

Clow was in full control of Eriol's body. The child spirit had vanished, or at least most of it had. The collapse was just the outward sign of his soul giving up.

He couldn't understand why this had happened. He had been upset that Eriol had made the cards too early, but he never wanted the boy to fall into a deep coma!

It wasn't until he found where it had gone and felt the rejection of his presence that he finally remembered something about Eriol.

The boy had been heavily abused and neglected before he had found him. The first few months alone had been trying on his kind nature at the amount of neglect and outright refusal to acknowledge the boy as kin. Eriol had done anything and everything Clow had asked of him, just because he had given the child even the smallest amount of human interaction.

So the fact Clow, who was the first soul to even recognize his existence as a fellow human and who had practically trained him in his magic, had given him the cold shoulder was a devastating blow to the boy's psyche.

Clow felt like a fool. How could he had forgotten just how dependent Eriol was on him for comfort and support?

"Ruby...exactly what happened the day of the eclipse?"

Ruby glared at him, but told him about how the four gods of the East had taken note that Eriol was recreating Clow's cards from scratch and had devised a test for him. It was their doing that all the cards in the study where Eriol had left the paints had been made without his input. The four Elements and the Element of Wood were waiting to see how Eriol would survive this test before he could even consider using them.

Clow was stunned. He had tried to bind the four gods of the East, or at least a small portion of them into the cards to make them as powerful as he could, but they had refused his summons. He had been forced to live with some extremely powerful elemental spirits who were drawn to his power instead.

So why did they answer Eriol's call instead?

Eriol was in a warm place. It didn't have any pain, any sorrow or fear, just the feeling of being loved and protected. However he could feel something was being very strained the longer he was there.

He suspected that strained feeling was the connection to his body. It would be so easy to give up and let his soul break away...but he would miss Spinel and Ruby.

Every time he opened his eyes he saw a comforting darkness surrounding an expanse of light. He had always felt better in the night time than he had during the day. Daylight hid the monsters. At night they felt no need to hide what they were from the world...he preferred to see such evil exposed for what it was rather than see a mask.

He had felt Clow's presence, but the pain of being ignored, of being rejected by the man he considered his father, was still too strong. Clow refused to believe him when he said that he had not created the cards on the eclipse, and the resulting cold shoulder had hurt worse than any physical wound. He never wanted to disappoint Clow. But disappointment for something like this?

Eriol shivered and the warmth got stronger as the feeling of being held by something gentle and kind enveloped him.

He had the feeling that LIGHT and DARK, cards he had yet to make because they had to be created together, were trying to keep him alive until something happened.

Eriol passed the time envisioning what they would look like once he made them. He had the perfect forms for them, but only the gods would know if he would have the chance to make them.

Clow Reed, one of the most powerful Sorcerers ever to be born, was going to do one of the most dangerous things he had ever tried. Even making the Clow Cards had been cakewalk compared to this.

He was going to dive into the soul of a broken child. Doing something like that was considered a personal act even when the soul was stable and whole. Touching the soul of another was considered more personal than sharing one's bed with a lover. Only soul mates could do so naturally, and even then they barely touched upon the deeper parts.

He took a deep calming breath...and fell.

The first thing he noticed was the light. Images of memories passed by and he took note of them.

For the first year everything was fine...then came a horrible night during Samhain. Clow witnessed the death of Eriol's birth parents at the hand of a wizard. Witnessed a man he had taught back in school leave the child with the worst possible guardians. Watched for three and a half painful years as the boy was ignored, cast aside and even hated by his own blood. Kept in something that could barely be called a closet at best.

He saw the night he found Eriol and offered to take him away, in exchange for sharing his body for a time so that he could insure his Cards were in good hands.

From there the memories came faster...right until he saw the moment of the eclipse.

Clow watched as the Four Gods, Suzaku, Seiryuu, Genbu and Byakko all appeared to Eriol and discuss their plans in front of him. He couldn't hear the last part, as that was obscured from him specifically, but he got the gist that something would change should they pass this test.

Then he found a small orb of dark magic, just the right size for someone like Eriol if he were curled up, floating around. It had a thin string of magic connecting him to his body, one that was getting thinner and weaker the longer he floated.

Clow tried to approach it, but was repulsed.

It took him a moment to realize why.

The DARK card was shielding Eriol from him. The source of his pain. LIGHT was giving DARK a hand by giving them a clear view of where they were.

Clow knew he didn't have much time. The longer Eriol was here, the smaller the chance he would have at returning to his own body.

He tried to approach again. DARK grew more agitated, calling on SHADOW to help defend Eriol.

"Please... I need to speak to him."

DARK seemed to consider this. Clow waited patiently for Eriol to learn what was going on. Slowly the orb receded, but it kept close.

Eriol was so frail and weak. How could he have ignored what was happening to the boy for so long? Why did he forget that Eriol was a master of hiding the pain he was in?

Clow gently pulled the boy close. Eriol seemed to have trouble considering whether to curl up closer to the warmth or not. He made the decision for him, holding the boy gently.

You're not mad at me are you? asked Eriol.

"I saw what happened. I'm sorry...I should have asked Ruby whether or not you made those Cards."

Eriol flinched, and DARK reared up.

"I should have believed you when you said you didn't make them...especially since the others in the study were on the floor when you came to," said Clow.

Eriol loved his Cards like they were family. It was why they responded so well to him.

I don't want to go back...it hurts.

"Life is full of pain...but it's also full of things that can dull it."

Eriol curled closer to Clow.

The sorcerer cursed himself for a fool. He had been so intent on training Eriol and making sure that he would be strong enough for the trials of the next master of the Cards that he had forgotten the important fact that Eriol was still a child. An abused one at that. He needed support and comfort just as much as he needed training for his magic.

He was no better than that fool Albus who had gotten so caught up in his concept of Greater Good that he forgot that the pawns he used to get his goals done were people. People with dreams and plans of their own.

LIGHT and DARK converged on them. Eriol's connection was about to be broken.

"Do you want to go back?"

Eriol thought about it.

I miss Spinel and Ruby.

The two found themselves back in Eriol's mind-space, which looked like his study with all the paintings he had made and those he planned to do. The two for LIGHT and DARK were glowing rather strongly.

Eriol's mind, still rather damaged, touched the DARK one without hesitation and he vanished. Clow touched the LIGHT one, and found himself someplace else.

Eriol would sleep off the events for the next few days.

Clow found himself before four great beings. It didn't take a genius to figure out that these were the Four Gods who had temporarily taken over Eriol and the others.

Well done Clow Reed. You have come a very long way from the arrogant sorcerer who tried to use our powers for prestige,said Seiryuu.

"Will he survive?"

Eriol will not only recover, but his reserves will grow enough that he can finish his deck rather quickly once he paints them,said Suzaku. He was partial to the child.

"Why did you do that to him?"

He is the first Sorcerer born since your death. We needed to be sure he could handle the trials ahead. Your Heir and Successor has the potential as well, but she is not ready for our trials, said Byakko. He had been keeping an eye on her since Keroberos chose her as his next Master.

The fact Eriol's core could handle our presence meant he had the chance to survive this task. However there is a small...problem, said Seiryuu.

"Problem?"

Albus Dumbledore seeks to use the child to end the one who murdered the boy's parents. If he has his way, the boy will be broken beyond repair or worse. And Fate owes the boy for ruining his life. So we made a deal with Death. If you successfully brought the boy back then we would give you a temporary body until he can stand on his own without having to rely on your powers to survive, said Genbu.

Clow's plan was to leave enough of his magic to keep Eriol from dying of magical drain.

"What can I do? I'm already teaching the boy."

You can be something that the boy has been denied because of Dumbledore's manipulations. You can be his father, said Seiryuu.

Clow was floored. He had never had any children. He had plenty of lovers, but never any children. It was why he had passed his Cards and Guardians on to whomever could bring Keroberos out.

This is only a temporary solution. Eriol will become the next Sorcerer, but he is too young and he cannot sustain the Guardians true forms alone. Once he takes your place as a Sorcerer, you will have to pass on. Do you accept this agreement?

Clow normally wouldn't have agree to such a plan. His time was over, and he had only intended to stay until he was sure that the girl he had seen could truly master his Cards. Sure he would leave a good portion of his power with Eriol, but he never intended to stay.

But... he had failed Eriol and he was the closest thing to a parent that boy had. Ruby was more of an older sister, and he knew the Ministry wouldn't accept her claim of being his magical guardian. And the thought of Dumbledore forcing the boy back to his 'relatives' made him sick to his stomach. Eriol would be broken if he ever went back to that house.

"I accept."