The moon's silver light peeked through the window of Caitlyn's bedroom, catching the surface of the crystal ball on her dresser. It glistened, casting a soft glow across the room, slowly pulling Caitlyn from her sleep.
She opened her eyes—and saw a dark, bottomless void.
Caitlyn sat up, disoriented. "Where am I?" she thought, glancing around, but there was nothing—just endless darkness. The silence was deafening, the air cold and still.
Suddenly, she felt a presence. Familiar. Warm.
She blinked—and in that instant, the void was replaced by water. It filled the space around her in a flash. Panic set in as she flailed, trying to swim or breathe, but the pressure overwhelmed her. Her lungs screamed for air. Her mind blurred.
Her consciousness began to slip—
Then, gently, a starry, spectral hand reached down from above and scooped her out of the depths.
Caitlyn gasped, inhaling fresh, cool air as droplets clung to her skin. She brushed her soaked hair away from her eyes and froze.
She was sitting in the palm of a giant veiled man, his body shrouded in fog and stars. He lay still, half-submerged in the middle of a vast, tranquil lake. All around them bloomed a surreal forest—cherry blossom trees glowing with ethereal light, their petals drifting down like stardust.
Caitlyn looked on at the sight with awe smiling from ear to ear like a child and then her situation set in as she averted her gaze back to the giant before her and asked "Who are you? Where am I?"
The man slowly lifted his hand and brought Caitlyn over to some land, as she hopped off his hand. The man disappeared, Caitlyn looked all around confused and then a cold hand gently touched her back as a deep voice echoed from behind her "I brought you here so that I can help you…" Caitlyn turns around swiftly, finally being able to gaze upon most of his appearance.
He was light skinned, with long black hair that nearly touched the ground, his eyes resembled liquid starlight, his heart warming smile as if he was looking at something precious and his black and silver cloak which hid the rest of his body.
The man spoke freely and said "As for who I am and where you are… I am Arcaios, but you humans have had many names for me over the years… I won't go over those right now ofcourse since time is of the essence… This place is my domain and prison. I was sealed here because my power outgrew what the outside world could handle and nearly achieved godhood without so much as a single follower… I was once the first and greatest mage to exist, now I'm just some no name mage stuck in one of the eyes of god's beloved pet bird."
Arcaios looks at her bewildered expression and says "You probably have a lot of questions, but since you're going to wake up soon… I can't answer them here but what I can do is establish a link between us so that I can answer them out there and it's a win-win situation because not only do you get power and your answers but I get a taste of freedom. Don't worry tho I won't take over your body or anything of the sorts. I can only hear what you hear and see what you see when you allow me to. So you'll be in control of your whole life… the only issue is that you won't recall this meeting for a while due to the nature of your body."
Caitlyn trying to process the information tries to ask a question but is immediately hit by a burning sensation in her mind as A faded mark appeared on her hand—glowing briefly—
And she violently woke up, gasping, hitting the floor as she'd fallen out of bed.