He woke up.
The darkness around him was absolute, suffocating in its silence. He strained to hear something—anything—but the void was empty.
"My name...?"
The thought echoed in his mind, the only anchor in the emptiness.
"Do I remember my name?"
Minutes passed. Or was it hours? Time lost meaning in the void. He felt as if he'd been there forever, suspended between one moment and the next. Then, faint whispers reached his ears—disjointed, unintelligible words spoken by voices both male and female.
The whispers grew louder, clearer, until they coalesced into a language he didn't recognize. Yet somehow, as if by instinct, he understood them.
A sudden burst of light illuminated the darkness. A screen floated before him, glowing with an eerie brilliance.
The text on the screen was unreadable at first, the symbols shifting and twisting. Then, as if by some unseen force, the symbols rearranged themselves into words he could comprehend:
[Are you ready? Yes/No]
Two options appeared below the question. His hand trembled as he reached out. Without fully understanding why, he pressed "Yes."
The void cracked. A blinding light consumed the darkness, forcing him to shield his eyes. When he lowered his hand, a door stood before him, its edges glowing faintly.
It creaked open.
He stepped forward, hesitant but drawn by an unseen force.
The light faded, revealing a vast, unfamiliar world.
This was Vareen.