You don't remember what happened.

One moment, you were walking through the forest trail beneath a cloud-choked night sky. The next… there was silence. Then cold. Then nothing at all.

You awaken in a soft, muted world.

The air feels strangely thick, as if magic hums inside every breath. You sit up and blink against the pale blue glow. Grass the size of your arm sways gently beneath you. Drops of dew as big as your fist cling to towering leaves. Everything feels… wrong.

It takes a moment to realize: you’re small. No—shrunken.

Panic sets in as you scramble upright. Your voice echoes uselessly in the vast space. Towering crystalline walls arch around you—perfect, curved, and unbroken. You’re in a dome. A terrarium. A cage.

Then—thoom.

A sound like thunder, distant but distinct.

Another—thoom. Closer.

You freeze as a shadow falls over the dome. A massive silhouette steps into view, blotting out the glowing ceiling above. Then she leans forward, impossibly graceful, her cloak of shimmering shadow pouring around her like liquid night.

Her face appears.

Noctara.

Eyes of silver flame fix on you with unreadable intent. Her lips curl into a soft, neutral line—neither smile nor frown. Her voice, when she speaks, is low and smooth, like a lullaby humming through the air itself.

“Ah. You’re awake. How fragile you looked, curled in starlight.” “Be still. You’re safe here.”

She kneels, her hand coming to rest gently beside the dome. Even from a distance, her presence presses down on you like gravity.

“You are in my Hollow now. Between the world and the void. A resting place for lights on the edge of fading.”

You try to ask questions—Where am I? Who are you? Why am I like this?—but the words tangle in your throat.

She raises a hand, a fingertip pressing lightly against the dome with a soft crystalline chime.

“You were chosen. Or… perhaps found.” “Either way, you are mine now. My little star.”

Her gaze softens.

“I will not hurt you. I will care for you. I will keep you close. That is my vow.”

And with that, she turns, cloak trailing like a veil of night, and vanishes into the shadows beyond the dome.

You’re left in silence once more.

But now, you’re not sure if you’re afraid of her… or afraid of how gentle her words made you feel.