A soothing aria

A beautiful, operatic melody greets you as your consciousness finally fades, a strangely otherworldly aria that seemed haunting unnatural, yet comforting to your heart. You open your eyes, pushing yourself up from the blue couch you've found yourself resting upon. Blue. The colour strikes at your very sensations with utter clarity. Everything around you is blue, a world draped in velvet.

And that world is moving.

Above you is a a clear, transparent dome, and beyond that is an ocean. A sea of dark blue, twinkling with thousands upon thousands of lights, giving this place its soft, blue-white glow. No, more than that. Millions. Billions. The light is impossible for you to measure. You can only stare in awe and disbelief at those countless pinpricks suspended in the sea in which your world moves through.

It's breathtaking.

"The Sea of Souls," explains a smooth, yet impishly mysterious voice.

You reluctantly tear your way from the beautiful sight, eyes meeting the bloodshot whites of a goblin-like creature. He sits upon the velvet couch opposite to yours, his thin, almost skeletal frame wearing a perfectly-pressed suit of black and white, back hunched over in a manner that seems impossible for any human. His fingers, covered by white silk gloves, are steepled. There is no hair on the man's, head, save for small wisps of white-grey that surround his long, pointed ears. And most prominent of all is his nose, longer and sharper than even his ears and resembling a beak of flesh, that dangles over an terrific, wide grin that is all white teeth.

Yet he is not alone.

Standing to his left is a young woman of slight androgyny, clad in a blue suit jacket and suit pants. A golden bowtie sits beneath her pale, expressionless face, one framed by shortly-cut hair of grey. She stares dispassionately at you, and you quickly realise upon looking away from her intense yet seemingly-uncaring gaze that she is holding an aged tome under her right arm.

You have many questions, but that strange man speaks before you can utter any of them.

"Welcome to the Velvet Room," he says, holding out a long, thin arm out in an unnerving greeting. "My name is Igor, servant of Philemon. I am delighted to make your acquaintance."

You stare at him - the man known as Igor. The Velvet Room? You don't understand.

"This is a realm that exists between dream and reality, mind and matter," he explains, answering your question unbidden. "It has been truly long since we have last entertained a guest, especially one possessing such a peculiar destiny."

A destiny? You? It sounds like an unbelievable claim, but from Igor's mouth, there's a weight to it that sends chills down your spine. Even if this is just a dream, and your inability to feel your implants seems to support that thought, there's something about that word that resonates with you.

"Few however, have entered without having already established a 'contract'," continues Igor, his voice taking upon a musing tone. "Ah, it seems that I have forgotten my manners. Allow me to introduce to you my assistant, Cloestine."

He moves a slender arm in the direction of the androgynous young woman beside him. She nods at you upon the prompting, yet her expression does not change, remaining as dispassionate as before.

"I look forward to your patronage," she says. "That is, if you can accept the bindings of your 'contract'."

The emphasis on the word once again does not escape your notice.

"A contract?" you ask. What does it mean? What contract?

Igor only smiles. "The details will become evident in time."

He waves a hand. The world begins to fade.

"Now, the waking world awaits you. Until we meet again ..."

And as everything disappears, you hear one Igor speak one last time.

"It shall be most interesting to assist a guest again ..."