She opened her eyes and found herself to be in a strange, unfamiliar room.

How she got there and more importantly where she was the girl couldn't tell. She stood up from the small blue chair she had been resting upon and glanced around. The room was elongated in shape, with her at one extremity and an older man with grey hair and an unnaturally long nose situated at the other. Instinctively she started walking down the narrow corridor towards him. Seven meters was the room's maximum berth and twenty was the total length, however the walls curved inwards creating a cramped feeling. All the furnishings around her were dark purple in colour except for the brown wooden floor upon which she walked.

When the girl reached the half way point between herself and the old man she noticed they weren't alone. To her left was a small bar where a woman dressed in a white 'robe de style' and expensive jewellery stood. She was cleaning empty cocktail glasses, a look of displeasure written across her attractive, drawn face. Close to this woman was an oval-faced man in a black three piece suit who was grinning madly for some unknown reason. Despite also being behind the bar he was holding an alcoholic drink and taking regular sips. Both had had their hair tied back tightly and wore clothes which bore some resemblance to those she had seen in cheesy movies about 1920's Chicago. The girl chose to ignore the mismatched duo and continued towards the old man.

Once she was 3 meters away she stopped. She couldn't move much closer due to a low lying round table. The girl silently scanned her surroundings one more time as she tried to gather her thoughts. Questions such as 'where am I' and 'how did I get here' continued to run through her mind until the man decided to speak.

"Welcome to the Velvet Room my dear young lady."

His voice was deep and unnerving. The fingers on his long bony hands tapped gently against one another while he spoke and his gaze never flinched from her eyes. The girl didn't know how to respond. She was too confused to think straight. The man continued.

"My name is Igor. I am delighted to make your acquaintance. Allow me to introduce my two assistants, Olivia and Oscar. Now tell me, what is your name?"

"Erm, Hashimoto, Yuuki Hashimoto."

"Do not be alarmed, you are currently fast asleep in your own world. It would appear that you have been brought to this place by fate for some unique purpose."

Igor waved his hands over the round table that separated the pair and a neatly arranged assortment of faced down playing cards magically appeared. Yuuki rubbed her eyes.

"It's fascinating. The cards never change but the result is always different."

She watched as three of the cards flipped themselves over. Now that she was looking at their faces she recognised them to be old fashioned Tarot cards. Yuuki could distinguish two of them, the fool and death, but the third she did not know. Igor nodded his head as if he had come to some kind of understanding.

"This is most interesting. It would appear that a turbulent destiny awaits you. A grave responsibility will be thrust upon you that only you have the ability to face."

The girl closed her eyes. None of this was making much sense. The man before her had said she was asleep, but this dream was far more vivid than any she could remember. Everything seemed too real. Now she had had the chance to somewhat recover from her initial confusion, the girl decided upon what to ask Igor.

"What do you mean by 'responsibility'?"

"Look down."

The perfectly smooth wooden floor which Yuuki had been standing upon started to develop a crack between her feet. She quickly realised that this was in fact a straight line which ran for approximately one meter in front and behind her. It continued to grow wider, forcing her to jump to one side. It eventually stopped once it had created a hole that was 2 meters square. Yuuki felt a brief gust of wind enter the room and glanced downwards through the gap in the floor. She saw a distant sea of green interrupted by clouds of white.

"Where are we? Is that the ground all the way down there? What is going on? Igor what is this place?"

"The Velvet room takes whatever shape its guest chooses. An airship was an excellent choice."

"AN AIRSHIP?"

"Do not be alarmed, no harm can ever come to you while you reside in this place. Look deeper."

Tentatively following Igor's instructions Yuuki shifted her eyes towards the hole that had just been created. The vision had changed. It was now showing a scene from ground level. A lone butterfly with multicoloured wings was dancing through the air effortlessly. Wherever it moved a trail of silver orbs followed. These cute specks of light that twinkled like stars brought colour to the world before dissipating into nothingness after a few seconds.

In the background there were blue skies with white clouds that dominated the heavens. Yuuki could hear the sound of wildlife and a waterfall in the distance. The beautiful fauna seemed so close that she was tempted to reach out towards it. This was a place unlike anything she had experienced before…a paradise.

But then it changed. The picturesque scene she had been immersed in altered as hundreds of black blobs started to cover the land like a cancer. In the distance giant human like creatures appeared and ripped trees away from their roots and threw them like toys. Heart stopping screams of agony began to echo incessantly and eventually managed to drown out the sound of birds and flowing water. The sweet smell from all the flowers that surrounded her failed.

Soon the world had descended into darkness. The light from the golden sun disappeared from view and black storm clouds replaced the gentle cushions of white that had populated the sky. The last bastion of colour remaining was the butterfly but eventually it too was gone.

The vision withered away. Yuuki remembered that she had not been inside that former paradise but merely watching the events unfold from within the Velvet room. Even though she was just a spectator that world had seemed so authentic. The sounds, the smells, the sights she had experienced them all. Yuuki's mind tried desperately to understand what was going on but became distracted when Igor spoke.

"That was the future, a possible future. To prevent such a fate for your world you must awaken your inner power, your shield from the hardships of life, your 'persona'. Once you have understood the contract you will be brought back to this room. But our time together is now at an end. Until we meet again…"

Without warning the Velvet room began to fade. Yuuki tried calling out to the three people that had been around her but Igor and his two assistants vanished from view leaving her isolated inside a black void reminiscent of the one she had just born witness to. Floating aimlessly for a moment she managed to spot something in the distance.

It was a multicoloured butterfly.