There was no more pain or discomfort when he regained consciousness. His already-addled mind had trouble distinguishing what was real and what was his imagination. Was this a dream? Was this hell? Heaven? Slowly his cognitive functions returned. First things first, Kael thought. Open the eyes.

Blinking his eyes open, only darkness blacker than the night awaited his sight. He blinked a few more times, questioning if he had really opened his eyes or if they were still closed, and his mind only made him think he had opened them. Quickly, however, he realized that he had indeed opened his eyes and that it was just very dark wherever he was.

Looking around to find something to use as a point of reference but not finding anything, he instead focused on himself and tried to move his limbs. Moving his arms and legs proved to be no problem, and with how he was able to move his legs, his whole body seemed to be alright. Well, aside from his eyes, maybe.

He got up slowly, carefully testing his range of motion, looking for any sign of pain or awkwardness. Cursing the damned darkness for making the process so much more tedious all the while.

When Kael was finally sure that no unpleasant surprises lurked in some hidden corner of his body, he turned his attention outside again. Letting his eyes roam over the curtain of darkness that surrounded him, trying to find any blip of light or shadowy silhouette. Nothing. While an area without light sounded like a terrible environment to be in, he much preferred it over the possibility that his eyes had stopped working.

What now? Call for help? Where was this even? Over the past few days, Kael had gotten a little used to circumstances he neither understood nor had any control over. In the process, he had learned that thinking would lead him nowhere fast. So, instead of sitting around thinking for hours on end, Kael simply acted.

„Hello?!“ He called out first, shaky and a little muted. Silence was his only answer. „Hello! Can anyone hear me?“ A little louder this time, but still, he got no response. „Well, lets hope there is no murder puppet or something like it around; Homeless teen killed by Chucky in dream, news at eleven! Heh.“

The darkness was beginning to get to him, so, with his eyes out of commission, he focused on his ears instead. Waiting for something, anything to happen. Any kind of sound would be ok, just something to prove he was not going insane. There was nothing. No wind, no background noise, no talking, no light, nothing.

„Strange... What is this? Where am I? What am I even standing on?“ After a quick test, it turned out to be some cool, completely plain, and featureless slab of... some... substance that he was standing on. Focusing his attention entirely on his fingers let most of the building panic subside.

When he stood up again, he noticed something strange. Now that he had somehow come to terms with not seeing or hearing anything, there was no more panic. No more fear. He should feel scared, right? He asked himself. But why am I fine, no... even content, to be here instead? Confusion turned into helplessness that in turn made him a little angry.

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Getting annoyed with the situation, Kael reminded himself: Do something! Simply standing there, waiting, had not changed anything yet, and, frankly, he was getting bored of waiting. „Well no time like the present I guess.“ After hyping himself up a little, he took his first step into the complete darkness.

Nothing hurt. Nothing was jumping at him, trying to eat his face. Satisfied with the results of his first step, he moved on. Soon he was walking forward like he was taking a stroll in the park, all fear forgotten. Quickly he noticed that his steps did not make any sound and wondered, once again, on what kind of floor he was walking.

Finally, after a few minutes of nonstop walking, something changed. In the distance, Kael could see a tiny dot of white. The small smidge of color was all he could focus on. He felt a little like a moth at night, his eyes unable to look away from the light. It proved that not only were his eyes still working but that there was something else besides him in this space.

Excitement blew all caution in the wind, and he redoubled his efforts, almost sprinting towards the light at this point. Whatever the strange light was, be it heaven, hell, or anything in between, anything was better than this black void.

As Kael was coming closer, the tiny dot grew, and by the time he had walked a good hundred meters, it had grown to the size of a baseball. Soon its diameter changed from centimeters to meters to tens of meters in all directions. Even so close, he could see nothing but white.

Contrary to normal bright light, however, he had no trouble looking directly at it. There was no pain, and he did not feel the need to scrunch his eyes shut to keep the blinding light out. Soon he was so close that he could not see its ends anymore. Like an endless wall, it stretched in all directions. "Forwards light, backwards darkness. If that isn't a metaphor for something, I don't know what is.“ He said, chuckling to himself a little.

Just a few more steps and he suddenly had to stop. He had arrived at some kind of barrier. Looking down, Kael saw the edge of the white wall, contrasted sharply against the otherwise black background. Just one more step and he would enter the light.

What that might mean, if anything at all, he had no clue about, but it was something else, something better than this... blackness. There was a decision to be made here, that much he was sure of. Too bad he had no clue what the choices would lead to. His instincts declined to comment one way or the other. This was a decision for him to make. For his life, his future, his desires.

Letting his mind wander back to the fateful night five years ago, when, instead of his parents, police had knocked on their door, changing their lives forever. He thought back to Lucy's first happy, then tear-stained face when she was told that only she had been adopted, not understanding why her big brother could not come with her. He thought about Andrea and his other friends from the party street. His life on the streets; The fights he had for food or shelter; Having to steal just to survive.

Finally, he arrived at the memory of the night an old man calling himself an archmage had crashed into his shelter; Of him talking about magic, and showing him the quintessential magic spell: Fireball; Of his improved health; Of a world filled with magic, so much MORE than he thought possible. Suddenly he had an inkling what all of this was about.

„That’s it right? What this choice is about. It is about magic isn't it?” He sighed and closed his eyes. “It's about continuing to live in the dark but safe world of normalcy, or stepping into the light, seeing the world with all its colors present. Magic.“ The explanation felt right somehow. This was it. The choice. He had lived his entire life in the mundane world and only gotten a glimpse, a trial period, if you will, into the magical, and now it was time to choose.

„Is this even a choice really?“ He laughed a little. What would wait for him in the darkness of the mundane? Sleepless nights under some crappy construction plastic. No way forward. No way to improve his lot in life. No way to help his sister if something ever happened to her. Hell, he might even bring her trouble if the police ever catch him stealing and throw him in jail. He had no idea what would await him in the world of magic, but it had to be better than this, right?

Decision made, he looked back into the darkness one last time. Visions of a life without his family, given life by his imagination and the space he was in, floating before his eyes. Taking in everything that he would leave behind one last time, he turned to the light, focusing his eyes on his new future. Then, Kael stepped forward into the unknown, a smile on his lips.