Victoria was asleep when it happened. She was jolted from the brief sensation of falling, then a painful smack as she fell on her backside. Quick as a fox, she leapt to her feet in surprise, taking account of her surroundings. Some kind of transparent crystalline tube suspended over a dark abyss.

Victoria looked around lazily and strangely enough, a magnificent stage hung over the void right before her eyes. Here stood a peculiar man, dressed up like some kind of radio host or theater owner, adorned with a grinning drama mask as he wildly chattered and gestured out across the black expanse of nothing. To her right were two more crystal tubes, these ones opaque, and she was unable to see inside.

“May I introduce to you Victoria Schild, Champion of Earth! Please, give a round of applause for our reluctant player!” The strange figure's voice boomed, the ripples echoing in ways unknown. Such applause never came, for there was nothing but inky blackness all around, but the odd man seemed extremely pleased nonetheless.

Victoria ignored his rambling's and turned her attention to more pressing matters. Herself. More importantly, her body finally caught up with what she was seeing, a rush of adrenaline shook off the dredges of sleep still lingering in her mind. She could tell this was no dream, for she was far too lucid for it to be anything but. That left only the option of her having gone absolutely bonkers. She grinned at the thought, her musings as freakish as this clown.

Perhaps the endless hours spent slaving away in board meetings, sucking up to politicians and business owners had finally caught up to her. Or, did a real psychic put a curse on her? Nevertheless, this dream of hers seemed real enough so she did what any self respecting woman would-summon a tub filled with gold pulled by flying piggybanks into rainbows of ecstasy.

She got to work as her mind whirred yet the attempt was futile. Instead, the man’s head snapped around to focus on her. Literally. She was pretty sure necks weren't supposed to crack like that, neither should he smile like that.

His body twisted to align itself once more as a dashing chair flew out from buckled his knees and caught his backside. The movement was fluid enough to cause her admiration, even more so when it took to the inky sky.

“Vick, Vicks, Vicky! Can I call you that? Anyway dearie, tell us a bit about yourself! How are you feeling about the upcoming game? Confident? Nervous? Any experiences you’ve had that you think might help out here? What’s your strategy looking like? Oh, actually, don’t say that one out loud, the others might rat you out hehe.” It was a scathing voice, yet so childish pure. Up close she could see a blinding radiance from the holes in his mask, vanquishing the darkness around them.

A case of literary theft: this tale is not rightfully on Amazon; if you see it, report the violation.

"...Have you gone mental, stranger? Is this a mental hospital?” Victoria pushes away the masked man. On second thought, touching him was probably unwise, since now she felt him to be somewhat real. It was common knowledge that you weren't supposed to acknowledge loonies.

'Or hallucinations...' She thought.

“Hehe! Unfortunately not, Vicks! You’re in this for real! We’re about to dump you on an alien planet and see what happens! It’ll be a grand old time for us, but you best be getting ready-mentally, at least. If you treat this like a delusion your chances will not be looking good, I assure you. So! Since you’re a bit hesitant to share, I suppose it falls to me to explain. Ahem,” He cleared his throat and turned to address his audience, as his horrendously loud voice boomed out once more. “Victoria Schild was born with a relentless ambition unrivaled by her peers! She wanted to be something, do something, get obscenely rich, so she did what any self respecting entrepreneur-wannabe ought to do and started herself a company! Oh it was a real rags to riches story, lemme tell ya! But none of that is going to be very useful for her anymore, so let’s talk about what might be a bit more pressing. You see, Victoria here was born with…” He leaned in, hand over lips as if sharing a secret. “A chaos affinity!” Came a deafening boom, accompanied by a round of even more deafening silence. The man cackled away for a good bit after, leaving Victoria to her own quiet thoughts. “That’s goddamn right, a magical affinity! ‘Course, it wasn't much use on Earth with all their silly little toys and jackshit magic, but where she’s going, she's going to need it hehe!”

Victoria was incredibly confused and felt vaguely insulted. It was a vulgar feeling , as if being advertised like a commodity to a null audience. Of course, such a thing did not sit right with her. In fact, nothing felt right for a hot minute now.

Unsure, she sought the walls of her prison. Rock solid, sharp in some parts where angles formed, yet nothing to touch when she reached out. Not a single door in sight nor the pale whites of the hospital folk. The stage however stood sturdy under her feet, one good thing she thought.

It felt cramped all of a sudden, her limbs frozen and stuck close. Her throat felt dry and her breath hollow. Perhaps the doctors had some pills she could take right about now.

Retrospectively, she was taking this rather well. Strangely well. Shouldn’t she be freaking out right now? Or was she already past the point of no return? She was either locked in a tube while some magic nutjob rambled about how much danger she was in, or screaming her head off in a padded cell.

"Am I really dreaming?" A soft whisper parted her lips, she thought.

“Morality wise, our unfortunate candidate falls somewhere between a corporate overlord and a lawyer, so watch out! Just might bite you if you turn your back hehe.” The masked man continued his chatter, completely uncaring of Victoria's feelings.

"Uh... excuse me, pardon, but where am I?” Perhaps a respite from her dull consciousness, a question with answering?

"Oh dear oh dear, where are my manners? I am The Curator and you Vicky babe are the Chosen One! A Scion of Light, a Beacon of Darkness, The Trendsetter, The Dude, however you wish to say it! You shall be bestowed divine might and sent upon an extremely, extremely important mission. Survival!" He bellowed, shattering her eardrums and much more.

Now now, whatever happens my fellows just remember to sit back and relax as the mortals toil for glorious purpose! Absolute! Divine! Entertainment!”

"Thanks for tuning in~" And with an ungodly Wink, the curtains had fallen on Victoria Schild.