He came to with a gasp. He turned to his side and violently vomited propped on his elbow. He coughed up water and bile until tears were rolling down his cheeks and he felt his innards were about to come out too. He rolled on his back and sighed. “Gooooood” he grunted. “I was really hoping the pain would have gone away”. His voice came out raspy and labored. His throat felt as if sandpaper was scraping against it every time he took a breath. He moved a hand and touched his rib cage. There was no pain there, it was all inside. His lungs were tormenting him. He moaned softly. Death was not supposed to be this uncomfortable.

“Was that your end game?”

His eyes opened wide. It was that voice again. That alien voice he’d heard right before he passed out. And it was so close, it made his skin crawl. He scrambled to his side again and he looked up. “No, no, I can’t be seeing this! My brain is dying, I’m hallucinating!” he yelled. Within inches from his face stood a creature of a kind he’d never believed could exist. He held his breath and tried to take the image in. It had the shape of a human. More or less. There was no clear end to its form, its edges seemed to be ebbing into the air surrounding it, and were in constant motion. It wasn’t exactly transparent, but it wasn’t entirely solid either. The whole being was an iridescent silvery colour. It had a long tangle of hair floating around its…face? It could be called a face, he supposed, only the features were not perfectly defined. There was a vagueness, a haziness about them, the nose, lips, they didn’t seem defined at all. And the eyes. The eyes were deep, black. Only it wasn’t a dull colour. Not like holes, no. Its eyes were like pits of embers; the fire just extinguished, but the heat still present. He fell back and put his hand in his mouth and bit hard against it, stifling a scream. The creature inched closer, crawling on its belly. His mind had snapped, that was it. He had gone mad seconds before his imminent demise.

The creature spoke again, softly this time.

“You are not yet gone, if that’s what you’re thinking”. Its big black eyes bore deep into his. He wondered briefly how that could be possible, there were no irises in those eyes, nor pupils. How could he be feeling them staring him down?

“What….? Who?” he mumbled.

“Are you asking for a name?”

He weakly nodded.

“Arctoria is what you may call me. My given name is unpronounceable for mortals”.

A chill ran down his spine. All of a sudden he was shivering.

He dared a peak around. He had absolutely no inkling of where he was or what this place was.

“Where… where am I?”

“Home”.

“Home?” he repeated feebly.

“My home”, Arctoria clarified.

He nodded again. He looked around once more. It seemed that the home was a reflection of its dweller. He could see no start or end to the space, the walls were flickering and shifting in the eerie light that appeared to be coming out of nowhere. There was nothing there, but it somehow felt full of… energy? Unpronounceable for mortals. That’s what the being had said. Mortals. He felt his head spinning. His breath was getting faster and shallower.

“What is this place? This…home? What are you?”

“Don't exert your little mind too much”, Arctoria said in a lulling voice. “After all, you’ve just cheated death”. With one last tiny gasp, he fainted again.