An endless dark corridor stretched in front of the boy. It was starkly geometric, completely devoid of any decoration. He took a step and he was standing in front of a white door, almost blinding in its stark contrast. The door opened.

A man in an elegant three piece black suit, and silver tie glanced down at the boy. “What is your name?” he asked.

“Michael.” The boy whispered, too awed to disturb the vast silence.

“This way please.” said the man. The man’s heels clicked on the floor, filling the vacuum of sound as Michael soundlessly trailed behind him. The room behind the door was another corridor, this one slightly cheerier. The walls were green, while the ceiling and floor were white. This corridor seemed endless as well, and they were at the next door, a hole in the wall until one looked closely and realized it was painted darkest black. This door opened for them as well, and they walked into a third corridor, checkered red and black on every surface in big bold squares. Every so often one of the squares would have delicate filigree decorating its surface in the forms of strange and indecipherable characters.

Michael walked for what seemed an endless amount of time, and they came to a third door. This one was lemon green, insofar as a lemon can be green, and did not open automatically. The man walked up and spread his hand over the surface of the door. He muttered something and the door opened. Michael walked into a room varying in extremes from white to sable blue, leaving most of the room in hard edged cerulean.

The butler carefully left, shutting the door behind him. Michael yawned and strolled to the center of the room. A square floated in the middle, and beyond that was a large chair that looked like it belonged in front of a fireplace in a comfortable home, if it wasn’t so big, and if it wasn’t so black. The chair swiveled and a shriveled old man in a collared white gown with purple lining glared at the boy.

“So, come at last have you? It’s about time.” He spoke with a hostile and impatient air. Michael opened his mouth to protest, but the old man waved his hand. “Let’s get on with it then.” He motioned towards the floating square with a wizened hand, and light blue figures flickered into existence on the board. He scowled and motioned again and some of the figures turned white. Michael advanced to board’s edge and cautiously picked up one of the blue figures.