Illusions of Artifice

Once upon an outlandish evening when the clocks melted and streetlights dimmed, a young dreamer named Esme found herself—
caught between the realms of what simply was and what could never be. Beneath the sprawling expanse of an indifferent sky,
she stumbled upon an ancient doorway, its frame entwined with vines whispering secrets untold. It was here that—

She paused, a fluttering heartbeat echoing through her—a call to mischief or perhaps misadventure. As she approached,
the ground beneath her feet transformed into a tapestry of memories, threads weaving in and out of ↛—an illusion, an artifice.

Beyond the threshold stood not a familiar world but an array of silhouettes, each more enigmatic than the last. They shimmered;
no, they danced in patterns that defied reason, living shadows beneath a starlit canopy that spoke in tones of amber,—
Esme reached forward, but—