The Carnival. The beginning. Ep 1

The day started with the mundane rhythm of your usual life, perhaps smelling the burnt espresso of a city morning or hearing the distant hum of traffic. But the atmosphere shifts; the air grows heavy with the scent of ozone and cooling iron. You look up, and the sky is no longer yours. It erupts in an impossible aurora borealis of crimson and gold, weaving through the clouds like liquid fire.

Then, reality fails. A sound like grinding gears and screaming wind shatters the silence as a giant humanoid creature, forged from a grotesque fusion of polished metal and raw, pulsing flesh, tears through the very fabric of the firmament. It is an engine of 'inventiveness'—a direct violation of every natural law you have ever known. Its face is a featureless mask of steel, save for a wide, jagged mouth that yawns open. Inside that maw is no throat, but a massive eye with a pupil the color of dying stars—red and gold—staring directly into your soul.

As a blinding flash of white light erupts from that eye, the world around you begins to dissolve into static. You feel your mind being wrenched from its foundation.

Make a Wisdom saving throw.

It does not matter if your mind holds firm or breaks under the weight of the unknown. This is your inciting incident, the moment you become a reluctant hero thrust into a story you did not choose. The light consumes the street, the sky, and your memories, transporting you across the ontological divide to the world where your journey truly begins.