In the court of the Great Caliph

The gust was so strong it whipped your hair and clothes around you in a fury, starting to take physical shape around you until it colored your vision a pale white, as if the wind itself was so strong it had grown solid. As it slowed and you unshielded your face with your arms, you found yourself somewhere strange. Around you was low set seating, designed in a circle and covered with fine aquamarine silk. Deep navy blue pillows sat atop it, and around it sat laughing and chatting men and women, dressed in small amounts of fine silk clothing, tall and lean with blue skin and deep set blackened eyes. They laughed and talked among themselves, eating of brightly colored peaches and apples, enjoying deep violet wine from tall glasses, not paying any mind to the fact you now found yourself before them. Was this an illusion? You inhaled sharply, and the sweet aroma and clear air hit you all at once. If it was an illusion, it looked real. And smelt it. How is it you got here again? What were you just doing? Oh, the lamp, of course. You looked down, and it still clung to your clothing where you had set it up. It clipped easily into your belts, and you assumed it would have made a cool looking accessory so you wouldn't have to carry a torch like a commoner. You were opening it to see if it needed cleaning...and now?

"Welcome to the Qaleat Aljalid Walsilb, the pearl the air crafted. You are now the slave of the mighty and merciful Husam al-Balil ben Nafhat al-Yugayyim, splendor of the 11 realms, guider of the northern wind, protector of the Mus Alhalaqa scimitar, and so on and so forth. You, however, may call me the Great Caliph. Come, you shall entertain me." You raised your hand to protest, but in the blink of your eye found yourself on stone tiles, a bright white marble polished and finely crafted, with walls that seemed to be made of solid pearl. The air, however, took on a musty smell as if you were deep in the Earth. You heard the voice from before echo around the walls "Do not worry, slave, this is a test of your character and will. Entertain me and grow stronger. You are safe, I assure you, though what you will feel may seem very real. I have granted you my power. Entertain me well and I shall grant you more. And what you find in the old catacombs, you may keep! It is yours!"

This was the start of a strange time in your life. Little did you know this would not be the strangest event that would befall you before year's end.