This is... a vast flat stretch of bare ground, swirling with grey-white fog. Patches of dark grey rock alternate with patches of paler grey-brown dirt. There are no signs of life, not so much as a single bug or bird or blade of grass.

The only landmark in sight is a distant tall round shadow, barely visible through the fog.

Well, if it is a dream, might as well engage with it. If not--well.

She heads for the shadow.

The shadow turns out to be...

...a huge stone ring, made up of three concentric rings, each of them divided into five sections. Each section is one of five colours, arranged in the same order on each of the rings: red, yellow, green, blue, purple. Each section has three symbols engraved in it, one large central one and two different smaller ones on either side: the central symbols on the outermost ring are stylized flowers, on the middle ring stylized birds, and on the innermost ring stylized gemstones. The symbol before the central one is always one of five things: a flame, a spiral, a rock, a wave, or a star. The symbol after the central one is always one of three things: a white circle filled with six smaller overlapping circles, a grey circle filled with a pinwheel of six half-circles, or an empty black circle. A set of white marble steps leads from the ground up to the middle of the ring, which is easily tall enough for her to walk through it, and an identical set of steps leads back down from the other side.

The rings are slowly turning; as she approaches, the outermost ring turns so that its yellow section (flame-sunflower-pinwheel) sits at the very top. The outermost ring stops as soon as it reaches that point; the newly-arrived yellow section begins to glow faintly, its symbols glow brighter, and faint yellow smoke begins aimlessly swirling through the empty space in the center.

Huh.

She walks up onto the dias and gives one of the rings an experimental tug.

It's pretty easy to get the innermost ring turning in the opposite direction, so that instead of the green section approaching the top, now it's the blue. It clicks into place a few seconds later; the innermost blue section glows, with its wave and faceted gem-outline and grey pinwheel, and threads of blue smoke join the yellow... along with puffy tendrils of grey, which chase each other through the central space and disrupt the coloured strands.

Huh.

"What is this..." she murmurs.

No answers are forthcoming.

The middle ring's blue section clicks into place, with the flame symbol on one side and the linked white circles on the other, and a silhouetted swallow in between. More blue smoke issues forth into the central space; it's now completely filled with intricate patterns of swirling smoke, two-thirds blue and one-third yellow, disrupted by those chaotic eddies of grey. With two sources of blue, the blue smoke now comes in a variety of shades.

Huh. Okay. If she tries to turn the yellow one to blue, what happens?

When the outermost ring clicks to green (star, black circle), the yellow smoke is replaced by green and the grey smoke vanishes, leaving the patterns considerably more stable. When she turns it from there to blue (spiral, black circle), the green smoke is replaced by blue, adding even more depth and variety to the shades of blue available.

Pretty, but still confusing.

She turns it back to green, and then the other two.

With three green sections lit, the smoke swirling inside the central space is all green, in just as many shades as there were of blue when it was three blue.

"Pretty colors," she murmurs. "But do they do anything other than be pretty?"

—a soft and sourceless voice says, "Gateway."

"Hello? Is someone there?"

"Gateway," the voice repeats.

"--You're the rings? And the rings are a gateway of some kind?"

"Rings," it agrees.

"Hi! I'm Malya. What do you do? Are you magic? Does the fog mean anything?"

"—magic."

"What do you do? I guess if you're a gateway you send people places, it doesn't look like there's much on the other side of you here."

"—send—"

"Where do you send people? --Do you need me to say it before you can? Should I guess?"

"World."

"World? You send people to different places in the world? ...You send people to another world?"

"Another," it confirms.

"Huh. What's it like?"

"...different."

"That makes sense. Do the colors do anything?"

"—gift—"

"Ooh! What kind of gift?"

"Magic."

"You can make people mages???"

"—different."

"...Some kind of magic from the other world?"

"Here."

"The magic you give is different from my world's magic and from the other world's?"

"Both," it agrees.

"And the colors...give you different kinds of magic? Like air is different from light or earth, in my world?"

"—colours—"

"The colors do something else?"

"—symbols."

"The colors and the symbols both do something?"

"Both."

"Separate things, or they both affect one thing?"

"—complicated."

"Complicated how?"

"—aspects—"

"...There's more than one thing about what kind of magic you get and the colors determine one thing and the symbols determine another?"

"Things," it agrees.

"Cool. What things do the colors determine?"

"...things..."

"Fair. Uh, can you tell me something about the difference between the two aspects?"

"—more."

"...There are more than two aspects?"

"...complicated."

"Hm."

She studies the rings.

"Can you tell me something about what would happen if I stepped through right now?"

"—life—"

"Life! Okay, so is that because of the colors, the symbols, or something else?"

"Green."

"Green is life...what's red?"

"Metal."

"Huh! Yellow?"

"Mass."

"Huh. Blue?"

"Weather."

"Purple?"

"Magic."

"Aren't they all magic?"

"—different."

"--Okay. What does the star mean?"

"—mind."

"The spiral?"

"—air."

"The rock?"

"---earth."

"So the flame is fire and the wave is water, I'm guessing."

"Both," it agrees.

"Does having more than one of a color or symbol make it stronger?"

"Stronger," it echoes.

"What do the circles mean?"

"...things."

Fair enough. "What does the white one mean?"

"Creation."

Huh. "The grey one?"

"Change."

"And the black one?"

"Destruction."

"That seems to follow. I assume they have effects on the magic."

"—balance."

"Balance? So you...want to get one of each?"

"—effects—"

"Having one of each has effects? Having all one kind has effects?"

"...imbalance."

"Being balanced has effects and being imbalanced has effects?"

"—imbalance."

"Just being imbalanced has effects?"

"Imbalance," it repeats.

"Is one of each balanced?"

"Balance."

"Is all three the same kind balanced?"

"Imbalance."

Nod. "What does imbalance do?"

"—different."

"It does different things depending on...which direction it's imbalanced?"

"—direction—"

"What does Creation imbalance do?"

"—creation."

"Okay, that was pretty obvious."

"—more—"

"It does more things than just the obvious?"

"—things—"

"Does it...affect how strong the other things are?"

"—affect—"

"Does it make them stronger? Weaker? Alter the ratios?"

"—other—"

"...Does it alter something other than the magnitude?"

"Something," it confirms.

"Is it usually good or bad?"

"...different..."

"The change isn't unambiguously positive or negative?"

"Change," it says affirmatively.

"Hmmm..." she eyes the rings. "Is there anything else you'd think I'd want to know?"

"...know..."

"Does it have to do with the gift magic or something else?"

"...change..."

"Imbalance in the change direction does something?"

"—other."

"Going through will change something about me?"

"...other..."

"--Something about the way the circles change the magic?"

"Something," it confirms.

"...It changes it more the more out of balance it is?"

"...more..."

"Is that confirmation or is it that there's more than just the thing I guessed?"

"Both."

"So Creation increases the...Creation-ness...and so on with Change and Destruction...does it involve making or destroying or changing whatever things it is I pick from the colors and symbols?"

"—complicated—"

"Yeah. I'm trying to guess broadly enough you can point me in more specific directions but it's not foolproof."

"—all—"

"It affects all of the colors and symbols I pick?"

"—whole—"

"--It affects the whole sum of what I get, separate from its component parts."

"Whole," it confirms.

"Oh, that's cool. So it's an--extra--bonus thing? Related to what I pick?"

"—alters—"

"It's an extra bonus thing and it directly affects the components?"

"—whole—"

"--What is there to the whole other than the sum of its parts?"

"—different."

"Different like how? They interact differently?"

"—different."

"Is that a yes or a no to my guess, it's kind of ambiguous."