Act I — The portal
You cross the portal. Space reconfigures. A smoky living room, in the past. You are a child, a silent spectator. You watch your father play poker with his friends — and lose, relentlessly, all his money.
Over the years, from childhood to adolescence, you stay by his side. You see him sink: poverty, hardship, gambling. This is where the root of that unexplained self-destructive feeling was anchored. You realise, with dread, that without knowing it you are taking the same path.