text: [Themes: fan fiction, fantasy, grimdark]
  
  It has been nearly a year since you ever took the White Dust. You remember the Alchemist giving you your first try; it felt like, for the first time in your life, you were powerful and could wield weapons beyond imagination. In your head, you could Lucid Dream better than any other person on the face of the planet. It was a mere illusion, of course, but you quickly realised you couldn't get enough of it. Quickly, all the gold you got your hands on went straight into the pockets of the Alchemist. Then, as you slowly lost everything around you, and your home was taken away, you realised it had gone too far. The damage was done, but you could at least try to salvage a life for yourself.
  
  As the snow falls on the cobblestone, you are reminded of the White Dust. Your hands shake as you think back to those days...but you quickly snap out of it; you hear crying.
  
  A young woman, with dirty blond hair, sits outside a brothel with mildew ridden, wooden doors. Passers-by don't spit on her, or mock her, or insult her...they simply walk on by, like she doesn't exist. You hear her mutter "I can't do this, I can't do this anymore..."
  
  You quickly put together what has happened, and decide to go and comfort her. You walk towards her slowly, and announce yourself
  
  "Hey, are you okay?"
  
  She quickly snaps her head up, and looks at you in wide-eyed terror. She shuffles backwards, her face white, clearly terrified at what she thinks you want to do to her...
  
  "I'm sorry," you say, quickly, backing away, "I didn't mean to startle you. I'll just leave now, don't worry about it."
  
  You turn to leave, and you hear her voice "Wait." She says, quietly.
  
  You turn around, and head slowly towards the woman. You can see her clear, green eyes. You start speaking, under the snow.
  
  You find out her name is Odette, and she was forced into this business when her parents, who lived in the countryside, died of malnourishment. You explain you were getting over your addiction to the White Dust and have been homeless for quite a while, and that you understood what it was like to be ignored. After a while though, the conversation drifts to happier times, and she tells you about the things she used to see in the countryside. She loved the sun as it shone through the leaves, and the sound of birdsong at dawn. But most of all, she loved the swans that would occasionally migrate to a river by where she lived. As she speaks about these things, she gives a little laugh of happiness, and you are reminded of the sound of brook through a meadow.
  
  "My mother used to tell me of a story, you know," says Odette, "She would say that, if I followed the swans, I would find a castle where all my dreams would come true. It's a silly story, but I always liked to imagine there was something to that."
  
  "These stories often have more truth than people think", you admit, "Honestly, we might as well try and see if there's anything to this; at the very least, there may be a castle nearby with a few antiques collectors might buy," you say, "It is near a lake in the forest nearby where Swans have been seen gathering."
  
  "There is?" She asks, "Do you think I could find someone willing to take me there?"
  
  "I know the way there," you say, "I understand if you'd rather go alone, but if you'd like I could take you!"
  
  "Of course, I would love that!" She says, a little too quickly.
  
  You set out through the roads and alleyways, till you get to Black Lake Forest. The trees are so tangled and their branches are so thick that the snow does not reach the floor. The path through the woods looks dark, and even the creeping of dawn's light over the horizon will not be able to lift the shadows.
  
  The path splits, on the right it goes into the dark woods, with nothing else blocking the path. However, on the left, there is a tree stump in the way of the path. Embedded in the stump is a sword, with a shining black hilt, quite unlike any other sword you have seen. It makes you shudder, and reminds you of a particularly intense White Powder dream you once had. Which way do you go?
  
  > The right path, avoiding the sword
  You are suspicious of the blade; why would something like that just be hanging around in the open?
  
  You and Odette continue along the path. Suddenly,
  
  you hear a scream.
  
  Odette is being wrapped in the coils of a gigantic, emerald green snake. It has feathers around its head, causing it to have what looks like a red frill. Instead of a mouth, it has a cruel, hooked beak.
  
  What do you do?
  
  > run away, abandoning Odette forever
  You are overwhelmed with fear, and run head first into the woods. You hear a strange song being played thorugh the trees, and suddenly huge spiders appear from the tops. They wrap you in their webs, bite you, and everything goes black.
  
  You are suspicious of the blade; why would something like that just be hanging around in the open?
  
  You and Odette continue along the path. Suddenly,
  
  you hear a scream.
  
  Odette is being wrapped in the coils of a gigantic, emerald green snake. It has feathers around its head, causing it to have what looks like a red frill. Instead of a mouth, it has a cruel, hooked beak.
  
  What do you do?
  
  > see if you can find help
  You panic, and as the serpent takes Odelle away, you desperately search for help. You run down the path, until you find a village.
  
  You have travelled to the village. All around you are broken-down, diapedated huts surrounded by a crumbling wall. The paths are cracked and the plants are all dead an wilted. None of the inhabitants of the village look directly at you; they all seem to be lost, staring into space. With a jolt, you notice they are all men and they are all adults; there is not a woman, nor a child, in sight. The men around you range from young to almost decrepit with age. They all, however, share certain features; grey, sallow skin with hollow, empty eyes and almost mindless expressions. Suddenly, you hear shouting, and two men begin brawling with each other. As you watch in shock, an old man grabs hold of your wrist.
  
  "Boy!" He snarls, "Have you met Odile? Do you think yourself worthy of her?"
  
  The man's eyes alight with greed when he mentions Odile. What do you do?
  
  > bluff your way out by arguing that no man is worthy of Odile
  "I am not worthy of Odile," you explain, "For no man is. How could anyone be worthy of such beauty that exceeds and black out the very stars in the sky?"
  
  The man looks at you with something approaching respect.
  
  "Yes," he mutters, "Yes of course you're right." He raises his voice to a shout; "None of us are worthy! Odile will never show herself to us again!" And he shuffles into his home, slamming the door.
  
  The men seem to partially wake from their stupor. Their faces go from blank to utterly misrable, and they slowly shuffle off into their own homes. You peek into one of their windows, and see a man tying a noose to his ceiling lamp. You shut your eyes and walk through the empty village as quickly as possible, till you reach the other side, at the base of a hill leading to a huge Castle. By the time you're out of the village, you're sure that not a single member of the village is still alive.
  
  You walk up the path until you finally reach the Castle. It rears into the sky like a great black birds, blotting out the sun and leaving a cold shadow. There is a great, dark purple bubble-like field surrounding the Castle; perhaps this is what keeps Odile and the other monsters out? To the right, you see a path leading to the gardens. To the left, you see a path leading into the Castle. Where do you go?
  
  You panic, and as the serpent takes Odelle away, you desperately search for help. You run down the path, until you find a village.
  
  You have travelled to the village. All around you are broken-down, diapedated huts surrounded by a crumbling wall. The paths are cracked and the plants are all dead an wilted. None of the inhabitants of the village look directly at you; they all seem to be lost, staring into space. With a jolt, you notice they are all men and they are all adults; there is not a woman, nor a child, in sight. The men around you range from young to almost decrepit with age. They all, however, share certain features; grey, sallow skin with hollow, empty eyes and almost mindless expressions. Suddenly, you hear shouting, and two men begin brawling with each other. As you watch in shock, an old man grabs hold of your wrist.
  
  "Boy!" He snarls, "Have you met Odile? Do you think yourself worthy of her?"
  
  The man's eyes alight with greed when he mentions Odile. What do you do?
  
  > say that you think you are worthy of Odile
  "You think you are worthy of Odile?" snarls the man, "Well, I'll destroy you, and I will have no rival!"
  
  The others in the village hear this, and everyone descends on you. You try and fend them off, but the entire village descends on you. You manage to take out nearly half a dozen before the horde tears you apart with nothing but their bare hands.
  
  You panic, and as the serpent takes Odelle away, you desperately search for help. You run down the path, until you find a village.
  
  You have travelled to the village. All around you are broken-down, diapedated huts surrounded by a crumbling wall. The paths are cracked and the plants are all dead an wilted. None of the inhabitants of the village look directly at you; they all seem to be lost, staring into space. With a jolt, you notice they are all men and they are all adults; there is not a woman, nor a child, in sight. The men around you range from young to almost decrepit with age. They all, however, share certain features; grey, sallow skin with hollow, empty eyes and almost mindless expressions. Suddenly, you hear shouting, and two men begin brawling with each other. As you watch in shock, an old man grabs hold of your wrist.
  
  "Boy!" He snarls, "Have you met Odile? Do you think yourself worthy of her?"
  
  The man's eyes alight with greed when he mentions Odile. What do you do?
  
  > say that you think Odile is not worthy of you
  Your words spark nothing but fury in the old man's eyes.
  
  "Boys!" He shouts, "This filth insults our Odile!"
  
  You try and fend them off, but the entire village descends on you. You manage to take out nearly half a dozen before the horde tears you apart with nothing but their bare hands.[Themes: family friendly]
  
  After long await, the day is finally here. After a long, rough season it is finally time to play the championship game. The bus ride in was filled with nerves of the big name and the same nerves carried into the locker room. Although they were nervous, the team was ready to do battle, with every one of them wanting a chance to touch the trophy and prize money awarded to the winner. Rowdily, the coach gathers up his team, making sure to motivate them. All of the sudden, you and your team run out on the field for warm-ups. The crowd is roaring, waiting impatiently for the start of the game. After catching some fly-balls from your center-field position and hitting some balls in batting practice, you feel confident in your ability, and you are ready for the game.
  
  [Author's Note: This game is a serious one about an intense championship baseball game. You play one of the key bench players with a shot to win your team the championship.]
  
  > go To the Dugout
  After a quick warm-up, you go the bench, feeling confident you are going to have a good game. "Smalls," your coach yells, causing you to listen intently, " You're coming off the bench today, bud. I haven't seen the performance effort of late, but I'm sure you'll get a shot later in the game if it gets situational. Keep your hopes up bud. I know you've waited forever for this game."
  
  Disappointed, you walk away, realizing you might not get a chance to play the game of a lifetime.
  
  > go To Locker Room
  Angry that you are not going to start, you walk into the locker room, realizing you may not play the game of a lifetime. You are now faced with an enticing decision, to stay out there and hopefully get a chance to play later, or to leave and open up your roster spot for another player.
  
  > get Back Out There
  Realizing you may miss out on a chance to play today, you decide to go back to the dugout. The nerves are heavy, leaving the room silent. The fans are going wild in the stands waiting for the big game to start, making the nerves in the dugout increase intensely. Finally, it is time for the game to start and you take your seat on the bench, anxiously waiting for your chance.
  
  > The Big Game
  After the pre game rituals, the game is finally ready to start. Since you have no choice but to watch, you analyze the other team, hoping you'll get a shot towards the end of the game.
  
  > The First Inning
  As the game begins to start, the crowd goes wild with excitement. Finally, the first pitch was thrown by your ace pitcher. At a whopping speed of 93 mph, the pitch comes in high for a ball, leaving the count 1-0. After a few pitches, the batter grounds out to third base, gaining the opposing team's first out of the game. The next two batters for the opposing team also got out, causing them to go three and out to start the game.
  
  After a brief warm up, your team is up to bat. If your team can get a run this inning, it would majorly improve your chances of winning and cause the other team to lose confidence. Sadly, that doesn't happen due to the opposing pitcher striking out the side in only 15 pitches.
  
  > The Second Inning
  At the beginning of the second inning, both pitchers have not allowed a hit, an early sign of a pitching duel. This was true until the other teams clean up hitter smacked a home run almost 400 feet. You watch in amazement as the ball flies out of the park into the stands. Luckily, for your team, it was only a solo home run, so your team is only down 1 run. The next three batters get out, so it is time for your team to go up to bat.
  
  Now, that your team is down a run, there is some urgency to get that run back. However, this urgency does not help the batters of the inning after all three of them get out. After the second inning the score is 1-0, with your team recording six straight outs.
  
  > The Third Inning
  After the leadoff hitter hits a single into right field, you fear the other team is about to score another run. This all changes when the next batter grounds the ball to shortstop, causing your team to turn a double play. With two outs in the inning, the next batter steps to the plate, only to be struck out by your pitcher.
  
  Since your team has not gotten a hit yet, there is some urgency at the plate. The opposing pitcher knows that your team desperately needs a hit and that hitters will swing at almost anything. With more control over your team, the pitcher continues to deal, not allowing a hit after three innings.
  
  > The Fourth Inning
  At the beginning of the fourth inning, the score is still 1-0, with your team losing. As you observe from the dugout, you can see the morale of the fans and players continue to lower. After the opposing team goes on a rally, they jump out to a 5-0 lead, causing the crowd to go almost silent. Finally, your team is up to bat, and everyone is starting to realize, if your team does not get a hit soon, it could get ugly. This only makes the hitters more desperate, causing them to swing at bad pitches early in the count, making easy outs for the opposition.
  
  > The Fifth Inning
  The fifth inning goes rather smoothly for your team when they are in the field, retiring the opposition in short order, but the bigger problem for your team is hitting, with your team remaining hit-less for five straight innings.
  
  > The Sixth Inning
  At the beginning of the sixth inning, your pitcher is noticeably tired, and has lost a lot of speed and control on his pitches. After giving up two straight hits to start the inning, he is pulled for a reliever. Realizing you could get a chance to play soon, you stand up along the edge of the dugout, closely analyzing the game. After he gets back from the mound, your coach calls you over, "Smalls, get ready to play," he says, "Because you're hitting for the pitcher, then playing right field for the rest of the game."
  
  Finally, your time has come to play in the big game. Even though no one has even reached base yet, you are very confident in your ability at the plate and hopeful that you can make solid contact.
  
  The relief pitcher does a solid job and does not allow a run to keep the score at 5-0 going into the bottom of the sixth.
  
  > The Bottom of the Sixth
  At last, it is your time to shine. Currently, you are in the hole, two batters away from finally getting a chance to hit, and after your solid warm-up and batting practice, you are confident that you can make solid contact with the ball. After the pitcher retires the first two batters of the inning, you are finally up to the plate. As you walk up to the batter's box, you can hear the crowd roar with excitement. Superstitiously, you take your warm up swings, ready to hit the ball. As the pitcher winds up, you are faced with a decision to swing or look at the first pitch.
  
  > Swing
  The first pitch flies in and you take a big hack at it. Since the pitch was a breaking ball in the dirt, it was virtually un-hittable, causing you to look stupid and swing and miss. The pitcher has you right where he wants you. Realizing that he knows you're going to be aggressive, you doubt that you are going to get a pitch that is easy to hit. As he winds up for the next pitch, you are faced with the same decision, to swing or look.
  
  > Swing Again
  As the pitch comes closer to you, you realize that it's fastball, and it's coming a little inside. Quickly, you swing at it, trying to pull it into right field. Luckily, you make solid contact with the ball, sending it into right field. Although you made really solid contact, you were a little early on your swing, and the ball lands foul in right field about 50 feet short of the wall. With the count at 0-2, you realize you have to be careful on the next pitch or you could be out and end the inning. Confidently, you look at the pitcher, ready to see what he's going to do to try and get you out.
  
  > Swing again
  Since it is an 0-2 count, you realize the pitcher is probably going to throw you a breaking ball to throw you off. As the pitch comes in, you realize that it's, in fact, a breaking ball, and it looks hittable, so you take a big cut at it. Lone behold, you miss as the ball comes in the dirt for strike three. "Hopefully I get another shot," you think to yourself as you walk to the bench dissapointed.
  
  > play The Field
  After your team's rally to make the game 5-4, the seventh inning is pretty un-eventful for your team, allowing no runs in the field. When your team gets to the plate, the opposing pitcher allows two hits, but you get to the plate and ground into a double play, ending the inning.
  
  > Eighth Inning
  Neither team scores in the eighth inning, leaving the score 5-4 going into a pressure filled ninth inning.
  
  > Top of the Ninth
  As the ninth inning rolls around, the score is 5-4 with your team down one and everyone knows that it's crunchtime. On the first pitch, the opposing hitter rips a gapper into right field, putting him on second base. After a groundout to first, the speedy runner advances to third base with only one out in the inning. A sacrifice fly can easily score him from third and widen the other team's lead. To your dismay, the next hitter hits a fly ball, coming right for you. You can see the runner running back to third to tag up.
  
  > throw It Home
  After you catch the fly ball, you launch the ball at the plate. The throw looks perfect and is far ahead of the runner. The catcher makes a play on the ball and quickly tags the runner out to end the inning, leaving the score 5-4 going into the bottom of the ninth. Being up fourth in the inning, you may get a chance to hit if someone can stay on base.
  
  > Crunchtime
  The bottom of the ninth rolls around, and its make or break for your team. If you guys score a run, you win the championship, if you don't, you guys go home losers. The opposing pitcher retires the first two batters of the inning, leaving little hope for your team to come back. Luckily, the batter before you hits an infield singer and reaches first base safely. This leaves you up to bat with the game on the line.
  
  > walk up to the plate
  As you walk up to the plate, the crowd is going wild. You feel very confident that you can get the big hit your team needs to win the game and realize that the pitcher is sweating profusely and looks very nervous. You can tell that the crowd is clearly getting to him. You now have a choice: To be aggressive and swing at the first pitch, or look at it and wait for the perfect pitch.
  
  > Swing
  Since you are desperate to get a big hit, you take a giant hack at the first pitch. The pitch is a fastball on the outside corner, but you pull your head out and miss it for a strike. With the count at 0-1, you are now behind in the count and the pitcher has a major advantage.
  
  > Swing at the next pitch
  With an 0-1 count, you believe the pitcher is going to try and throw you off with a breaking ball, and that's exactly what he does. Except this curveball doesn't have much movement, and hangs over the plate. Realizing the lob you're receiving, you take a big swing and rip the ball into left field. The ball goes back to the wall and over the fence for a walk home run, ending the game. The crowd goes wild as your team has finally won the championship. As your rounding third base, your team meets you at the plate and soaks you in a Gatorade bath, and to think you almost went home after not starting.