text: [Themes: fantasy, fantasy]
  
  Darkness....
  
  You awake to find yourself lying on the floor. Cold. You shiver and listen. There is no sound except for your own heart beat and lungs drawing breath.
  
  [Author's Note: Enter a world where the only light is that which you carry. Choose your path and decide your fate. Don't let fate decide for you.]
  
  > search the floor
  You begin to crawl across the hard surface. Reaching out to see if there is anything of use... anything at all. Your hands come across a cold cylindric item. You feel across it to find a button and press it. Thankfully, you are no longer in the dark, and have found a flashlight. It's a little over a foot long, one of those tough black ones you've seen police officers use.
  
  Now that you can see, you search your pockets to see if you can find anything of use. You check your left pocket for your cell phone, but it is no longer there. The right pocket is empty as well. Whoever put you here obviously didn't want you to get out.
  
  Finally, you check your back pocket. Maybe they at least left you your wallet. You pull out and unfold the leather and see your ID.
  
  Name: Azure
  
  Age: 23
  
  Height: 5'8
  
  Hair: Brown
  
  Eyes: Brown
  
  There is also a small picture of a woman with long blonde hair and blue eyes. This wasn't here before, you think to yourself. You wish you knew who she was but no memories reveal.
  
  > search the Room
  Your light scans the small room. You see a door immediately in front of you. Observing more closely, you find a note taped to the handle.
  
  The rest of the room is just hard stone wall. This door looks to be the only way out.
  
  > The Note
  You bring the paper close to your face to make out the words:
  
  "In Darkness the shadows engulf you"
  
  You hear the wall behind slowly begin to scrape across the stone floor. Turning around you notice it is in fact recessing back and opening out, revealing what looks to be another room. Listening closer, there's a faint moaning sound.
  
  > find out what it is
  As the wall scrapes back, it leaves a big enough gap for you to go through to the other side. Your light scans this new room to see what was making that noise. There's a girl lying on her back in the middle of the floor. She has her hand on her head and appears to be injured...
  
  > Are you okay?
  Woman: Where am I? Who are you?!
  
  Azure: My name is, Azure. Who are you?
  
  as you step closer you realize that this is the girl in the picture. Do you know her but can't remember? You keep it to yourself for now.
  
  Indigo: Indigo. Where are we? How did I get here?
  
  Azure: I don't know. I woke up to this place. We have to get out of here, though. It doesn't feel right. Can you walk?
  
  Indigo: Yeah, just feel a little light headed is all.
  
  You help her up onto her feet and look around this new room you entered. Completely black, just like the one before. Scanning with the light, you notice the room is a dead end. Nothing here.
  
  Name: Indigo
  
  Age: 20
  
  Height: 5'3
  
  Eyes: Blue
  
  Hair: Blonde
  
  Azure: Can you remember anything before waking up?
  
  Indigo: No. I don't...
  
  Azure: Check your pockets, maybe there's a clue or something we could use.
  
  Indigo looks through her pockets. She pulls out a photo from her front pocket. You both look to see it's a man in a black suit with red eyes.
  
  Indigo: I don't know who this is... alright, this is creeping me out. Can we just get out of here?!
  
  Azure: Right, we should probably keep moving.
  
  You scan the room with your light as the beam catches a glint of something metallic in the wall.
  
  Azure: Hold on a second though, I think I found something.
  
  You approach the wall and see there is a knife embedded in its surface. This could be useful.
  
  > take the Knife
  As you pull the knife out, the ground below you begins to shake. The gap leading back to the previous room starts to close...
  
  > Back to the Previous Room
  Azure: Let's go!
  
  You grab Indigo's hand and make a dash toward the room. You make it through as the wall slams shut. Back to square one, you think to yourself.
  
  Indigo: What's that in your hand?
  
  Azure: Huh? *you realize you are still clutching the note from before*
  
  Oh, this was on the handle of the door. *you hand her the note as she reads it to herself*
  
  Indigo: Yeah, I don't know. This is all strange... is someone watching us?
  
  Azure: We have to assume that whatever is going on here, it can't be good. Let's keep moving forward...
  
  > open the Door
  The door opens to a long dark hallway. At least there are faint lamps along the walls, still dim, but you won't be needing the flashlight. You scan left and right to what looks to be endless corridors.
  
  Azure: Great.
  
  Indigo: Which way should we go?
  
  Azure: We could split up? Might have a better chance of finding our way out of here that way.
  
  Indigo seems reluctant to split up. But this might be the only way you two will escape.
  
  > Split
  You offer that splitting up is the best option.
  
  You take the left corridor and she takes the right.
  
  As you walk down the long hallway you look back and she's already disappeared into the darkness.
  
  It feels like hours since you woke up in this place. Walking endlessly down this hall doesn't make you feel any better. You begin to wonder if going left was the right choice? Is this some sick game?
  
  Another step forward and you feel the tile under your foot depress. The floor starts crumbling beneath you as you reach to grab hold of anything! Something!
  
  You fall down almost 20 feet. You can't move. The pain in your body has taken over. Broken. You open your eyes to see a man approaching you. He is wearing an all black suit and has piercing red eyes.
  
  Man: Azure... I am Fate. The death that finds you in the darkness.
  
  Fate begins to move toward you, his piercing red eyes shutting out all hope.
  
  with the last bit of strength you have left, you flash the beam of light into his eyes and sink the knife through his skull.
  
  Fate's form begins to evaporate in front of you, but not before he scratches your face, leaving a deep scar on your left cheek.
  
  With the threat gone, you finally have a chance to recover from the fall. What were broken bones seem to heal themselves. What is this?
  
  You get up from the rubble to see a long dark tunnel. But unlike the corridors this one is a cave. The walls drip with moisture from the humidity. It is quite warm, maybe you will finally dry off.
  
  > try to get back up top
  Oddly enough you feel stronger than before. You climb back out of the rubble with ease. However, you can no longer continue down the corridor. The way across is much too great now. You head back the way you came.
  
  > The way Back
  You walk quite some time till you eventually pass the door. You wonder if you will ever run into Indigo again. Should've stayed together. What if she ran into one of those things like you did? You didn't even offer to give her the knife or flashlight...
  
  As you continue, you see something slumped over in the hall. You run to see that it is Indigo.
  
  Azure: Indigo! Are you okay? Wake up?
  
  Indigo: Hmm... Get Off me!!
  
  She shoves you away, clearly startled.
  
  Azure: Hey...Hey! Calm down, it's me.
  
  She snaps out of it and realizes she's in good company.
  
  Indigo: I don't know what happened... I was just walking down this way when I just...blacked out. Is there something wrong with me?!
  
  Azure: You're fine now, don't worry. I'm here. We should never have split up.
  
  Just then, you hear footsteps approaching in the darkness...
  
  > The Midnight Man
  You grab hold of Indigo and keep her behind you. As the Man comes into view he says:
  
  Midnight: Hello, Azure.
  
  Azure: Who the hell are you?!
  
  Midnight: I am Midnight, the darkest of blues, and your only hope of making it out of here alive.
  
  Azure: What?! You are not making any sense.
  
  Midnight: I've known you for some time now. I was there when you first drew breath and saw the light of the morning... When you were riding your bike along the coast in the rain.... when darkness took you and trapped you in this place.
  
  You turn to Indigo
  
  Azure: What do you think? Should we follow this guy?
  
  Indigo: I don't think we have a choice. What other option is there? He seems to know this place.
  
  Azure: Okay... We'll go with you.
  
  > Agree to Follow
  You both decide this man might be your ticket out of here. You follow Midnight through the darkness. Time passes ever so slowly. The two of you have been walking with this guy for hours. The hall comes to an end and the man reaches out with his hand. There appears to be some sort of orb. He presses it to the wall as it creeps open.
  
  A bright blue light pours in and for a moment you can't see much of anything. As your eyes adjust to the light you see a vast landscape will hills and lakes, all different shades of blue.
  
  Azure: Wow, this is incredible. Where are we?
  
  Midnight: This is Woad, the world after worlds. The place where Man can finally rest.
  
  You and Indigo step out into the world. You turn to ask Midnight a question but he has disappeared. Strange.
  
  Azure: Well. Doesn't appear to be the home ticket exactly, but this beats that other place.
  
  Indigo: Yeah, I feel something here. It's special... can't really describe it..
  
  Days pass as you explore this new land. The lake has pure water to drink. The trees grow a bright orange fruit from the branches. You begin to learn more and more about Indigo.
  
  She was a nurse in the world before. She can now remember the night before she arrived here. It was near the end of her shift when a patient came in with a bullet wound. The man was wearing a black suit and had dark, almost reddish eyes. She went to help him and that's when she blacked out and ended up here.
  
  You tell her your story. You were a soldier stationed in Kuwait. As a 2nd Lieutenant, you were the platoon leader of Bravo Company. The Commander called in a mission to have your team perform security for a transport unit delivering supplies. You were in a MRAP when you started taking fire from insurgents in the hills. That's when you woke up to this place.
  
  One day, as you are sitting eating lunch with Indigo, you see the Man in Black approaching from the hills. Fate, he called himself. The world fades from Blue to Black. His piercing red eyes draw closer and closer. With the knife in hand, you lunge at him to deal with the darkness, once and for all....
  
  > Azure Ending
  You're awake. You find yourself back in the war torn desert, on your back with a severe chest wound. It must have knocked you out. Bullets are whizzing left and right. You know your team needs you. With the M4 in hand, you sit up, your back against the MRAP. The insurgents begin to direct their fire your way, seeing that you are no longer out of the fight. You unleash all you got, till mags are empty and the enemy lays dead, blood seeping through the sand.
  
  You look up as a Black Hawk Helicopter circles above your position. Your men help you up and carry you over. You see a faint blue light as the Helicopter brings you back to base.
  
  > Waking Up
  You wake up in a clean hospital room. You realize they must have transferred you back state-side after your injuries. Suddenly a nurse comes in to greet you...
  
  Nurse: Hey, Azure! I'm Indigo. I'll be your care provider during your stay here. How are you feeling?
  
  You look up and see a woman with blonde hair and blue eyes. She looks strangely familiar to you. You just can't place it.
  
  Azure: Hi. How long have I been here?
  
  Indigo: About a week. They flew you in from Kuwait after a fire fight broke out on a patrol you were on. They wanted to get you state-side to relax and recover properly. Commander also wanted me to give you this...
  
  She hands you a badge and you recognize it as the purple heart
  
  Azure: What about my men? Did they make it out okay?
  
  Indigo: Yes, everyone is doing fine. They say once the insurgents attacked, you were the first one out of the vehicle to open fire. You got hit with an rpg blast that sent shrapnel into your chest. You got back up and returned fire, saving yourself and your men.
  
  wow, some battle. Guess I won't be returning to the front lines anytime soon...
  
  Azure: Can you just stay with me here, talk for awhile?
  
  She blushes and gives you a warm smile.
  
  Indigo: Of course! I won't leave you. You're going to be okay.
  
  You talk, completely lost in conversation with this amazing woman. You feel a calm like never before. A light comes in through the window of your room. A faint blue glow as snow falls.