Everything was an empty page. There was nothing but blank space that surrounded her. She was unsure of how much time had passed or how long she had been walking. The only thing she knew for sure was... well, she was pretty much damned. The young brunette wasn't sure either if she was dead or simply in a dream state. Perhaps she was lucid dreaming, as it seemed to be the only logical explanation she could pull out without making her sound like a crack head. Serah felt emptiness, almost as if she was missing something important. She shrugged the though off and continued her stride.

It was quiet, eerily silent to the point where she had expected multiple times a creature to pop out from behind her. The mere thought brought the hairs on her neck to rise involuntarily. Everything was just so bizarre. A sigh parted Serah's chapped lips. Damn, this was one shit dream. Who in their right mind would want to dream of... well, absence of any color? It then occurred to her there was the blind. To make things even better, she felt like a dick.

Maybe it was god's work, a curse or some shit because he knew that she would target the blind by reading into the future, thus punishing her with blankness. The brunette nodded thoughtfully of the theory.

...

She mentally slapped herself for coming up with a handful of ridiculous scenarios that didn't made sense and frankly, would never come true.

Wait

That was basically the only thing Serah did to pass time in class. Not only did she felt like a dick, but she had also unconsciously insulted herself. A thin line formed between her lips as realization hit her. This place was definitely fucking her up in the head.

Fuck it.

Serah dropped her weight and plopped herself comfortably on the ground. She was going to wait this out until something came out or until she woke up. If she waited longer, something was bound to happen... right?

A defeated cry left her throat as she threw her back against the solid ground. Staring at nothing was all she was capable at he moment. Wait a second- she reached out and pinched herself. Nope, she was doomed. Either god had severed her ability to wake up or she was in a cursed dream. Yep, a totally logical explanation.

When she first decided to find a way out, she had expected there to be a wall, an ending of some sort. Unfortunately, there was nothing- no pun intended. The setting was messing with her mentally.

What was that?

The brunette rised to her feet and squinted her eyes, it was a shape of some sort. She began to walk towards it with suspicion. She couldn't recognize it's shape from a distance, but to hell with that! It was something, something that wasn't just white and she was not going to throw that opportunity away. Serah slowly accelerated her speed to then suddenly breaking into a sprint.

...

She rested her gaze in front of her. It was... a gate? The brunette stopped without helping but glide her fingers over the engravings. The details, the mural was strikingly familiar to something she had seen before but she couldn't place it. She had recognized the images to be branches. Each fine line connecting to foreign writings and symbols she wasn't familiar with. Why was this even here?

"You're not even a fan!"

...

"Wanna bet?"

Memories of her last activity reoccurred in her mind. The gate had struck a chord in her. Serah stared distantly in shock. The transmutation circle had actually worked. She stared distantly in shock, but how? Wasn't alchemy just a myth? Nothing but a mere creation of humans lusting over the thought of conversion of lead into gold? Heck, the periodic table basically defeated the theory of alchemy alone, replacing it as whole.

It was impossible, it couldn't be possible. All past attempts of alchemy were unsuccessful. Of course, with the modern technology today, the deconstruction of an element and reconstructing it into a whole other element was definitely possible. Modern physicist were able to transmute lead into gold successfully. However, the cost of the conversion process out weighted the value of the gold produced. Thus, crushing the purpose of the conversion. It was impossible and that was all to it. She wasn't going to have a change of mind based on an unreliable source of memory that could be an illusion or possibly a dream. She needed more than proof.

The eye

The ethereal reaching limbs

It suddenly became hard to breath. It was painful. She felt the pounding against her skull close to shattering. The brunette clutched her temple in pain. Beads of sweat crept down her neck. Was it always this hot? She leaned her weight against the gate with ragged breaths. The pool of blood crossed her mind. Her stomach turned and she instantly covered her mouth with utter disgust. She felt the rise of acid in her throat and collapsed to the ground. The brunette puked of the vividness of it all. It was so surreal.

"JOSEPH!"

Her eyes widened of the last memory flashing before her, where was he? Where was her brother? She searched desperately with her eyes and spun around in her heels. No, this was not happening. Where the fuck was he? She screamed his name multiple times, hoping for a reply, anything! But there was no answer, only but silence was met. How was this shit happening? Serah clenched her jaw and placed her anger at the gate, "Fuck!" she punched the solid form accompanied with a few curses until her knuckles were sore. She fell to her knees with exhaustion.

She slapped her temples multiple times, hoping to leave this nightmare. "Wake up!" she cried until breaking down into streams of tears.

...

"Well, I had my fun. Watching you lost its entertainment."

Her body became stiff. Slowly Serah turned her gaze to the owner of the voice. She froze in her place, staring with dried swollen eyed. It was... blank, but she could definitely see the figure sitting across from her.

Impossible...

"Go on. You're dying for answers, so why not ask?" It had distracted her from her thoughts with a slight amused expression. That was ironic as it had no face. That reminded her, maybe he was Slenderman. She punched her thoughts away and tried to avoid useless thinking. Well, easier said than done.

She opened her mouth but was silent, still hesitant if she should give in to the offer. She narrowed her hazel orbs at it, unsure if she should ask as suspicion oozed from her being. "Don't worry, I wont bite."

She swallowed a lump down her throat and finally asked, "Is this real?" Her question certainly brought a reaction from her host.

"Why isn't this refreshing? Others often tend to ask who or what exactly am I? Although, I cannot verify to you that this very moment is in fact, real."

"Cut the crap," She retorted bluntly. She knew bullshit when it was there. She wasn't going to get played. It then occurred to her that the situation had a striking resemblance to a scene in Fullmetal she knew very well. She shook the thought away, this is just a dream, nothing more. Wishful thinking, work your magic!

A light chuckle left the creature from across her, "Well, there is one thing." The ground beneath her suddenly began to rumble. She lifted herself from the ground trying to stay balanced and landed her gaze on the gate behind her. It was opening? She took a glimpse of the inside and noticed multiple limbs making their way towards her direction. Her eyes widened in return and reacted like any other human would in an alerted situation, run.

She felt the adrenaline pumping through her veins, warning her to not stop. Serah twisted her heal and ran for the other direction before anything could reach her, barely running past the creature before she felt a tugging of her clothes. She felt a grasp on her leg and lost her balance, slipping harshly on the ground and knocking her head against it. She felt the trickle of blood running against her forehead.

"Damn it!" She kicked the tendril without mercy and struggled to dig her nails into the solid ground. If they wanted her, she was not going down without a damn fight. The brunette tugged and pulled from the limbs that wrapped tightly across her, knocking the air from her lungs. Her weight was lifted from the ground as a rasped curse left her throat.

She was mortified, angry! She desperately tried to grab onto something, anything for gods sake! She turned her gaze to the seated creature and sent a pleaded gaze to its way. She reached out hopelessly, knowing that it wouldn't do anything.

The last thing she saw was a grin stretched from ear to ear before darkness consumed her.

Fucking basterd.

(Well this chapter is short but I do like the imagery. Don't worry, some action will take place in the next chapter, hopefully. There will be lots of explaining as to the meaning of her gate and the success of the circle as alchemy is impossible on earth. Sayonara my Wasabi sniffers!)