• "It was a dark and stormy night...."
    "BORING!"
    "Lyli, can I finish?"
    "That line has been used over and over again! Can't you come up with something by you?"
    "Alright. It ceaselessly poured all over Gaia."
    "Gaia? You're trying to write about that website again?"
    "I've never done it before."
    "What about your journal?"
    "That doesn't count."
    "Fine. What do you think I should write about?"
    "Well, since you won't stop with Gaia, write about your avatar."
    "She doesn't have a name."
    "That's why I came up with it!"
    "Okay, what then?" This should be good.
    "Yukiko Sumizome."
    "...That's good."
    "She's a dark elf."
    "Go on."
    "Why? This is all I can give you." Great.
    "And the story?"
    "Lithium."
    "Like the element...and song?"
    "Sure, why not?"
    "Alright."

    Gray clouds came, and gray clouds went. Everywhere you went that day, there would be gray clouds. It is said among the dark elves that gray clouds were signs of misfortune. Which is what had happened during the siring of Yukiko Sumizome.

    Within her, a strange being resides, which the people refer to as "Lithium." Lithium corroded everything it touched. Trees would collapse and people would melt. The dark elves had a secret to sealing away Lithium, but they would have to sacrifice a newly born elven girl...and that girl became Yukiko.

    After the sealing, the elders were unsure of whether Yukiko would survive in society, as they feared that Lithium would corrupt her mind. It has not happened. It never did happen. But, they were still fearing her, and so Yukiko was cast out of the underground, left to survive in the world above.

    For years, Yukiko would travel, desperate to figure out the secret to Lithium's power. Searching each day and stopping each night, only to keep going.

    One day, Yukiko stumbled upon a wall that had strange carvings about a monster...but it was trying to help something.

    "That would be me," a voice said. She looked around, but saw nothing. "I know you, and I know why they did this to both of us. But, I try to let everything go."

    "Humanoids are manic creatures, you know. All of them are manic. My job is to quell the mania in the world...even if it causes suffering for them."

    "Why do you not explain this to anyone?"

    "Only you I could tell. You are the only one I can trust. You understand."

    "I understand?"

    "I believe so. Of course, no one would want an explanation from a monster."

    "...Why are you called 'Lithium?'"

    "Lithium quells mania. That is all there is." With that, Yukiko fell into a deep sleep. When she awoke, there was no Lithium within her mind. All that was there was a man in robes. He looks at her and says: "I must do it. I know I have cause you suffering, and I apologize." "What will happen to you?" "I will die, but there is a greater monster than me." "What would that be?" "That does not matter now." He takes his leave.

    More years went by. Nothing has come to pass since the destruction of the elven underground. Yukiko eventually went back to pay her respects to the elders, her parents...and to Lithium, who, with his dying breath, set the world free.

    "That was the most boring and depressive story, EVER!"
    "Well, I'm sorry, Lyl, but that's the best I can do."
    "...Are you sure that you're not becoming emo, Tori oba-chan?"
    "I'm sure." Sometimes, I don't know what to do with her. I guess I should let her compose the story from now on.