FFM 2023 4: Gamble at The Mall

No prompts used.

Challege: The story must include a large risk or gamble being taken by a character. Bonus points if actual gambling is included in the story. Also, roll two dice. They will determine your genre/world and what is being gambled on.

My dice rolls were 6 (underground society) and 3 (love).

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The bony click of dice against wood wakes you up from daze. You have arrived at The Mall. The smell of all sorts of concoctions that would earn you a decade’s prison sentence just from looking at them permeates your nose, although you do not look. You have been sat down at the ebony table, just as you had requested before being put under.

“Well?” The Hostess rattles the dice in her hand. “Shall we play? Like agreed, if you win, your heart’s chosen will be brought here and made to drink a love potion for you… And if you lose…” She tilts her head, her smirk so predatory that you feel like a tiny mouse in front of a vicious carnivore. “Well, you are quite a healthy specimen, so I’m sure we can harvest a lot of good out of you.”
You swallow and hope that the story of The Hostess’s dice being made of the kneecaps of men who have been harvested is actually an urban legend. “Let’s play.”
The Hostess chuckles, her voice making shivers run all the way from the surface of your skin to the core of your bones. You cannot shake the feeling that you have made a terrible mistake, but it is far too late to back down now.