The Cast Die

Nero sighed and said, “Alright. Let's begin. You wanted to know why I picked on you. It's because you abandoned our culture, our way of life, to live as a thief, to tinker with gadgets, like those bastards, the goddamned followers of Minerva!!”

He looked at Nero with a confused expression. ‘Seriously? That's it?’ He scoffed and replied, “Dude, what the hell? I didn't get blessed past the age of twelve, what was I supposed to do? We were friends, and you ditched me for something as dumb as that!?”

Nero closed the distance until they were face to face with each other, and in a cold yet furious voice said, “So what if you didn't get blessed!? Unblessed like you have been around for a long time! Yes, they're rare, and there would have been certain aspects of our culture you couldn't experience. And I know you knew about that precedence, we were ‘friends’ after all! There were other alternatives. You could have joined me in the gang. Hell, even if you'd joined the rebel group by acting as a spy for them, that would have been preferable, even if I hate how these people operate, with all the sneaking around, as though our fight is something to be hidden. But, no, Vacuus Venti had to be a thief, like those who stole this very island from us, because he's a selfish prick! You abandoned me first!”

As Nero huffed breathlessly after the furious tirade, Vac slowly processed the words. As much as he hated what Nero was saying, it wasn't really wrong. Yes, he'd chosen to be a thief, desperately stealing anything he could, even from the gang, because he wanted more power. Yes he'd had other options he'd chosen to ignore. But… ‘I’m still pissed as hell.’

He glared right at Nero and said, “You're right. I was a selfish brat, and I did hurt you. But let's get two things straight. First, I don't care if you think messing with gadgets is ‘against our ways’ or whatever, I enjoy it and I'm not changing that! Second, Do you know how I felt when you, my friend, someone I'd considered an ally chose to shun me? I trusted you! You could have spoken to me about this instead of harassing me about this! Why didn't you, you goddamn asshole!?”

Nero’s anger faded as he recoiled in pain at the last line. Vac noticed it and cooled himself down with a few deep breaths. Nero mimicked the action, and then mumbled, “I'm sorry. You're right. I should have spoken to you properly instead of lashing out. I was just… I thought you were leaving me, abandoning our culture, and I lashed out. And I was too much of a coward to stop and talk about it.”

He wished he could get angry at Nero in order to displace his pain. But… He tried for a smile as he replied, “Don't beat yourself up about it. I'm the same. We're both cowards who ran away. So let's start over. I'm Vacuus Venti, but you can call me Vac the Free.”

Nero raised an eyebrow at his new title, but took the handshake he offered. As he departed to let Nero go ahead with his discussion with Marcus, he felt the relief set in his heart. ‘The truth will set you free. Looks like that saying was true after all.’

As he moved away, he decided to test something. He took out the die, held the sixth face against his palm, and gave a prayer to the goddess Minerva in his head. ‘Um, Hello Lady Minerva, goddess of knowledge. I know we aren't exactly close, and I've probably cursed your name a few times, but please, hear my prayer. Give me the truth.’

As he focused his mind, closed his eyes and sacrificed his energy, a vision flew into his mind. He saw a bluish purple substance that had streaks of silver in it. It looked like a liquid, but it behaved strangely, moving freely like gas, while at other times freezing like a solid. As he wondered what it was, a voice whispered, “Mana.”

As the vision ended, his eyes flew open. ‘What did I just see? The voice called it mana, but is that what it looks like?’ Now that he thought about it, you never saw the mana while you used magic. The process required mana as the middle step. Of course those who naturally have raw mana like demigods and legacies could wield it. ‘But can I?’ His intuition told him he could. All he had to do was stop the process midway. He'd never ‘seen’ mana, but he knew a way to get a look at it.

He moved back up top. All he had to do for that was jump at the barrier. The upward draft would lift him, and once he reached the necessary height he could kick off it. Once he was up, he carefully took out one of the boots, and looked at the bottom as he pressed the buttons that activated the ‘sticking to stuff' mode. As he soon discovered, pressing the button just rolled back the bottom of the shoe, exposing the mana layer at the bottom. ‘Interesting. So mana has a naturally sticky attractive nature when kept thin and flat like it is here. And said attractive layer works with a small gap as well, as long as there's nothing in between.’

It looked similar in color to what he'd seen in his dream, though that had felt… purer? He could still get a feel for the energy though, so he was good to go. After closing the shoe back up and wearing it, he took out the die, and began to use wind magic while willfully slowing down the process. The instant he felt the presence of the mana, he attempted to stop the process midway. He was momentarily successful as he saw a small amount of mana moving about above his palm, but in an instant it blew up. He pulled his hand back, but he still felt his palm throb in pain. He examined his palm, but it looked strange. There was no clear injury, but it looked like there were faint lines of blue and even fainter strands of silver on his palm.

‘No, they aren't on my palm, they are in it! It is as though they've entered my veins.’ While Vac sat there engrossed in his examination, he heard a voice, “What are you doing Vac?”

‘Shit.’ Marcus had approached without Vac noticing. Vac hid his palm and answered, “Nothing really. What's up, Marcus?”

Marcus was observant, and noticed the motion. He quickly grabbed Vac’s palm as Vac protested, “Hey, there's no need for that!”

What Marcus saw scared him. In a quiet voice, he asked, “Vac, have you been messing with mana?”

Vac sighed and replied, “Yeah, but I was careful. It's not much of an injury.”

Marcus shook his head and sat before Vac. He looked right into Vac’s eyes and said, “Vac. Trust me, you don't want to mess with mana. You could get hurt far worse.”

‘Strange. Marcus seemed awfully serious and sure about this. Why's that?’ Before Vac asked, Marcus removed the gloves he wore.

‘Right, he did wear those. I never bothered to ask why.’ Vac watched in surprise as he saw Marcus's palms. Both of them were much like Vac’s own left palm he'd injured, except far worse.

As Vac studied them in surprise, Marcus said, “Years ago, I did my own experiment with mana, and this was the result. It aches each time I move my palms, and I regularly need to cut them open to extract the mana. And this is a relatively small injury.”

Vac couldn't help asking, “Why’d you do it?”

‘I’m a naturally reckless and curious guy, and I got a vision about it, and I didn't go that far. Marcus is a mature and calm guy, why would he go that far?’

Marcus sat down next to him with a sigh and answered, “Years ago, I was made the leader of the rebels. Your grandma had chosen to step down to raise you. But I was just scared. Not of the role, but of letting them down. I'm nobody special. Morta Venti was and still is the greatest warrior this island has seen, and I was supposed to take her role? I'm not even the strongest one after her right now, so back then I had no idea why I was chosen. In a desperate attempt for more power, I attempted a risky experiment.”

Vac sat in shocked silence. ‘I didn't think Marcus would have thoughts like that. I supposed I'd always just assumed that the adults around me were put together and cynical by nature, that they were these distant creatures who stopped me from living life my way. But now…’ Vac was starting to realize that adults were simply people. People who'd had great responsibilities thrust on them, responsibilities that limited their freedoms in ways he didn't understand. People who'd been worn down by their experiences in this cruel world. People who lived for the sake of a future they would not get to fully enjoy.

As they sat there in mutual silence and acceptance, he found himself understanding the kind of person he wanted to be, and the worth of what little he had.

And soon enough, the day of Vac's last heist on the sky island arrived.