The Cast Die

The plan had several stages. The first was to divert the attention of two of the six black towers the followers of Minerva had built. One was in the center of the island, and the others were built at equal distances around it. He assumed they had six towers for the six great gods, an assumption backed by the fact that they called them the ‘Pantheon’. They even specifically called the central tower the Tower of Minerva. Truly, their arrogance knew no bounds.

The two twins were tall for their age and resembled Vac closely enough. With some smoke bombs and the usage of a few other tricks to imitate the magic of the other gods, they could appear to be Vac. As a final touch, the rebels also made two fake glowing dice that were nearly identical at a glance.

First, Calais pretending to be Vac would attack the tower where the captured members of the Populares where kept. Calais would be assisted there by Astrid, Atticus, and Lucius. There would also be some help from the spies inside. They would design the attack to be a passive hit and run attack.

Next, Zethes, also pretending to be Vac, would attack the central tower from above. He would receive help in this from Marcus and Gaius. The hope was that the followers of Minerva would assume that the first attack was a mere diversion to this attack, which would be far more aggressive than the first.

But the real attack would be carried out by Vac, his grandma, Aurea, and Nero. The four of them would be snuck in by the spies within the central tower.

And so he now hid with the rest of his group in carts filled with mana rocks. The attack on the other tower had already begun. Just as Marcus and the others above dropped on top of the central tower, the spies helping them pushed the carts past the distracted security guards. The central tower had a spiral staircase that went along the way to the top where the target room was.

As they were rolled up the stairs, they eventually reached a room that was a floor below the main room they were looking for. They then carefully got out of the carts, as there were no guards in this area. Once out, they scaled the walls to reach the floor above, and struck quickly to knock out the guards. ‘So far so good. Now I just need to do my part.’ The holy barrier was simply a large door with a glowing owl encompassing the middle, but he could feel the power. With a deep breath, he took out the die, held the sixth face against his palm, and focused his mind. As he summoned the power of Minerva, the door began glowing, and opened up.

The group quickly rushed in before it closed, but as they looked around, it seemed strangely empty. He could see the massive mana tank through a wide glass panel, and there were a few interesting mana tools placed on a table in the room, but nothing like what they came here for. As he wondered if the information they'd been given was wrong while frantically rummaging through the room, the door opened again, and he heard a slow clap through the open door.

“Well done. I knew you guys would get here, one way or another. We followers of Jupiter are wily and unpredictable. Isn't that right, Morta?”

As he turned to see the newcomer, he saw an old man with blue eyes like most on the sky island. The old man wore a strange mixture of the militaristic and advanced clothing of the followers of Minerva and the lightweight and cheap clothes that the people of the sky island wore. Behind the old man were a bunch of members of the Vigiles. But one man in particular caught his attention. Unlike the others, this man wielded a sword, and further seemed strangely apathetic about the situation.

As he processed the old man’s words, he turned to his grandma with a frown and asked, “Granny, you know this geezer?”

His granny looked tense. ‘I’ve never seen her like this before. It's unnerving.’ The old man laughed and said, “My, My, you haven't told anyone about your old childhood friend? What a shame.”

Then, with a start, the old man continued, “Wait, grandson? Isn't that an interesting development? I didn't know he was yours, but it does make sense in hindsight. To answer your question, boy, I’m a fellow follower of Jupiter and your grandma's childhood friend. And I helped stop the extinction of our people.”

As soon as the last line was uttered, his grandma scoffed and responded, “Oh please, Cassius. You and the others merely chose to betray your own people to save your own skins.”

Cassius sighed and began to pace about the room. “This again. During the end of the war, the followers of Minerva were starving us. They realized they couldn't get through the barrier, and so began to cut off our access to food from below and the rain water from above. They were constantly bombarding us day and night. They'd even snuck in spies to poison out water supplies, burn our food reserves, and cause chaos. The best option was to give over our island and ensure a good number of us would live better, freer, lives, working for the followers of Minerva. But you and the others refused to see that.”

Vac carefully processed the words. ‘There are others like this guy? I don't know the specifics of the war, but that does seem in line with what I've heard. And I can understand the kind of thinking this geezer and the others were using. I was the same way not too long ago. I also ran away from the consequences of my actions. I too chose to take the easier path, despite the self-loathing it caused. And I too didn't understand the things that were truly important. And that is why I must respond here.’

So he responded, “You're wrong, old man. Some things are worth fighting for till the end. Our way of life, our heritage, our freedom to live, these things are important. You sacrificed all of them without truly understanding their worth. You abandoned your responsibilities and looked away from the consequences of your own actions. You ignore the constantly creeping self-loathing that burns you from the inside. You're not truly free, as you're trapped by the chains of fear. So please, just stop here old man.”

As he spoke, Cassius flinched, and by the end looked conflicted. But then one of the Vigiles asked, “Your orders, sir?”

Cassius’s face hardened, and in a cold voice the man said, “Take them in. Make sure to keep the boy alive, and retrieve the die.”

‘Dammit. But wait, why aren't they using powerful mana weapons to blow us away? Unless…’ He glanced back to see the mana vat. ‘So that's it. They don't want to risk breaking that open. And speaking of that… I could use it.’

‘But first, I need a diversion. Let's see…’ Vac felt his pockets for anything he could use, and found the mana rock he'd picked up. He had his move, he just had to play it correctly. With a heavy sigh, he said, “Alright, you got us. You can have the die.”

With that, he palmed the real die and discreetly pulled out a fake. He then tossed it up in the air in a high arc. While Cassius and the followers of Minerva behind the traitor concentrated on the fake die, Vac pulled out the mana rock, set the die on its fifth side against his palm, and threw the mana rock at Cassius while setting it on fire.

It exploded, releasing a torrent of toxic gas almost directly into Cassius’s face while splattering liquid mana all around. As he'd hoped, his grandma had stopped the mana from hitting any of their allies with a simple wind wall. She'd noticed what he was doing after all. The followers of Minerva weren't as lucky. Cassius scrambled back, frantically tried to remove the mana that had gotten on his clothes, and desperately said, “GET ME A MASK! And get rid of the mana!”

‘Hell yeah!’ Vac sighed in relief and started to move in order to carry out what he had in mind, but before he could, the swordsman he'd noticed before sprinted through the gas while deftly avoiding the mana splattered on the floor. The man moved to strike at Vac with a heavy overhead slash. Before he could react, his grandma moved. She released a burst of wind to push the man’s hand from the side, and followed up immediately with a powerful wind enhanced blow to a weak point in the man’s armor.

He watched in amazement for a moment at how smooth their movements were, but shook his head and turned towards the mana vat. ‘I need to get there. I don't know how well my plan will work, but it's worth a try. I hope Nero and Aurea can hold off the rest while granny deals with the swordsman.’

Nero was not having a good time. While Morta was handling the swordsman, he and Aurea were stuck dealing with the members of the Vigiles and Cassius, the traitor. They were barely holding their own, but not for much longer. ‘In the name of Jupiter, where are Marcus and the others?!’ He'd hoped that Marcus and the others would try to get here after hearing the commotion. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Vac going up the mana tank. ‘What is he thinking?’

Aurea noticed the same soon after, and after a moment’s pause said, “Can you hold these guys for a short bit while I go to Vac?”

‘I doubt it.’ But he didn't express his thoughts, and simply nodded. ‘I may not be able to do that, but I'm sure as hell going to kill the traitor.’ It was the first thought he'd had when he learnt of Cassius. Nero’s way of being could not tolerate the existence of such an individual. He'd already made the preparations. But he needed a distraction first. As he began to rush closer and closer, while focusing the whirlwind he was using to block attacks, he heard a loud noise as the top of the tower had a massive hole blown through it.

He used the distraction to release a massive burst of wind to close immediately, and pushed down the guards. He then leapt off their backs and went straight for Cassius, who'd simply been watching from behind. He was struck several times in the process, but his plan worked. Caught completely off guard, Cassius attempted to fight back. But Nero then released the compressed ball of oxygen he'd been holding and blanketed Cassius with it. The very next instant he threw a lighter, this setting Cassius on fire. While Nero was far weaker in other respects, his precision in his wind manipulation was second only to Morta Venti herself, which allowed him to accomplish this feat.

But he didn't stop there. As Cassius tried to use his own wind manipulation to put out the fire, Nero immediately tried to follow up with a cut from his pocket knife, but he was pulled back, resulting in only a shallow slash. The Vigiles quickly swarmed and captured him. ‘Is this where it ends?’

Suddenly, Marcus and the others with him who'd dropped down through the hole Vac had created showed up to rescue him from the grasp of the Vigiles. He could barely move, but he still muttered, “Took you guys long enough.”

Marcus replied, “Sorry, it took us a while to get through. It's time for a full retreat.”