The Cast Die

Vac sat there awkwardly as he ate what remained of his meal. After Vac had shared his story, the king had given him a warm welcome and had invited him to stay at the palace.

As he ate, he studied his food. He'd noticed this before, but people on this land had more access to meat, and it was on a whole other level here in the palace.

As he awkwardly ate what remained of his meal with the utensils he'd been given, Pyrrhus got up and began to speak while pacing around.

“You know Vac, we aren't much different. I too am one of the unblessed.”

‘What?!’

He looked up to meet the man’s eyes, and he seemed to be honest about this.

Pyrrhus continued, “You see, I used to live in a small place along the border called Epirus. We weren't particularly prosperous, and our lands were not as fertile as the rest of Sicily. But I was still happy then. And then the Romans, the followers of Minerva, attacked. You see, our land did have one resource. Mana rocks. Back then it's properties were not very well known, and we didn't have the means to utilize them. But they knew. And so they attacked. My entire village was struck down as they stole it all. I and a few others escaped, and I swore then to get revenge. And so I joined the military, rose up in rank to become a renowned general, and eventually became king of the country itself.”

As Vac sat there taking in the sudden burst of information, Pyrrhus moved closer and said, “Vac, will you join me and my fight? Will you help rid this land of the followers of Minerva, the followers of that false god once and for all?”

‘False god? What does that mean? As for joining him… I don't hate the idea, but… I can't make rash decisions here. Not again.’

“I am willing to help you on occasion depending on the situation, but my main priority right now is getting back home.”

Pyrrhus sighed, but nodded and said, “Very well. You are free to stay here until arrangements can be made for your return. Medea could use a friend. I believe that is all. My daughter will show you around.”

As Vac left the room, he saw Medea leaning against the wall outside. She waved him over and began to walk away.

Vac followed Medea as she guided him around. The palace was impressive, but it felt a little off-putting to him. He'd always associated grand buildings like these to the followers of Minerva. He turned his attention to the girl in front of him. She looked to be around his age, maybe slightly older. She was pretty, with a sharp facial structure and beautiful golden eyes, but something about her also unnerved him.

Once she finished showing him around, Medea turned to him with a twinkle in her eye and said, “Well then, now that the boring stuff is out of the way, what do you want to do?”

‘That’s a sudden change in her manner of speaking. Well whatever. This suits me better.’

After a moment of thought, Vac replied, “Can you tell me more about the state of things down here? I do know some stuff, but it's likely outdated.”

Medea sighed, but nodded and began to craft a detailed answer.

“Well, I'll split it up in terms of the various belief systems. The followers of Ceres are effectively split into three kingdoms. One is of course where we are, the kingdom of Sicily. Another is the kingdom of Sparta, a small but fierce and heavily isolated country. And the last one is Eleusis, which is held as the religious center of Ceres. Our kingdom of Sicily is the largest and the most powerful, but Sparta has strong warriors and rough terrain, and no one dares to attack Eleusis, which is also safely tucked behind Sicily and Sparta. Most of the followers of Neptune are said to have disappeared along with Atlantis, but there are also several of them in the coastal areas.”

Medea paused to catch her breath, and then continued.

“The followers of Pluto are largely independent and live within other countries, though they can be split into two sects based on their interpretations of how Pluto is to be worshiped. One group believes that the true way to live was to be alongside death in every instant, that death is a noble thing, that it is the true state of being. The other believes that life is a rare gift, and that it must be treasured in every respect. The former live as warriors. A lot of them are in Sparta, but others live as bandits. The latter group are nomadic healers.”

“Woah, wait a second. Why would the two sects of the same god hold such opposite views? It makes no sense!?”

Medea simply shrugged and responded, “Like I know or care. I suppose the god of the dead is the kind of deity that can be interpreted in different ways. Anyway, moving on. The followers of Vesta are spread throughout and have good relationships with followers of different gods, since their beliefs are adaptable and fit nicely with others. And finally we have the followers of Minerva. They're roughly split into three groups. First is the Republic of Rome, the ones you're familiar with. They ruthlessly plunder the territory and resources of others for the sake of their own goals, wield powerful technology and possess a large army. The second sect are what we call the Oracles. They're centered in Delphi, and are effectively information brokers, black market dealers and investigators. They're sort of a neutral party, though we don't get along with them. And finally there are the deserters, those who split away from those two groups.”

Vac considered the new information and compared it with what he knew. The information about the followers of Minerva affected him the most. ‘Perhaps I can try using the help of one of those other sects? No, there's no need to take that kind of risk. I doubt any follower of Minerva deserves that kind of trust. There's a few other things I wanted to ask about.’

“I have one more question. Your father, King Pyrrhus, called Minerva a ‘false god'. What does that mean?”

Medea laughed and said, “Ah, right. That's a certain rumor that's been around for a while, but I wouldn't treat it seriously like Pyrrhus does. It's largely baseless. If you're done with your questions, would you mind if we did something more fun?”

“And what's that?”

Medea simply grinned and waved him over as she walked.

Medea’s idea of fun was a spar. She led Vac over to a massive arena that had large rocks jutting out of the ground. They began with a distance of seven feet between them. After a brief pause where they studied each other, they began. Vac rushed forward with a burst of wind propelling him as Medea clapped her hands and split them apart. Medea then launched a rock with a flick of her wrist to slow him down.

‘Woah! But what was that hand clap thing for?’

As Vac knocked it to the side, he decided to change tactics, as he used the large rocks jutting out of the ground as cover while he closed in and launched attacks through launched rocks or bursts of wind. He hid his location carefully through the use of smoke bombs. Medea closed her eyes and raised her hands. Specks of dirt and dust rose up and surrounded her, obscuring her from sight entirely.

‘So that's how you want to play it. Pretty impressive, but I can just blow it away!’

He released a gust of wind to blow the dust away, as Medea tried to hold it in place.

‘I'm overpowering her, I can tell.’

Just as Vac thought he had it in the bag, he felt something move near him. Before he could react, he felt the massive rock he was hiding behind slam against him, launching him backwards on his back. As he groaned in pain, the dust collapsed. Medea opened her eyes as she grinned devilishly. Her previous move to cloud herself had allowed her to hide her actions to carry out the move.

“Gotcha.”

Vac tried to figure out what just happened.

‘How'd she find me? Was it through the ground? Is something like that even possible? If that's the case, maybe I should use a different approach.’

He took out his glider and with a burst of wind may he'd himself high up. Medea had let him grab his things before the spar, and he'd been able to make a glider during his journey to meet Pyrrhus. As he began to glide above, Medea began launching rocks at him over a wide area.

Vac was beginning to reach the limits of his stamina, but he steeled himself to continue. He used the magic of Minerva by sacrificing a small rock he'd grabbed onto beforehand, and focused his mind. He wasn't very skilled with this particular magic, but it was enough.

As he dropped down, he deftly avoided the rocks thanks to his improved senses. He shifted his body and launched a gust of air downwards, which formed a vortex that attacked Medea while also slowing down his descent. Medea blocked the gust with a thin wall of earth but Vac bypassed the wall by landing from the air. Medea winced as his kick struck into her stomach, but she didn't move an inch.

‘How was she not pushed back? Is that some kind of trick with the earth?’

As he moved to end the fight, Medea stomped the ground, and the earth below them gave out.

Vac yelled in surprise as he fell into a five feet deep hole. Medea fell along with him, but unlike him she was expecting it. As Vac groaned in pain as he sat there at the bottom of the hole, Medea landed gracefully and immediately tied him up with ropes made of earth. After quickly knocking the die out of his hand, she smirked and said, “And that's my win. That was fun. You're much more interesting to go up against than most people here.”

After struggling against the ropes for a moment, Vac sighed and responded, “Whatever. Can you let me out?”

After releasing him and helping him up, Medea raised the earth they were standing on. Vac had questions about some of the things she'd done, and so as he followed her out of the arena, he asked, “How'd you find me back when I was hiding?”

Medea smiled and answered, “By sensing vibrations through the earth. I can teach it to you if you'd like.”

Vac nodded. He'd thought it was something like that.

“And about the dust cloud. It's obvious what you did, but I've never seen anyone do anything like that before.”

Medea laughed and said, “And you probably never will see anyone else do that. After all, I'm -”

She twirled around, and with an over the top bow accompanied she flourished her hand and continued, “- the princess of Sicily, and a descendant of Ceres herself.”

Vac's eyes widened.

‘A legacy? That's incredible, there aren't many of those, at least none that are really that capable. So that's why she is able to throw around large moves so easily. I never even saw her sacrifice anything. Her efficiency and control must be off the charts.’

“Incredible. Is that why you were able to create that hole in an instant? And you also weren't pushed back when I hit you.”

As she stretched herself, she smirked.

“Nah, I created that empty space at the very beginning and increased its size whenever I could throughout the fight. As for why I wasn't pushed back, I redistributed the force through the earth.”

Vac's head spun as he considered what she said.

“You mean you knew that I'd get there from the beginning? How is that possible?”

Medea laughed and replied, “Of course not. I simply prepared for the possibility. I had other things prepared as well. If there's one you need to know about me, it's that I always, always have a trick up my sleeve.”