The Cast Die

‘Ugh, this shit was such a pain.’ Ever since he'd agreed to the plan, he was forced to constantly move up to the top and then back down here again. This was because the effects of gravity meant that the blood rushed to his head when he was upside down, and if he was in that state for long enough he would die. He didn't bother to ask how.

They had spies up top who'd send information on the movements of the Vigiles and about which areas were safe. Said spies worked in the black towers, sent there by the rebel group. He'd winced when he'd learnt that information. So that's why Nero had worked in the towers. No wonder Nero had been so pissed back then.

One issue with the spies was that it took time for information to come to them. They'd had a few close calls, especially recently. The guards seemed to understand the way followers of Jupiter thought much better now, and had already ruined a good number of hiding spots.

He barely got to rest even when he was staying up above, as he was made to regularly spar with the members of the group. For the most part, he was good with that. He did pretty well, and even managed a win against Marcus the other day. But then there was Aurea. Despite being barely a year older than him, she regularly kicked pretty much everyone’s ass. Plus she had this ice queen atmosphere around her that made her hard to approach.

Vac was in the middle of one such spar right now. Aurea moved incredibly quickly, capable of summoning instantaneous bursts of wind to boost her movements, which left him frantically running away while deflecting with wind. As she attempted a heel kick to his face that he barely dodged, she pivoted on that same leg and dropped down to sweep his legs. Vac jumped back, getting away before that happened. However, Aurea had used wind magic to extend the range of her attack, and so an invisible mass of wind struck Vac’s feet, resulting in him losing his balance. Vac fell back defenselessly.

Thinking fast, he took out a smoke bomb and threw it at Aurea’s feet before she could strike again. ‘That should buy me some time to get further away.’ But just as he got up, Aurea summoned a powerful whirlwind around her and blew right through the smoke. ‘Oh c'mon! Doesn't she get tired? Couldn't she take it easy for a moment?’

He stomped the ground while channeling earth magic to destabilize the earth below her feet, and then attempted to release a burst of wind with a punch to push her back, but she canceled it out using an adducting wind current, grabbed his fist, and used it as leverage to flip him over her shoulder.

He groaned as he laid there, while Aurea coldly said, “How pathetic. I expected more from the likes of you.”

‘Oh great, the ice queen in her infinite wisdom decided to come off her throne to insult me, while I’m laying back in the dirt groaning in pain. What a nice person.’

As he slowly pushed himself up, he asked, “What's your problem?”

Aurea pulled him up in a huff, glared right at him, and answered in the same cold voice, “You're barely even trying to fight back at this point. What's the point of a spar where the goal is to win if the other side doesn't even try?”

‘Well yeah, I've lost every fight, so I'm obviously out of my league here.’ It seemed like the obvious decision to Vac. Why would he engage in a fight that couldn't be won?

So he scowled at Aurea and said, “Come off your high horse. I'll do things my way and succeed, so don't irritate me. We can't all be simple minded idiots like you!”

He smirked in satisfaction as he saw the anger on her haughty face. Looks like even the ice queen could get angry. She grabbed him by the collar and in a harsh voice yelled, “Oh, I'm the dumbass!? So says the loser who caused the capture of most of the Populares! You can't even figure out the magic of Minerva that those assholes can use!”

Now that was just personal. It wasn't his fault he couldn't use the magic of Minerva. From what he knew, it granted the user knowledge and boosted their brain, but he couldn't do that no matter how hard he tried. The stupid die was probably broken.

Before he could respond, his granny showed up and asked, “Am I interrupting something?”

He waved a greeting to his granny, but Aurea’s reaction was far more extreme. In an instant, Aurea let go of him, and in a sweet voice completely unlike what she used with him replied, “Of course not, ma'am. I was just teaching this kid and we got a little heated,” she let out a small laugh, ”What brings you here ma'am? Are you interested in having a spar?”

‘Ok, why is she calling my grandma ‘ma'am’? And also, what is with that sickening level of respect?’ He did respect his granny, but not to this degree. He knew that Morta Venti was famed for her prowess, but that was years ago. Plus when you lived with someone for years, you kinda got to know their more disgusting habits. ‘Now that I think of that, I could mess with Aurea using that information.’

As Vac grinned to himself maniacally, his granny replied, “No, I'm here for Vac. I wanted to talk to him. Do you mind?”

In the same sweet voice, Aurea replied, “Of course not!”

But Aurea's face when she turned to him told a different story. Aurea fixed him with a harsh glare, the jealousy evident on her face. ‘Oh this is just perfect.’

As he walked to his granny’s side, he held her arm, turned to Aurea and said, “Sorry to drop out of the lovely spar, but I'm going to have a nice, long chat with Granny. I do love spending quality time with her. You can go ahead and continue your spar with Nero or something.”

Vac walked away with his granny, the satisfaction clear on his face. But next to him, his granny frowned and said, “That wasn't very nice, Vac.”

He scowled and replied, “Oh c'mon! She totally deser-”

Upon noticing his granny's glare, he shut up. Morta sighed and said, “I did hear your conversation at the end. Aurea had a somewhat valid point.”

He grumbled to himself, but his granny just smiled and ruffled his hair. As they sat, his granny sighed and said, “I didn't want you to join this fight.”

Before he could interrupt, his granny continued, “Let me finish. I'd asked you to join the black towers because I hoped you could act as a spy of sorts. It would still be dangerous, but far less so than any of the alternatives. But you were chosen by the Fates to wield the die, and it is not my place to question them. So I will let you do this, but please, be careful. I can't lose more of my family. I can't lose you, Vac.”

He hugged his granny tight, tears forming in his eyes. He whispered, “Thank you, Granny. I promise, I'll make sure to get us all free from those assholes. No matter what.”

His granny ruffled his hair and as she pulled him close said, “That's the next thing I wanted to talk to you about. You see Vac, there are five aspects to magic. First is of course one’s compatibility. This is solely determined by whether one is chosen or not. Second is the thing you sacrifice. There exist some legacies and demigods who naturally have mana and can bypass this step, but that's a whole other topic. Third is linked to the previous, and is one's conversion efficiency. A more efficient mage will generally be better than a mage of similar power and resources. Fourth is one's skill level. And fifth is one's understanding of the god. The first three are things you're fine with, and the fourth can't be fixed in a short period of time. But the fifth, now that's what you don't fully understand right now. I can help you there, at least when it comes to Jupiter.”

As he processed the information, he frowned. He knew the myths of Jupiter. The king and mightiest of the gods. The god of wind, lightning and freedom. The one who has lain with many women. The slayer of the great monster Typhon. So he turned to his grandma and asked, “What don't I understand?”

His grandma sighed and thought for a moment, and then asked, “Vac, what do you think freedom is?”

‘Freedom, huh.’ That was a pretty vague question, but there was only one thing he could truly think of. For most of his life he'd been powerless. It was only after he gained the die that he truly became free. So he gave his answer. “Power, absolute power.”

‘Isn’t that why Jupiter is the greatest of the gods? Because true freedom requires absolute power?’

But apparently he was wrong, as his grandma shook her head and said, “No, Vac. If that was the case, then wouldn't only Jupiter be capable of freedom? If only one person is capable of freedom, would it exist at all? You see, true freedom requires understanding one's self. True freedom is the ability to be one's self for better and worse, to live according to one's personal ideals, beliefs, and feelings, even if at the cost of one's life. It is to live as oneself, no matter how much the world tells you not to do that, while accepting responsibility for one's consequences. And there will always be consequences. This was true even for the great god Jupiter. Despite having a wife, Jupiter chose to continue his womanizing ways. And while Jupiter himself was fine, the wrath of his wife Hera fell upon his children and the women he sired them. So even if one's actions don't affect one personally, they can always affect others one cares about. We respect and worship the gods, but they are not meant to be perfect beings. They symbolize the things we strive for, and the things that can destroy us. The freedom to live is the most precious freedom of all, and we must treasure it. Do you understand, Vac?”

He answered, “I'm not sure.”

‘I get some stuff. Like yes, it's important to take responsibility.’ He'd learnt that much. But giving his own life for his beliefs? And all that stuff about Lord Jupiter, he wasn't sure he got it.

His granny sighed and said, “Yes, I suppose you'd have some difficulty with this, like the other kids do. The followers of Minerva ruling over you kids led to all of you clinging to our culture and to the god Jupiter to an unhealthy degree. No single god is better or worse than any other. They simply are. But now I want to move on to the final topic. Your name.”

He'd been paying careful attention to every word so far, but the last line soured his mood. He got up and said, “Sorry Granny, but I don't want to talk about this right now.”

As he turned away, his granny asked, “Are you going to run away again?”

He winced at that. It brought back memories of the last time he'd walked away from a conversation with his granny. It brought back memories of when he'd run away after accidentally hurting Nero. He took a deep breath, turned around and said, “All right, Granny. Let's talk.”

His granny smiled and said, “Good. Now, your name means empty, void, nothingness. But Vac, that's not its only meaning. It also represents freedom. To be free of, to be free for. To have nothing is to have the freedom to gain anything.”

He thought about it, but couldn't help a scowl as he replied, “That's all well and good, Granny, but you don't know that that's what my parents meant when they gave me this name.”

To his surprise, his grandma simply nodded and said, “Yes, you're right. But the very fact that you don't know what they meant means that you can choose what they meant. And for that matter, even if you did know, it wouldn't change what you choose. You're free to decide how you want to live your life, what kind of person you want to be. Would you rather be Vac the Have-Not, or Vac the Free?”

‘That… actually made sense.’ For so long he'd been ashamed of his own name, as it fed into his own self-loathing. And yet he couldn't discard it, the only remaining link to his own parents. He'd always thought that discussing this topic that he loathed so much would be painful, and yet now that he had, he felt free.

He sighed, and with a rub of his head said, “All right, Granny. I get it.”

She smiled widely at that and hugged him tight. His granny then said, “I'm proud of you, Vac. You chose to accept this knowledge, even when you thought it might hurt you.”

As he heard that, the gears turned in his head. ‘That’s it!’ He got up, turned to his granny, and said, “Sorry Granny, I gotta go.”

He began to run to the nearest hole in the barrier through which he could go to the Undercity. ‘I get it now.’ The reason he couldn't use the power of Minerva is because he wasn't thinking in the right terms. When he tried to use it, he only attempted to gain good knowledge, knowledge he thought could help. But knowledge was neither good nor bad, it simply was, and no matter how one felt about it, its validity would not change. For the goddess of knowledge, the distinction between ‘good’ and ‘bad’ knowledge would have simply been insulting. But he was done running away from the things he didn't like.

So as he entered the Undercity, he walked to Nero, and with a deep breath said, “It's time to talk, Nero.”