A Roll of Fate

     Today had pushed Charloton to find a way free of her contract. She was tired of being rented out to Faitel to play Fashion Doll for his crumbling fast fashion empire. Charlie was tired of using her power of persuasion to con Neopians into buying the cheap clothes under the ruse of high quality fashion. Ugga Shinies produced higher quality products than Faitel currently did.

     Faitel had once been the king of High Fashion couture. Never seen by the public, assumed hermit, was the name everyone whispered about every time new fashion dropped; however, the power and greed got to his head. He devolved into selling cheap mass produced quality clothing just for the Neopoint grab. The general public didn't approve of this change and instead of growing more powerful, his empire began to crumble. In a desperate attempt to save his empire, he came to the foggy streets of Neovia and made a deal with none other than Grimoiry.

     Grimoiry would have been a fool if she hadn't cut a deal with Faitel. Her black market potions made her a decent profit, but receiving thirty percent of profits for letting him use Charlie for advertisements and pop up shops? It would have been a crime to not make the deal. She would be out of nothing.

     Today. Today Charlie was made to put on a “Fashionable” potato sack and told to persuade everyone that it was actually a high fashion gown. This was too far even for Charloton. She did everything in her power to say no, but as if her protests acted as a portal for Grimoiry, the faceless Transparent Moehog appeared.

     “Remember, Charlie, dear, you have to do everything Faitel tells you to do,” Grimoiry cooed. She waved the contract in Charlie's face with smug pleasure.

     Charlie paced her dusty dark room as she held back the angry tears that pushed against her eyelids. She was tired of hiding in her room every day until being summoned to do something she never wanted to do. She wanted freedom. She wanted to be able to roam the fields of Altador. To be free of the fog and dreary life she led in Neovia.

     This was it. Her time to try and find her freedom. She opened her eyes and wiped away the tears. Charloton moved to the door and grabbed the wobbly gold knob. With a twist she would be directly disobeying everything Grimoiry had ever set before her as law. Every wave of the contract in her face being disobeyed. Charloton felt an unrelenting knot of guilt build in her stomach, but her yearning for freedom was stronger. She turned the knob and opened the door.

     Grimoiry's candlelit workshop stood between her and the door to streets of Neovia– leaving wouldn't free her from her contract though. She had to find something in this room to break her free from the chains of her contract before she could leave and never come back. Charlie moved quietly through the workshop, trying to find anything that may help her. As she neared the main work table, something pulled her to turn around.

     Low whispering began to emit from the objects on the table as Charloton turned her attention to the objects. An old game of NeoQuest? She thought to herself as she drew near. Charloton shuffled through the box to see six blank dice. Charloton picked up the dice and rolled them around in her paw. Her body froze and her vision swirled as scenes flashed before her eyes. Her breath hitched as she realized the visions were her memories. Memories she didn't know she had forgotten– or maybe that she pushed deep down, hoping she would forget.

     A couple of dark figures, one holding nothing while the other held something wrapped in blankets, bustled through the thick fog of Neovia. They peered down each alleyway as they searched for the landmark that would lead them to their destination. Once they found the potion bottle etched into the stone of a building, they turned down the alley and made their way into the building.

     It wasn’t just any building. It was the very building Charloton has been bound to for as long as she could remember. Charloton wanted to pull herself free from the vision, but the magic within the dice was too strong for her to pull away from.

     The door opened before they could even knock, the silhouette of Grimoiry pulling them inside. The Moehog took the bundle of blankets away from the Blumaroo, a small cry coming from within the blankets.

     “Please, Grim, we need you to help her. Between the curse happening here in Neovia and the magic she possesses… there's too much at stake… we don't want to lose our daughter,” a gruff male voice spoke. He moved forward out of the shadows, he wasn't anyone Charloton recognized, but she assumed it was her father.

     “I will help, but only if Charlie will be my… apprentice until Neovia's curse is lifted and Charlie has learned to control her power,” Grimoiry spoke. She flicked her hoof and a contract appeared on the table next to them.

     “She's going to take good care of you, Charlie. You'll have all the protection you'll need…” a maternal voice spoke. Each word laced with sadness only to be known by a mother who knew it was unlikely to ever see her child again. The female Blumaroo signed the contract before passing the quill to Charloton's father.

     The vision of her past stopped. Charloton took a moment to catch her breath. The dice felt hot in her paw, but she couldn't let them go. This was her ticket out. These dice had shown her a memory that she knew was hers, but was never allowed to remember. She felt the embers of rage smoldering within her. Charloton knew she was going to break free from this contract one way or another.

     Charloton looked down at the dice, ready for them to help unlock another memory, but something was different. One of the dice was now covered in engravings. A soft shimmer of blue light faded away around the edges of the symbols. She stifled the tears she felt pushing against her eyes. A loss she never knew she had. This wasn't any kind of magic she had been taught about– it must have been something even darker than what Grimoiry liked using.

     Grimoiry. Her captor. The one who kept her from living a normal childhood with a set of parents that obviously loved her. Charloton thought back on every occasion that contract was waved in her face and used against her. The anchor to her prison. The anchor that kept her from sailing away to freedom. Her contract was the antithesis of everything she yearned for.

     A bright red glow drew her attention back to the dice. Charlie watched as symbols began to etch themselves into a different die than before. Then it dawned on her; the dice were being carved with her emotions and desires. Was this her way to freedom? She was too caught up in the moment to notice that physical pieces of her had started fading; her ears and tail were no longer visible.

     Faitel. He was the next one to turn Charloton further into a puppet. He didn't want another Usuki to lead his line. Faitel wanted the eccentricity of a Transparent Blumaroo to be the face of his line– not to mention Charloton and her power of persuasion. Every ill fitting outfit she took down the runway with a glamor to make everyone see something much more spectacular than what she had on. Fashion that's to die for. The annoying line Faitel made her speak for every advertisement he had her star in.

     She was disgusted just thinking about every person she helped con. Faitel may be invisible, but she wasn't. In this moment, even with no one around, she could feel every judgmental look on her. Charloton was the face of Faitel Fashion. The third dice glowed green. New symbols etched into the sides of the dice.

     A gasp left her mouth. The dice clattered on the table. She held her paws up to her face. They seemed hazy, as if they were fading out of existence. Charloton had been so caught up in her memories she hadn't noticed that she felt lighter– as if the dice were unburdening her… by removing her from existence.

     Oh no. This wasn't what Charloton had wanted. Panic. Fear. The swirl of these uncertain emotions created a force inside of her that she wanted no part of. A pit grew in her stomach as she watched the fourth dice glow in a pulsating yellow; a warning that was too late.

     This isn’t what she had wanted. As the fourth dice glow grew brighter, Charloton felt an emptiness within. Hollow. The dice faded revealing its unique set of symbols. The one situation she thought she had control over, was a ruse. A guise. Was this just another one of Grimoiry's games? Before she could spiral even further, she pulled herself out.

     No. Grimoiry would not take this from her. This had to be the way to get out of her contract with Grim. Fading out of existence. Maybe if the dice were given to the right neopian– a neopian with power– they could bring her out of the dice and restore her to who she was, sans contract. Charloton had hope; a feeling she had never had before this moment.

     The fifth dice on the table glowed brightly purple. Charloton started to draw the conclusion that these dice were taking her strongest emotions, her identity, to imbue themselves with these symbols. It had been negligible at first, but now Charloton barely existed. She felt lighter enough that a gentle breeze could disperse what was left of her. It was almost… peaceful. Until she heard the rattle of the doorknob that led to the streets of Neovia.

     The peace was gone. Her mind raced as she tried to find any emotion that she could put into the last dice, but nothing came to mind. The yellow die pulsating brightly again as her panic rose. This was not the moment for her to give in to the panic. She wanted freedom.

     Charloton thought about her magic. Every time she used her magic for deceit. Every incantation she recited for Grimoiry's potions. Every advertisement she participated in, her words spinning a web of persuasion to catch the consumers in. Deep down she hated how her magic was used. It was never to help– always to deceive.

     The door began to open, but swiftly slammed shut with a gesture from Charloton. Her eyes widened. Did the door close because of her? She didn't know her magic was stronger than the parlor tricks she had spent her whole life performing. Is this why Grimoiry kept her on such a tight leash? Was it to keep her magic from running wild?

     As her thoughts raced, she felt her remaining essence begin to dissipate. The sixth, and final dice began to glow brighter than the rest had ever managed; orange to match the last flame of energy she had. This was her first and final successful act of defiance and while she knew it was Grimoiry outside of that door, the moment felt bittersweet that she hadn't been there to witness it.

     The door finally gave in. Grimoiry pushed through to see nothing. Charloton was not standing at her workable. Everything was in its place; however, it was noticeably quieter. There was no quiet crying coming from Charloton's room. Even the spyders on the webs in the corners of the room seemed quieter than normal.

     Grimoiry looked down at the now carved dice and slammed her hoof down. She would never be able to get Charloton back on her own, but an idea formed in her head. Grimoiry pulled at three character sheets and began writing in the details for them.

     After she had finalized the details, she placed them in the box with the rest of Neoquest: Fate Untold. She put the lid on and wrapped a deep purple ribbon around the box– she had just the friend.

     High above the land of Meridell, the Darigan Citadel floated in the sky. With Lord Darigan being away, he placed Lord Azodeus in charge in his absence. Lord Azodeus was a connoisseur of ancient games– especially those with a magical property. He sat at the table, peering at the map of Neopia, reenacting past battles.

     “Lord Azodeus, a package has arrived for you,” a messenger spoke with a bow. He placed the box on the edge of the table Azodeus sat at. A glint of curiosity flickered in his deep purple eyes.

     He gingerly opened the box and pulled out the game. Azodeus smirked. His old friend, Grimoiry, had found him a game for his collection; the purple ribbon giving away who it was from.

     Azodeus summoned his shadow court, Azufu, his most trusted knight, and Amidty, his whisper maiden; his eyes and ears out in the world. A smile of wicked delight rested on his face as they approached the table with his new acquisition all set up to play.

     “Sir? You've summoned us,” Azufu queried. Her right hand rested on the hilt of her sword. Azufu narrowed her grey eyes in confusion; she wasn't one to usually humour during her watch, but she found herself making an exception for Azodeus’ game nights.

     “Is this a new edition of NeoQuest?” Amidty asked, trying to contain her excitement. She glided over to the table and took in the site of the new setting.

     “This is an ancient copy of NeoQuest. Something I've been trying to acquire for ages,” Azodeus said. He beckoned for them to sit. “Come now, let's begin. I am assigning each of us a character. Ataxu, you'll play as Faitel. A fashion mogul who is in dire need of magical help,” Azodeus passed along the character sheets to Ataxu. “Amidty, you'll play as Charloton. She's contract bound to Faitel and my character, Grimoiry, and you'll find the rest of your character sheet.” He handed Amidty the character sheets.

     “What about Grimoiry? Who is he?” Amidty asked.

     “Ah, she is a mystery, even for me. Now let's begin,” Azodeus took the six dice into his hand, a strange warmth emitting from yesterday dice. Azodeus cleared his throat and moved in closer to Amidty and Azufu.

     “Our story begins in the streets of Neovia. A place full of curses and tragedies of its own–” Azodeus began.

     “I want to first go speak to Mr. Krawley,” Azufu interrupted.

     “I'm still in the exposition, can't you wait?” Azodeus said, annoyance hanging on every word.

     “No, no, I'm sure he can help move this along.”

     “Fine,” Azodeus said with a sigh. “Roll for Initiative.”

     “A fight already? Just what I needed,” Azufu exclaimed.

     Down in the streets of Neovia, the thick fog faltered. The air grew warm. The cracks around Grimoiry's door glowed in a rainbow of colours. Something was shifting; something was changing. Had Charloton's fate been rerolled?

     The End.