As he reached his dingy old home, made of clay bricks that had been dyed pure white, he took a quick glance around and entered. As usual, his grandma was sitting on the tiny cot they had while cooking the food. He stared at it for a moment. It was his favorite, a rich beef stew.

‘Wow,’ Vac thought. She really was splurging today. Given their higher altitude, they needed to use more water for the stew, and the beef was rare as well as both water and the beef had to be obtained at a high price from their “rulers”, the followers of Minerva.

As he walked over and collapsed onto the bed, his granny ruffled his hair and said, “Well aren't you tired today. Big day?”

He was too tired to speak, so he simply nodded. She muttered a quiet, “Hmm,” and then said, “Alright, have a short nap and I'll wake you up when the stew is done.”

He went off into an uneasy sleep. He heard a mysterious and deep voice that said “Arise Vacuus Venti.” He scowled in his sleep.

‘Nobody calls me that!’

He turned towards the voice to respond, but before he did his grandma's voice interrupted.

“Wake up, Vac.”

As he rose up and drowsily rubbed his eyes, he wondered whose voice that was. Then again, it was probably just his grandma's voice seeping into his dreams. He slowly grabbed two clay bowls and set them on the small wooden table, and poured the rich beef stew into them with a ladle. He passed a bowl and a wooden spoon to his grandma, and they slowly ate in silence. He finished first, and was about to go back to sleep before his grandma asked, “Would you press my shoulders for a bit, Vac?”

He nodded, but as he bent his back while moving behind her, he winced in pain.

‘Dammit.’

The blow left by that guard must have bruised his lower back. He thought his grandma hadn't noticed, but as soon as he was done, she said, “Alright, now it's your turn. Remove your shirt and turn around.”

He opened his mouth in an attempt to deny it, but her blank stare made it clear she wasn't having any of that, so he quietly did as she said. She carefully inspected the bruise, and then said, “It's not too bad. I'll put some ointment over it.”

He winced as she rubbed over the wound, but he'd had worse so it wasn't a big deal. As he put his shirt back on, his grandma sighed and said, “Vac, there's something I want to talk to you about. You're already past seventeen, and it's time for you to make a decision about the way you want to live, and how you make your living.”

He frowned as he listened.

‘Where is she going with this?’

He already had a solid thing going on as a thief. Heck, his loot from today was probably enough to get them through the next couple months at least.

“I know you think your current path is all well and good, but it's too risky, and you're not bringing about any proper change with it. What I want to tell you is…”

She took a deep breath like she always did when delivering bad news, and continued, “I think you should work in the black towers for a while.”

He sighed as he got up and walked away.

‘This conversation again?’

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Before she could go on, he interrupted. “Hell no, Granny. I'm not working for those bastards. The whole point of what I'm doing now is to fight against them. Why the hell would I stop? You used to talk about your past fighting against them when they were taking over. Or did you forget, Morta Venti?”

As he said the last part, the old lady closed the distance in an instant and smacked him on the head while giving him a harsh glare that rooted him to the spot.

‘Dammit.’

She still had it if you asked him. She then replied, “You brat. What you don't understand now is the same thing I didn't understand then. What's just as important as fighting for what's right is understanding the consequences of your actions, and knowing the best path to achieving true justice. Our freedom to act is something we must use carefully. There's more to what I'm suggesting than you realize, so please just listen.”

He couldn't take it anymore. ‘Our freedom to act is something we must use carefully’? They had no freedom. He scoffed and picked up his bag as he walked away. “Sorry Granny, but I don't really care. I will not work for them, no matter what the circumstances are or what your plan is.”

Before she could say anything else, he quickly ran off to the closest wind tunnel he could find. After going through a series of those, he finally reached his location, the store of Acutus, the black market middleman through whom he sold and bought everything. He carefully pulled his spoils from the bag, starting with the vase. After all the calculations were done, Acutus gave an ugly smirk, like the Dirae themselves, and said, “Your total earnings comes to three aurei and thirty denarii. Well done, friend.”

“Oh c'mon, this is easily worth far more.” He'd been hoping for at least one more aureus. Acutus sighed so forlornly he almost believed it, and said, “Sorry friend, but the demand for this stuff isn't particularly high. Besides, that metal vase is stained with blood. Could be hard to get out. I could give you more if there was something else you're selling of course, as a favor to a dear friend.”

He paused for a moment as he considered the die in his pocket, but shook his head almost immediately. The die was far more useful when he used it than it would be if he sold it. But Acutus, the wily old man that he was, noticed the momentary pause and said, “Why, friend, you know you can share anything with me. Come to think of it, I heard a rumor that something valuable was stolen from our overlords. They're up in arms about it. You wouldn't know about that, would you?”

He schooled his face into a fake smile like his granny had taught him, and nonchalantly said, “Sorry boss, I dunno what you're talking about. Good for whoever that lucky irrumator is, I suppose.”

He left with a wave and started walking back in a lackadaisical manner until he was out of the old man's sight. He let out a sigh of relief as he headed back home. But as he walked on the path back home, he was suddenly shoved from the side. He groaned as he picked himself up.

‘Haven't I gone through enough already?’

He looked to see which mastigia was messing with him now, and of course it just had to be Nero and his stupid gang.

“What do you want, Nero? Are you really so pathetic that you have nothing better to do?”

Nero barely looked fazed as he directed the lackeys to hold him down. Nero bent down until they were face to face and then spat out in a voice filled with anger, “I just came to check on my old friend who wasn't blessed by Jupiter. I don't understand why the famed Morta Venti picked up a runt like you. You know, it's probably because you keep tinkering with those stupid tools of yours, just like those wretched followers of Minerva. Maybe if you stop following their steps like a dog, Jupiter will finally bless you.”

Normally he would just sit here and wait for them to get bored, but this time… He smirked at Nero and said, “Funny that you're saying that considering you're the one who works for the maledicti fures. Projecting much?”

Nero, who'd gotten up to leave, suddenly turned around and yelled, “What do you know you asshole?!”

Before Nero’s punch landed, Vac shook off the one holding his arm, took out and clenched the die until he felt the surge of power, and thrust out his hand at Nero. Like before, he expected a gust of wind to blow the fool back, but this time a roaring and shapeless wave of fire struck Nero. He watched in horror as Nero rolled around on the damp earth in an attempt to put it out while screeching out deafening cries. The ones who'd been holding him down moved to help Nero.

Before he even processed what had happened, his feet took him away. He fought the exhaustion that hit him, and ran as hard as he could, all while Nero’s screams echoed in his head. But somehow, he got himself home, where he collapsed onto the cot and fell asleep.