Pale hands wrung themselves together, a soft sigh forming in the air.

"Finally complete. The preparation needed for this sort of thing almost makes it not worth it. Well, that's fine, since it's ready now."

Sitting in a space within which the concept of space was irrelevant, a figure looked to its counterpart with a coy grin. "Want to make another wager on what'll happen in this round? I'll put the usual amount on all of them dying before they make it to the third hurdle."

"The third? Since when are you that optimistic? I'll put double the usual on the game ending before they hit the second."

"Eh, what can I say? I'm a romantic. Sure, I'll take that bet. The basic conditions of fate have already been met, so things should be getting interesting about now. I'll put up the observation restriction so we can't spoil ourself by going outside their time axis; at the current point in their existence, most of them should be rolling for the first time now."

"Why are you telling me this? I'm ready to send out the messages, I've been ready. The one we've been waiting on is you."

"...whatever. Initiating world-transcension project. Set...initiate."

---

Nonsensical verses, nonsensical sentences.

Nonsensical beings in a nonsensical place.

A fitting beginning as it is pointless. A fitting end as it is Truth. Like a man walking along a spiraling path, towards an unreachable center, the dawn breaks on a story to shake the foundation of the world it is written in.

There is little else to say. There is little else to do.

For as that die in your hands falls downwards, that power to surpass 'God' will move from possibility to necessity, from collapse to expansion.

And so, on this day, allow me to say only one final thing to you.

His feet pounded the street as hard as he could make them, and it was only enough to keep him moving slightly faster than a brisk walk. His calves felt like something was tearing them apart, just peeling the muscle fibers away from the bone. He choked down another breath as he came to the top of the hill.

C'mon, Mark, it's right there! C'mon, c'mon! Last push, Mark, last push!

He tried to give it his all for the last few yards. He tried to reach down into his socks and pull out everything he had left in him. It must not have been much, because all he could really do was lengthen his stride for about fifteen seconds. It made his side cramp painfully in protest. Mark stumbled into his driveway and slowed to a crawling walk, raising his hands up above his head as he desperately tried to suck air. As he made the short trip to his doorstep, he looked back down the road, then pulled his phone out of the case clipped to his hip and swiped the screen to stop his clock.

"Tw-twenty-eight, huff, minutes. Give or take." he mumbled, as he leaned against his door so he could focus on turning the knob and not falling on his ass. "Three miles. Goddammit, I used to be able to, huff, huff, I used to be able to do that in nineteen." That still wouldn't have been good enough. He'd seen somebody on the cross-country team do it in fifteen, back in high school.

Both of his parents were gone. They were retired now, but still worked part time jobs, mostly because they couldn't stand to sit around the house and watch their one-remaining nest egg, the one they'd pushed harder than any of the others, be a worthless loser. He was grateful for the silence, at least. He grabbed a bottle of water from the fridge and forced himself to take it slow so he wouldn't throw up or suck it down his windpipe. Still moving slowly, painfully, he did his cool-down stretches and hoped that would be enough to keep his legs from cramping up. Then he moved out of the living room, heading to his bedroom on the other side of the house. He lurched in, bumped his hip on his desk with a muttered curse, and sat down on the bed to yank off his running shoes. As he tossed them to the floor, a glint caught his eye.

That die. He didn't know why he'd picked it up, he had no idea where it could have been or what it was from. It had just...caught his eye, like it had just now. It'd been a momentary distraction from...from...

Dammit.

The dojo had been the only place in the world he had ever felt like he fit in. To some people, taking Karate lessons was a hobby. For him it was practically his life. It was all he really had in this world. Once he had a few friends, not many, but enough to feel like he wasn't such a freak. Then they'd left. He had a good record, strong academic standing...then he'd nearly flunked, and driven himself into suicidal thoughts, and all for a degree that he might as well have wiped his ass with. Once he'd even had a dog, and no matter how bad his life got, at least his real best friend had always loved him and greeted him with a wagging tail. Not anymore.

He felt the tears threatening to well up again. In a sudden fit of fury he reached out and grabbed the die, hurling it. It bounced off his desk, ricocheted off the wall, then clattered along the floorboards.

Somehow, just like before, it caught his eye...along with the number it landed on...

"Take this and roll it."

The man just walked off, looking at no one, almost as if nothing even happened. James stood there with the dice in his hand, dumbfounded as he stared off in the directions of the man, contemplating chasing him. He thumbed the dice through his fingers, before pocketing it without another thought. Then he approached the cashier, paid for the drink he was holding, and left.

What the hell was that about...

He kept walked, following his exact route home as he did every day, passing the same houses, same structures, same everything. It got boring sometimes, yes, but it was more or less just a distraction to keep his mind off the walk. He pulled out his phone and plugged his earbuds in, setting the music on shuffle and listening to whatever came on. Just some nondescript EDM, like always, but it was another welcome distraction for the walk ahead. People walked about on ten street as they usually did, and cars drove about heading to different destinations. Upon distant inspection, everything seemed so simple, easy to understand. That is until you looked closer, and saw everything for what it truly is. Why did James always think about things like that in times of boredom or menial tasks? He never put that much thought into other things, so why now.

What the hell is so special with the dice then, anyway...

That was right, the dice. He may have had a pretty shoddy memory for someone as average as he, but how could he forget about the creepy guy giving him a die. It wasn't as if it was anything special, just a blue translucent d6. Nothing odd, nothing peculiar. James unlocked the door to his house and stepped in, one of the cats running to him with a toy mice securely in its mouth. Dropping his bag on a nearby chair, he cracked the can from his pocket and took a swig from it, the beverage instantly refreshing him. Endurance wasn't exactly his strong suit, so he got pretty tired kinda easily.

Pulling out his earphones and dropping his phone onto the desk in the corner, he pulled the dice from his pocket. More of the same nondescript EDM was playing, and it was actually starting to get on his nerves. It didn't normally, and he even considered going over to switch it off. But, as he walked to it a stretched out his hand to turn it off, the dice rolled out of his fist and onto the table, bouncing a couple of times before rolling some more and coming to a stop. It wasn't normal though, because for some reason he became fixated on the number the dice landed on, as well as the sudden change it had had from blue to red...

Niel rolled the die through his fingers admiring the colors, what a pretty toy. He'd gotten many things in his hat and forgotten even more, but he was confident he had never gotten something quite like this. He wondered who had given it to him, maybe a business man, or an owner of a pawn shop, even a teacher. Perhaps another person like him? Nah, probably some person with a trinket they figured they didn't need. It wouldn't have surprised if it wasn't so nice. Niel had just arrived in town and had finished his first performance, it'd gone reasonably well.

Niel now had enough money to go on for a few weeks if he did nothing from his last few acts, he hadn't pocketed anything yet, he usually waited at least a day, sometimes more depending on how long he planned on staying. Sometimes it amazed him how charitable people were. Then there were the times he was running on less than a meal a day, but now he could easily afford that. Life was fickle like that. Perhaps whoever had given this to him wanted Niel to test his luck. Grinning broadly as he sat in the shade of an alleyway Niel flicked the die into the air and watched it come tumbling, tumbling down. 6's were good right? Or maybe it was 1's. Guess it all depended on the game you were playing.

The library was quiet this early in the morning, when most students were attending class or sleeping in. Kimberly flipped to the next page of her textbook, diligently taking notes on her assigned reading. It was dry, boring work, but she refused to let herself slack off in her first year of college.

Someone tapped her lightly on the shoulder, causing her to turn around. A young woman with lovely brown curls and clear blue eyes smiled at her. It was Ramona, one of the girls from Kim's old gymnastics team. Kim remembered watching her on television just a few weeks ago as she competed in the world championship. What could she possibly want with someone who'd quit years ago?

"Hey," Ramona smiled sweetly. "Kim, it's so nice to see you."

"What do you want?" Kim asked bluntly. Envy made her even less polite than usual.

"Well, I didn't realize that we went to the same college until a few days ago, so I wanted to say hi. Do you remember when we used to do gymnastics together?"

Kim nodded, wondering where Ramona was going with this topic.

"I felt so bad when you quit. I mean, you always worked so hard, harder than any of us. It's not your fault you couldn't make it," Ramona said in her saccharine, sickly sweet voice.

Kim stood up violently from her table, the scrape of the chair echoing through the library. "Are you here to gloat? Is that it? Do you want to rub your gold medals in my face?" she spat.

Ramona backed up as Kim spoke, flinching as though each sentence was a physical blow. Her perfect, smooth skin paled. "No!" she cried. "Kim, that's not what I meant at all!" She looked to the left and right, where other students were watching the spectacle they'd created. In a quieter voice, she approached Kim and said, "I'm sorry. It was unfair, and I really do feel bad about it. Please, take this." Ramona pressed a small, cube-shaped item into Kim's palm, and closed Kim's fingers around it. "Wait until you're somewhere private to use it," she whispered. Then she turned and fled out the doors of the library, leaving Kim standing there, confused and holding a bright blue die.

Her anger replaced by curiosity, Kim packed up her books and returned to her dorm, which she fortunately didn't have to share with a roommate. She sat at her desk, tossing the die idly up and down in one hand. What did Ramona mean by "use it"? Was she supposed to roll it? Kim didn't think it would hurt, so she dropped the die and let it bounce across her desk. The moment it landed, its color shifted from blue to red. She leaned over to read the number on it, and a moment later, the die disappated into thin air, causing Kim to gasp in shock. While Kim was still incredulously looking at the spot where the die had been, the phone in her pocket vibrated, prompting her to open it and read her new message.

The die fell on a five. It fell just short of the maximum, something Mark strongly identified with, and then wondered why he felt so strongly about this stupid thing. Then its color changed.

"Huh?"

Was it like a magic eight ball, with fluid inside it that when you shook it up the color of the crystal would change? He picked it up again--only for it to phase through his hand as it dissipated like smoke in the wind. He drew his limb back as if he'd been shocked.

"What the f--"

A buzzing from his phone alerted him to an incoming text message. His heart suddenly soared into his throat--maybe his teacher had finally gotten back to him about private lessons? The mysterious die forgotten for the moment, he grabbed up the phone and opened the message.

"From...error? Unknown number?"

He knew a phone number could be blocked from view, but did it work the same way for texts? Couldn't he just...reply? He read the contents of the message, and word by word his eyes grew larger.

"You rolled a five...current points, five. Parameters...What the hell is going on here?"

Endurance, Intelligence, Strength...Appearance. Sociability. The list went on, like a character sheet for a D&D game that covered every possible trait a person could ever have. There were twenties in most of them...was that supposed to be the average number?

"How'd they know I rolled a 5? And who the hell is the judge who decided what my numbers get to be!?"

There were even Quests, offering more dice as reward! His heart beat a little faster. This couldn't be possible. It couldn't be possible to just roll a magic die and somehow level up in real life. Was this a prank? How could a prank make a die disappear into thin air? He read the quests more closely. They were...challenging him. Him, personally. They wanted him to take initiative, to show off his manuscript, or continue his martial arts, or run a marathon, or...

"I'M SORRY, FUCK YOU?!"

Flirt with a girl. Successfully ask a girl on a date. Get consent to touch a girl's chest.

"MOTHERFUCKER YOU BETTER HOPE TO GOD I CAN'T TRACE THIS BULLSHIT."

What's more, those quests offered more dice than the others! Okay, fine, he knew he was a loser, he hadn't had a girlfriend since he was fifteen, and he...he was still a virgin...but, but...

He gripped the phone with white knuckles, glaring molten hatred at the snarky text message.

"Alright, fine. Let's actually think about this, if for no other reason than to feel less like we're being made fun of by an unknown entity." he said through grinding teeth.

Endurance, Intelligence, and Strength were highest. Intelligence was obvious--there you go being all high and mighty again, when you barely got out of college--and Endurance made sense. He wasn't super strong or super fast, compared to people he had trained with. But he had always been the favorite practice partner of everyone at the dojo, because he could always jump right back up after being thrown or strangled or punched. Overall, the stats were a good judge of his abilities.

If he only had a certain number of points to spend, then he could possibly keep pumping his specialities...Would it have an effect, here in the real world? If it did...could he actually become some kind of superhuman? Pump strength until he could benchpress trucks? Increase Agility until he could run like a...like a...

He remembered an old viral video about a fictional energy drink. Powerthirst! You'll run as fast as KENYANS!

Was that racist?

He shook his head to clear the stupid stuff. If these points had an actual effect in the real world...Was there really any use for that kind of ability?

"I could possibly get stronger, faster, and smarter just by working out more and reading more, doing more. I mean...I still suck, but I've been trying to do these exercises again for like a month and a half now, even before the dojo closed." He paced as he talked to himself; when he was alone, this was how he focused. "I've raised the number of pushups I can do from 20 to 55, and when I first started running again I could only do a mile and a half in thirty minutes." He looked at his phone.

"Hmm...Sociability is my worst one. But...maybe if I had an actual reason to be social, I could get better at that with practice too..."

Working out would also mean losing weight. But, even if he cut his weight down to what he wanted it to be...there were parts of his genetics he'd never be able to change, not without extensive and expensive surgery. And what did he want out of life, anyway? Did he need to be able to benchpress a truck? What use would he get out of that? Sure, maybe he could be a superhero, stop crime or something. But he wouldn't be bulletproof. Or able to fly. Or able to hear a crime occurring miles away.

He wanted a life where he made enough goddamn money that he didn't have to do a damn thing anymore, and could focus on reading or playing games or training. And he wanted...

He wanted somebody to love him. It wasn't just about sex, about losing his V-card. That was why he had never gone out and tried to hook up with anyone, or go to bars or parties. He didn't want a fling, and he didn't want to grab the first girl he saw. He wanted an actual relationship.

"Human beings are shallow, regardless of whether or not they want to be." He admitted to himself, "In the end, I do want sex. I want a relationship, but I do very much want sex. But I don't have the confidence or the social skill...but..."

Why not? It was a simple and ugly truth of the world. Beautiful people were more successful. So, at least this one time, to test out whether or not these Dice Points actually did anything...

He looked at his phone. How was he supposed to do this? Did he just...maybe...

He sent a reply.

"Put all 5 Points into Appearance."

Then he ran to the bathroom mirror, looking closely at his face. There were three moles on his face: one on his cheek, one just between his nose and his lips, and one right on the side of his mouth. They were almost perfectly aligned diagonally, and bullies used to call him "Tic-Tac-Face." He had always thought his nose was a little too big. And that his ears stuck out too far from his head. Then of course there was the fat in his cheeks, in his neck. Would that be something he'd just have to exercise more to get rid of? His teeth had never been Hollywood white. He'd had braces when he was younger, so they were alright as far as straightness and orderly-ness went, but they weren't movie star perfect either.

Then, as he watched...

@Zeroth

It was an almost instantaneous change. There was no gradual shift, no slow fading of his moles. Rather, it was simply as if Mark had blinked, and when his eyes had opened he had been looking at something else. The moles from his face seemed to have disappeared, and his ears and nose were altered be more in line with the "norm".

Equally jarring was the fact that the fat both on his neck and stomach seemed to have withdrawn slightly. Strangely though, he didn't feel any more in-shape or lighter, it was as if the change was purely cosmetic and nothing else, that the fat had simply become unnoticed but still existed.

Mark's teeth didn't seem to change much. Maybe they had lightened just a bit, but it wasn't to a degree where he could be definitively sure. What could be certain was that his physical appearance had rather dramatically and inexplicably changed, likely for the better. While it was hard to say objectively, he at least didn't seem unattractive any longer. The majority of people would consider him average, nothing more and nothing less.

A moment after this occurred though, his phone vibrated again with a new text, one from the unknown number.

"You can ask me questions, you know! I'm here to help you, after all! >_<"

"But okay! Since you went ahead and thought of a new goal, I'll hit you up with an extra quest! These things are based off your motivations and desires, so as long as you have those, you can keep getting quests!"

"Yep, Appearance is a handy stat, alright! Everyone always seems to go for it first, LOL. Well I hope you're satisfied with your purchase!"

-X

Jame stared quite intently at the dice, which had come to a stop on a 3 across the desk. Then it flashed, and changed from its nice blue colouring to a bright red that stood out against the lighter wood desk. The music playing from the phone began crackling, and immediately cut off as the dice began disappearing. It looked as if it had just phased clean out of existence, like someone messed up a time stream and he had never met the guy who gave it to him. But then again, how could he remember it if that was the case?

"What, the actual..." he muttered, still staring straight at the space the dice once occupied. And then the phone buzzed, shaking his thoughts and snapping him back to reality.

Hello! Thanks for rolling the die! I've gone ahead and installed the application on your phone, take a look! We'll be in contact a lot in the future!

-X

What the hell was going on?!

Tapping off of the messaging app, he scrolled across the phones numerous pages until he saw it - Dice. A nondescript looking app, simply named dice, with a simple picture of a blue dice on the front. Anybody looking would assume it was just a dice rolling app and ignore it, hiding in plain site. So he tapped it, the app immediately opening without a splash screen or anything of the sort. And what he was presented with was a menu, with several options and a little tag that read:

3 Dice points undistributed

Most of the menus were greyed out, to James's dismay, but there were two that at least looked usable; Quests, and Stats. He was hesitant at first, but eventually he pressed it, the stats option. What he was presented with did something that hadn't happened for years, and that he hoped would never happen again in his life; a cold shiver down his spine, reaction in the face of the unknown and dangerous... Well, maybe dangerous.

Creativity: 30
Willpower: 25
Fearmongering: 22
Strength: 18
Motivation: 15
Sociability: 10

and with hundreds... No, thousands of other options ranging from Lethality, Chemistry, Intelligence, Endurance, Appearance, every damn language under the sun. And almost all were at a 20, likely the average for most people. How could something like that even translate into anything other than insanity, James was unsure, but he felt compelled to press one of the options. However, it was as if he were sat on a stat selection screen in an MMO, he had absolutely no idea which to choose. So he didn't, and instead he headed to the quest tab, though what he saw was something he didn't expect.

Make a new friend, get a girlfriend, get revenge on the bullies.

And all had dice values, some saying 2, another saying 1. Would that mean, that, if he were to complete different quests, he would get more dice? And the more dice he collected the more points he could get... and then that meant-

He quickly tapped away, staring down at the stat selection screen once more. In the instant he selected to screen, his hand fell on "Mastermind Planning". He wasn't sure why he did, as he dumped his 3 points into the stat, but then he remembered - one of the quests he had, get revenge on the bullies, had an undetermined amount of dice he could get. And then it dawned on him that, the game he was playing wasn't just a game of self improvement through magic numbers, but instead a game of life itself. A game that he was determined to win.

Six? He'd either just won the most or lost the most. Maybe another roll- that train of thought was immediately dispelled as the shiny die vanished. "Aw!" Niel cried in dismay, he'd really liked that! His disappointment was replaced by curiosity at the small buzzing in his pocket. It was that cell phone he'd pocketed a while ago. Last time he'd checked the plan had ran out on it. But now he had a text from someone unknown. Niel peered through the message with interest, checking out his stats. Heh, always knew he was a good performer. His face feel a little at seeming his memory at a mere 10. Judging by the many, many, many, other 20's that were floating around it seemed to be the average. What if he bumped it up? If he put all 6 'points' into it then that section would almost be average. What would that be like? Being able to remember things like names and faces, questions and answers? Niel tabbed to the quest section.

Make friends? A place to live? Get motivation? Did getting an apartment count as a place to live? Sending money to his family? Basically all those things required money, which Niel didn't have much to waste. He did like the idea of completing the quests and getting more dice. It reminded him of the board game he'd once played. Something about dragons. The inability to remember the name struck him once again with the disappointment he had in his own brain. But he could increase that right? If he could remember things like a normal person he could make friends. He could get a job and a place to live. Niel almost trembled with anticipation at the thought, he'd since given up on those things a long time ago. Carefully, almost fearfully, he assigned his all his dice points to memory, increasing it all the way to 16. Would there be an immediate change? Gradual? Or was it really all just a foolish game? No way, nobody was paying attention to see that he'd rolled a six and even if they were they wouldn't be able to type all this up that fast. It had to be real.

Kim read the message on her phone, then looked around the room frantically. How had this person - X - known that she'd just rolled the die? Just in case, she closed the curtains and covered up her laptop's webcam with a sticky note, then checked her phone again. There was a new app, with only two menus that weren't greyed out. Under "Status" was a listing of statistics, most of which were 20s, except for six:

Agility: 30
Determination: 25
Intelligence: 22
Happiness: 18
Charisma: 15
Appearance: 10

There was also a notice of the number of dice points she had - it was 3, the same number that she'd rolled. Under "Quests" were a few tasks with dice values:

Sign up for the gymnastics competition next week! Reward: 1 die.
Place in the gymnastics competition! Reward: ??? number of dice, dependent on performance.
Talk with your dad about future aspirations! Reward: 2 dice.
Get some motivation in life! Reward: More quests!

Her blood ran cold. Whoever had set this up didn't just know when she rolled a die. They knew the exact number it had landed on. They knew her former dreams and failed aspirations. They even knew about her relationship with her father. Kim wanted to hurl her phone across the room, but she knew that wouldn't make anything better. Instead, she looked back at the Status screen, where the numbers had little arrows by them.

If this worked like an RPG, then Kim could raise her starts by up to three points. She should choose one that was easy to check, so that she would know if it had really worked. Her finger hovered over the Appearance arrow for a moment, before she changed her mind. No, if this was real, then she shouldn't waste her points on something like that. Instead, she scrolled down until she found a stat labeled "Vision". It only took a few moments to print out an eye chart and tape it to her dorm wall. Then she removed her glasses and noted that she could only read the first three lines before the letters got too blurry. Kim then went to the stat screen and tapped the arrow - predictably, her dice points went down by one, and Vision went up by one. She tried reading the eye chart again.

@Eklispe

There...didn't seem to be any change. Not immediately, at least. The memories in Niel's mind didn't become any clearer, but perhaps the Memory he had increased only applied to the ability to retain memories, and would not help in recovering things that had already gotten hazy. To test it properly, he'd need to go out and meet a new person, have a new experience, and see if he could recall it more clearly than otherwise.

A few seconds later though, his phone buzzed once more.

---

@fourtimesnine

As one may or may not have expected, the result was rather immediate. Whereas before, Kim's ability to read without her glasses was fairly poor, it was significantly increased without warning. She could now make out more of the chart's words without her glasses aiding her. Of course, this too presented a problem, as now her glasses were using a prescription that was now outdated for her, and her eyesight without glasses was still not as good as her old eyesight was when she wore her glasses, which meant that she would either need to raise Vision up to an acceptable level, or get a new lens prescription.

The vibration of her phone would likely offer a distraction from these thoughts, though.

Niel looked at his phone again. Oh. Well that wasn't too surprising, if somewhat disappointing. It seemed his phone buddy was rather friendly and attentive. Well that was nice. "Well I guess to kick things off I'll start looking for a job and a place to rent. Does renting count as a permanent place to live or do I actually have to buy a house? Cause that would take forever." Niel asked, half to himself and half to whoever was listening. A job hm? Usually fast food places were hiring and didn't really care who worked at them. He might need to clean himself up a bit first. Niel hadn't taken a shower or cleaned his clothes in the last two towns. Pool's usually had showers, so did beaches, surely this place had one or the other. Niel agilely got to his feet and began hunting for a place to clean himself off. If he was going to stay here he should probably make a point of not stealing anything. Hm. Not get caught stealing anything. Then once he had a job and an apartment, he could send some money back home, and get some more quests! Niel was already getting excited about this game and he hadn't even started yet. He needed soap, some shampoo, maybe some shoes...

Her eyesight really had improved. It was true. Somehow, this dice had helped correct her nearsightedness. Kim felt at once elated and violated. On one hand, she could now improve herself however she wanted, be anything she wanted, so long as she had dice. On the other hand, someone or something was monitoring her actions and altering her very body, for reasons unknown. She'd only used one point, so her vision hadn't changed that much - still, Kim felt fortunate that she kept all her old glasses, in case she broke both her current pair and her backup pair before she could get new ones. She opened the box they were in and tried on various pairs until she found one with a prescription that matched fairly closely. When she had more points, she would fully fix her eyesight - for now, she wanted to conserve the remaining two for something else.

Next, she checked the message on her phone. Kim felt a little annoyed as she read it - X had evidently never fallen on their face and had their glasses frames almost stab their eyes out, or gotten a piece of a torn contact lens stuck in their eye. Speaking of X, Kim really wanted to know more about them. She opened her phone and typed a message.


Kim hit the send button. After a moment, she thought of another question. Given that X disliked min-maxers, they probably wouldn't like her question either - the thing she was asking was the kind of game-breaker that shouldn't be possible. Nonetheless, she would feel like an idiot if she later found out that it was possible and she hadn't even bothered to check, so she typed out another message and hit send.

@Eklispe

No sooner than had Niel asked a question to himself than did his phone vibrate yet again, another message coming through.

---

@fourtimesnine

At the same time, Kim too received a set of responses from the unknown entity who seemed to be behind the existence and use of the die that had been rolled moments prior.

It had to be like ten 'o' clock in the morning...or was it later? Evan didn't know and he didn't care. A yawn rolled out of his mouth as he rolled over on the couch in the living room of the apartment he shared with Devin, his roommate who was still in his room sleeping.

Thud!

Failing to pay close attention, mostly due to the confusion caused by his hangover, Evan rolled too far over and ended up falling on the floor. Shocked away, Evan looked up at the clock on the wall to see that he had slept well into the afternoon. Fortunately, he was off from his mediocre job today. He let out another yawn and planted himself back down onto the couch. The television sat in front of him turned off. How was going to spend his free day? Would he surf through channels, play a video game, or maybe he would go outside for a walk? Evan mulled over the possibilities before deciding to go for the walk. The weather outside wasn't all that bad. Maybe he would finally have some good luck and met the girl of his dreams.

Speaking of good luck, Evan felt the pocket of his shorts only to discover that something small was inside. Funny, he didn't remember putting anything there. Then again he didn't remember much from the night before at all. Curious to see what it was, he slid his hand into his pocket, grasped the object, and pulled it out. He held the die between two of his fingers and raised an eyebrow.

"Oh yeah," he said as it suddenly came back to him.

It was odd, he found the die lying on the ground out back of the apartment complex by the dumpster when taking out the garbage yesterday. It wasn't everyday that one found a die so he picked up and took it for himself. Plus, which was even odder, Evan recalled that he felt as if the die wanted him to pick it up. Putting the die back into his pocket, Evan got dressed, left his apartment, and headed towards the nearby park. Upon arriving he sat down on a bench and looked at the mysterious die in his palm.

Just what am I going to do with this thing? Evan wondered.

He wasn't much of a gambler. There were a group of guys who often played dice games in the park. That wasn't Evan's cup of tea for they were all risk with little promise of reward. But, if his die was rigged, then maybe he could use it to turn the tables in his favor and score him some extra money. Of course it was highly unlikely that the die he randomly found on the ground was tricky in any kind of way. Yet, Evan knew there was something special about it. It couldn't be just luck that he found the die sitting near the dumpster. Or maybe it was just another person in his building's trash that fell out of their bag when they went to throw it away.

As the saying goes - one man's trash is another man's treasure.

And with that thought in mind Evan rolled the die across the ground in front of him.

"HO-LY SHIT."

Mark couldn't believe it. He'd just blinked, and it was like he was looking at a different person. He rubbed at his face, pulled at his ears, just to be certain. He ran back into his room and grabbed his phone again, and saw that there was a new message. As he opened the home screen, he also noticed the new app. It seemed like, rather than a text response, he could have just used the app to assign points on his own. But the person replying had done so so quickly, and he was seeing these results in real time without any waiting period...

He sank down to the floor, slowly, his back against the wall. His head was spinning.

"There's no way this is possible. But it happened. So it's real." he said, still talking to himself. "But...implications...consequences..."

Though it probably went under "intelligence," in terms of stats, another thing Mark prided himself on was being a logical thinker. Even when writing his book--no, perhaps especially when writing, given that he wrote fiction--everything had to have an internal, consistent logic. If A, then B.

"Okay, so. Unknown entity, tied to this die. Rolling the die was the trigger...for this series of events, anyway." he began. He put his phone face down on the floor and tilted his head up at the ceiling. "Possibility that the entity is only active when die are rolled, points are used, and quests are given or completed. But also possible that the entity has been active all along, and for some reason has only just now begun to interact with me. If this is God's way of trying to make up for how shit my life's been, he waited an awful long time..."

He looked back down at his phone's back, and shook his head.

"No. Gods work on divine providence. Not luck and random events. Whatever you are, X, you're no god. If you were, I still wouldn't follow you."

He picked up the phone and turned it over.

"Alright, here's a question for you, assuming you're somehow aware of what's going on around me. You knew about my new goal, so I guess you can hear me. My life has suddenly become like a video game. By doing these quests I can change whatever I want about myself. Awesome. And entirely too good to be free." He looked once more at the status screen on the app. He saw stats, and quests, and skills...He did not see "equipment."

"Question one: I walk in tall grass. Do monsters, or some other enemies, attack me? Question two: I meet another person who is in this situation. Do we have to fight each other? Question three: By using the power of the die already, have I sold my eternal soul and/or years off my life, anything like that, to a demon or other malignant entity? I've got more, tons more, but I have a feeling you're gonna be a cryptic asshole about it. In the books and games, faceless figures behind supernatural games tend to be like that."

Sweet, phone guy was cool. Still three month prepaid was a bit much for his current cash. He'd defiantly need a job. Did that count as a new motivation? Whatever. Niel quickly shopped for some cleaning stuff with some of his valuable cash and freshened up at a pool shower. Then he took his nice clothes out of the bag he carried his few possessions in. "Never though I'd need these." Niel muttered to himself as he got dressed. He was decently respectable now. Technically he didn't need to wear them until, and if, he got interviewed but it didn't hurt to make a good impression on anyone who was watching. It didn't take long for him to find somewhere that was hiring, some sort of burger place. He whipped out a pen and filled it out, slowly but surely, then submitted it. Hm, not much to do now. He could work on the friend quest. Technically he could send like a few bucks back home but, A) He would feel bad B) Trying to use loopholes probably wasn't a good idea. Some quests just took a while, he could afford to wait. After all it wasn't like he'd had any plans before this. Niel changed back into his street clothes, set up his music box, and set down his hat. Preforming was his best skill, it'd be a shame not to use it right. Maybe he could make friends with one the people that came to watch.

Kim wasn't enthused by X's response, but she hadn't been expecting anything different. She still didn't trust X, given that he/she/they/it was a mysterious being with unknown motivations and powers, but X didn't seem openly malevolent. Even if they were, their dice had incredible potential. Kim thought about all the things she'd told herself to accept, to give up on, because no amount of determination could change them. No matter what she did, she was biologically short - nothing she did could change her DNA. Even though she practiced more hours than anyone else, all her hard work had been useless in the face of other gymnasts' pure talent. Ultimately, most people lived mundane lives, achieving neither wealth or fame, making no mark on the world, and Kim was most people. She had forced herself to believe that it didn't matter that she was short and ugly, that she should give up on being a gymnast, and that she could be content with an boring, unspectacular existence. Perhaps that had even been true before, but now that she had the dice, Kim knew that she would never give up on herself. She had the power to be whoever she wished and do whatever she wanted, and she would grab it with both hands.

She opened up her phone and looked at the Quests tab again. Kim had thought that her interest in gymnastics was dead and gone, but attending one more competition wouldn't hurt. Maybe it would even reignite her passion; it wasn't too late to try again. If she remembered correctly, there was a regional-level competition going on at the gymnastics center across town. It was casual enough that anyone could just walk in and register without being part of a pre-approved team; that was good, since she only had a week to prepare. Kim headed out and took the bus over to the center, mentally preparing her training regime.

After she disembarked at the closest bus stop to the training center, Kim noticed a street performer with a music box. Normally, she wouldn't have stopped, but this young man was especially talented. She checked her watch - it was still early enough that the gymnastics center might not be open to the public yet. Since Kim had some extra time, she allowed herself to stand nearby and enjoy the performance. During a lull in the music, Kim stepped forward and dropped a bill into his hat.

@Zeroth

No sooner had the questions exited Mark's mouth than did a reply from the faceless figure come through. How were they managing to send things so quickly? Forget typing them, just thinking of the answers that quickly seemed ridiculous.

"Yep, I've been around for a while! Been around the block and whatnot. Weeeeell, I don't have the same concept of time as you do, but you get the idea! And don't worry, I'm not a god! Those things need faith to get materialized, deification of natural phenomena and stuff, and if they stop getting that faith then they get downgraded! Can you believe that? (〃＞＿＜;〃) It doesn't sound fun to me, no thank you!"

"Oho, now the series of questions to figure out what the 'catch' is happens! Long text time! \(^ヮ^)/"

"Well, for question number one, nope! Just because I've given you a system doesn't mean the rest of the world follows it, you won't have to fight any monsters. Um, number two's iffier. I mean, there's nothing saying you have to fight each other, but you might meet some crazy who wants to be the only one with the dice, so they try to fight you. Something like that. You'll never be required to fight, though; that girlfriend quest of yours could even be fulfilled by someone who also has the dice!"

"And no, for three, there's no catch. When you die, you'll...well, I'm not allowed to talk about that, but it'll be the usual thing for humans unless you transcend humanity and become something better. But yeah, you're fine, there's no contract you sign by using the dice. At any point, you can just tell me you want out, and I'll stop messaging you. I'll keep the app around in case you change your mind, though!"

"The dice exist so that you can reach your ideal self, and then surpass it. Break through those limits you deemed as impossible, break through the expectations of your world, and become something amazing. It'd be dumb if using it was tied to some restrictive or detrimental cost. Everything that happens, good and bad, is up to you and you alone. Self-reflection and all that. Fun, right?"

-X

Niel took a brief break, breathing a bit heavily. Break-dancing was fun and good for attracting people, but draining. He'd been considering whether he should pick anyone out to be his friend and how to go about it. Then he saw a girl about as tall as him, he'd always been a runt, oddly enough she was a bit more stocky than he was. She dropped a bill in his hat and Niel took advantage off this opportunity to attempt to make his first new friend. She walked with a certain, grace, to her steps, contrary to her appearance that suggested she had skills similar to his own. Niel got to his feet in an elaborate twirl of movement, his cloak flourishing making the movement all the more impressive, and extended his hand to her. "Care to join me in the next dance? I have a feeling you'll catch on quick." Niel asked with a winning grin. On the other hand he could be totally wrong. That'd happened before. Nothing ventured nothing gained though. Plus he was the most presentable he'd been in weeks, The next song was already starting, the sorta music that played to a foxtrot. Not that Niel knew what a foxtrot was be he knew the steps to the music. Normally he did it by himself and it was more of a joke piece than anything else. If she did join him Niel knew the steps well enough that even if she didn't he could lead her along enough that it would look good. Unless she was really clumsy and accepted his offer. Then this might be embarrassing.