Roll Them

"It's very cozy in here," Dars said with a jeering tone in his voice. "I did this all by myself after I got a physical body. So…well, I was disappointed to learn that the dice still didn't accept me…"

Although this monologue would have revealed useful information, Mariana found herself focusing more on the torture equipment in the cottage.

Dars would have been right about the cottage having a cozy atmosphere, but the thumb stretchers and the bodysaw machine kind of ruined the vision of a perfect and grandfatherly cabin in the woods.

There was an old clock on the wall and a knife dangled from it, there were all kinds of scimitars and spiky hammers hanging like hunting trophies and Roinar was face down on a table, emitting a hoarse rattle from his throat. A black cloth covered his entire body, but Mariana assumed that he was severely hurt.

"You are one of the abominables, aren't you?" Daniel sure wasted no time getting to the heart of the matter. The demonic pirate king stood tall, even in the face of horror. He did not seem to be affected by the presence of the torture equipment at all.

"Well, if you must use such an ugly word." Dars sighed. "It is true that this is my most beautiful form."

"And why do you not cause a reaction in me, if your touch makes people subservient to you?" Mariana asked. "Don't think of this as a threat."

"No, the threats will come later," the pirate king added.

"How should I know?" Dars turned towards the witch, but it seemed like Roinar did not interest him all that much. "Sure, there are exceptions to every rule. I don't care much about that when I have other ways of making you submit to me."

The former ghost grabbed a pair of shears and clicked the sharp ends together, once, twice. Then he pouted for a moment and clicked them again. Three. He spun around and grinned. Four.

"I would like to make a proposal for you," he said.

Silently, Daniel told Mariana to distrust everything coming out of that mouth.

"What is it?" Mariana asked.

She noticed that the dice box was on the table. Before she could make a beeline for it, Dars pointed the shears at her and gave her a glare that was both a warning and a naked, raw death threat.

"So, you may not know this, but I am unable to use the dice to summon my brothers and sisters into the realm of the living," he said slowly, lowering the shears and bringing them close to his lips. "For that, I need someone of a…lower plane of existence to assist me."

Don't trust, the pirate king thought so loudly that Mariana could not be mistaken. Never trust him.

"So, you need me to do it," she sighed. "And the dice will call for your ilk? What do you give to me for that? How will I benefit from doing it, if the world ends and I die, along with my loved one?"

Dars clicked the shears again.

Five.

"Ah-ha! But you will not die," he said. "We are known for being frighteningly loyal to those who can be of any use to us."

Don't argue with him, Daniel reminded Mariana. She agreed with him, it was better to let the abomination think that they were listening to his proposal.

Roinar groaned on the table and tried to get up.

Dars whipped him on the head with the handle of the shears.

"You have no business doing anything in my house," Dars said. "No, I won't allow it."

"And you will spare us?" Mariana asked.

She knew how to do this, she knew just how badly she needed to make her voice tremble, she could summon just the right amount of crocodile tears. She knew she looked amazing, and pathetically adorable, too, as she shyly batted her lashes for the abominable one.

"You have my word for it," Dars said. "I am able to make this world into a new, better image of itself. I can show you untold riches…you only need to wait, and be patient, I can bring out the beauty in this place. Just roll them so many times that we get the result we desire."

"We need to negotiate first. We will soon come back inside," the pirate king said and gestured towards the door.

When they were outside, Daniel thought that Dars was secretly listening to them. Mariana agreed.

"Should we take it?" she asked. "I am scared of him."

I am no longer scared of any violent little scoundrel of a monster, she thought and added that they could pretend to take up the offer.

"Don't worry. This is our only way to ensure our survival," Daniel said. "You mustn't feel guilty for this. We can roll the dice."

He thought that Mariana should do her best to roll the dice in a way that would give them nothing but the blank sides.

Mariana commented - in her mind - that she had not thought about the blank sides before, but it was true, most, if not all of the dice did have them. She had no idea what they were all about.

The pirate king told her that the emptiness these dice could summon was different from nothing at all. In the dimension where the void creatures came from, there was no such thing as anything good and worthwhile not existing.

She thought that this was all just a bit too esoteric for her liking, but she agreed to try and get the blank sides up. Daniel promised to help her with his demonic powers. He was reasonably good at telekinesis, but for some reason, Dars did not want him to touch the dice at all - perhaps it was because the abominable one was too wary of demons.

"I will do it," Mariana said and hugged her pirate king.

"Let's go back inside and do it."