Truly: First Omnibus

Chapter One: It's a Horrible Life 1

Striding and Swaggering Rootlessness Without End The Precious Flow of Life

Stage One: Act One: Truly Fated

People cheering. The rolling of dice and the patrons made the rundown lot seem like a place of opulence. The enthusiastic patrons, those of whom either had low incomes or not enough money on them to buy their way out of stricken poverty, showed little regarding their struggle. It was not a common place for high rollers but it happened every now and then that someone would stop by and gamble their lifesavings. (Which wasn't much, but this made the difference in what was considered high risk.) This was a place to find the broke giving in and finding out they might have a chance to have meals for the week.

The floor was dirty and the tent that housed such laughter was crafted of flimsy material at best, but the accommodations were sought nonetheless. Not only was this a venue for gambling, but a place of many fortunes told. It was common to find several games to indicate what was in store for one's life. Everything from marriages to deaths were foretold by mere games of chance.

Chances are, in a place like this, one might become a king in his own mind and feast off the joys of life. Life was good when one had low expectations and life was fair when one didn't expect things to be easy. But it was free because to these people, dying was not; and so life to the patrons of the Destinies Revelry Church of the F-8 was full of the graces of the so-called Fates. Whatever place it was, it was not the place to find a war hero and yet, there she was in the midst of the action. A red-eyed, black girl with a ponytail down to her knees.

The war hero in question had been a frequent guest of the Game Masters and frequently came to sit among many church functions, but she wasn't sure she was one of the crowd who sought such distraction from life's many grievances and pains. She was an outsider to the people of this congregation. So much so that they commonly referred to her as the "Shiny One."

This was mainly because she was often clad in white military armor and an expensive white communications device over her eye and ear. She also had a sword lying next to her that most the people in this place knew to respect. Not only did they respect the sword, but they liked the girl. She was one with the moment and loved every minute of the sights and sounds around her. The relationship between the people of this church and the girl was never a dull one and interestingly enough not one you'd expect for an outsider agnostic to be fruitful.

To say she stood out in such a dirty place would be an understatement. To say she didn't fit in would be an over assessment. It was like all things in life. You weighed your choices and went with what you felt was most right. This was the way to live happily. At least that's what she thought in the beginning, but someone once told the girl, "You're dealt the cards life hands you, but if you don't like your hand, then don't play it. You'll never win until you play the cards you want your opponent to think you have." This didn't make sense at the time to the young, black girl though, but she nonetheless moved a small green crystal to a new place on a board that was telling her fortune. Guess I'll have to thank that person for the many blessings that came from such an interesting rule to live by, she thought to herself.

As she pondered, several old men who surrounded the table stared at the game that spanned before them. They were surprised by her abilities and such interesting play style, but they were determined to change their luck and see the game end in their favor.

One man sitting at the end of the table, smoking a pipe, glared back at the red-eyed girl who was now yawning and looking at her watch.

"It's about time for you to make your move, isn't it?" she ask as she sat calmly.