Fate's Cage: Greed and Grief

Chapter 1: Hopes and Dreams

In the city of Crimmtle, the night sky wept a pacifying song. Raindrops falling from the sky, the graffiti on the grey building walls washed away, cleaning the city of its ambitions. And like its people, the city watched in silence, submitting to the whims of its gods.

With every drop, the city's color slowly faded, leaving the Crimmtle Casino's neon signs as the last source. As unlike the rest of the city, it had forced itself in, and so it fought back. Grappling and gripping onto each drop of rain, sparks of red, blue, yellow and greens refracted in the ensuing battle, casting color onto the city like a star onto its cosmos.

The entire city took notice of the struggle, flocking to it like moths to a light, and with each new ray, a new promise seemed to be made, slowly filling the Casino. In its bars, customers smacked their drinks down and howled insults at one another, deluding themselves into believing there was a chance they'd win the next big bet. But even amongst this sludge, none were more deluded than a young boy leaning over a table, talking to his inattentive sister.

"Hey sis, the tournament today, let's join," Hiko said, grinning. "The prize is huge, better get in while we can."

Chika raised her eyes from her book, The Book of Myths and Lost History," and calmly replied. "No, it's not worth the effort, only first place gets anything worthwhile."

Hiko leaned back into his seat, restlessly fidgeting from side to side. "Common, don't harp on the details. Betting before working is practically a family tradition."

"It's not a tradition. Just a bad habit," replied Chika. "We had to learn our lessons the hard way."

"So what? I'm not allowed bad habits?" Hiko replied, his eyes glowing like a bright yellow star. "Plus, if it's really a lesson I need to learn, I'll just end up learning it the hard way."

"I said no," replied Chika. "It's a bad idea. Only the naturally gifted and hosts stand to gain anything, and we're neither." 

"Sis. Don't be like that," Hiko replied. "You know in a matter of months,  I'll have too many responsibilities to take these kind of risks. So just let me take this one last shot."

Placing her book onto the table, Chika's eyes met Hiko's. "You know, I said something similar last time I was here,"  she said, pausing  for a moment. "And I really do get where you're coming from. So, I'll allow it . . . But under  one condition: You have to drag me along for the ride."

As siblings made their agreement,  woman with a jade necklace and a dice ring, shoved a battered man into the bar. The man desperately stumbled back, his blood dripping on the floor, as he tried to escape the woman's grasp. 

"You really thought I'd let you step on my turf consequence free," exclaimed the woman, cracking her knuckles. Then she rattle the die on her ring, punching the man into Hiko and Chika's table,  breaking it. Wooden splinters scattered across the floor, his blood splattering onto the siblings.

The blood smeared onto Hiko's face, causing Hiko to see red. So with shot eyes, he rose from his seat, staring at the woman. He approached as her mouth silently moved up and down, only hearing the buzzing of his pulsating aura. 

Meanwhile, Chika whipped the blood off her mouth, placing a soft hand on Hiko's shoulder. "Please be reasonable," she whispered into his ear. "You're talking to the Casino's head manager. Do anything, and your chances of joining that tournament are zero." Hiko's aura began to subside, his eyes returning to a natural hazel while with a serene, fake smile and a piercing gaze, Chika looked at the woman. "No worries,"  she said. "We were just on the way out, anyway."

Leaving the bar, the siblings wandered in a daze, walking and walking, with no destination in mind, just people watching passerby: One wore a black tokkofuku jacket, another white, and many had tears dripping down their face, their lives ruined by the art of the bet. But all of them were uninteresting. That is until an old frail man in a lab coat and a blonde man in a white tokkofuku, both surrounded by guards in black, walked by.