D is for Dice

The day had finally come! It was Randy's first day spreading the good news of the Great Order.

As a six-sider, she belonged to a family of believers whose purpose it was to enlighten all who would listen that there was reason and purpose to all of existence. That the Great Order was the answer. She felt blessed to be one of them.

Even now she could visualize the symbol of the Great Order, a series of six dice, each with a different face showing in order from left to right, one, two, three, four, five, six. She shivered as she recalled every line and angle.

As it always had been for her and for everyone she knew, the Great Order was her center. She built her life around it. She felt compassion and pity for those who saw life as random and arbitrary. If only more knew.

Now, with her partner beside her, she was ready to fulfill her life's purpose. As was known, any who understood the Sacred Sequence would come to know the Great Order. Her calling was to repeat that sequence over and over with her partner so that those who are called would see it, feel its pull, and start on their journey to enlightenment.

The experience of expressing the Sacred Sequence was not spoken of. It was a conspicuous and intentional blank space in the doctrine, one she was told could only be filled by living it.

It was time.

She felt herself rise in the air, cradled by a yielding warmth, and then fly forward to land in a field of green, white lines to either side of her. The sky was bright with such beautiful hues. She felt many presences around and above her. In the distance, she glimpsed neat stacks of huge multicolored discs before a hazy dark brown wall.

She and her partner knew their parts well. The first of the Sacred Sequence was seven. She put her four-face up and her partner his three-face. A great sound of gladness arose all around her. Laughter and delight. Her heart soared with the rightness of it all.

Next was four. She showed her three-face and her partner his one-face. There was not joy this time, but silence and a sense of breathless anticipation. "Yes," she thought, "the Sacred Sequence takes time to understand."

The next was a seven. As she and her partner displayed the truth, she expected a second eruption of joy, but instead was met with low groans and grumbling. Then a horrendous high-pitched grinding and scraping as the stacks of discs in the distance changed shape, shrinking down. What did this mean? She knew the sequence by heart and was sure they were following it properly.

The next of the Sacred Sequence was three. Shaken, her confusion growing, she revealed her two-face while her partner showed his one-face upward. A harsh cacophony erupted from above. The stacks of discs shrank again with that horrendous noise. Why was this happening? Was the Great Order unhappy with her service?

The next number was difficult and took perfect coordination. Fighting her growing panic, she breathed deeply as she landed in the soft green, her one-face a match to her partner's. A crashing of discordant groans and cries rang from everywhere, thunderous and insistent.

"Get rid of those, they're cursed," an enormous, surly voice deigned from above.

She didn't understand! They'd played their roles earnestly and faithfully. Their partnership was in perfect sync. The Sacred Sequence had only just begun. It couldn't end now!

Where had she failed?

She and her partner were roughly gathered up then cast down. She found herself in a lightless, confined space, other six-siders shifting tightly against her, all of them eternally denied.