LUNA

I - BYZANTIUM

PART 1 — BYZANTIUM
Place your bets.

1:00am — The Audit — August 27

Every day and every night, you see the casino flooding with fools who'd gamble their lives away in a dystopian hellscape where nobody wins. Every day, they go back inside, knowing full well that they're signing their own wills. Every day, they risk their lives going into that casino.

It's always the ones with bad luck who enter the Audit. Even if they've lived an overall lucky life, living through dangerous and drastically horrific situations, in the Audit—nobody has won. As if the Audit is a repellant to the luck of the people—as if it was rigged. But nobody's ever claimed that without living to tell the tale.

So all the gamblers do is shut up, and waste away in this prison full of riches they can never grasp with their hands. All of it is less of a motivator, less of a reward—more of a taunt.

Among the gamblers, two have seemingly willingly subjected themselves to this torture in sheep's clothing. They all stare at the pinwheels, the roulettes, and the slot machines with a distinct shine in their eyes, anticipating an outcome that could never come.

And it never does.

Yet they still seem so determined—unnecessarily so.

"Someday I'll get a jackpot, just you wait!" one spouts, constantly shoving more and more coins into the payment slot. Their palms, soaked with sweat, constantly swing down the lever, waiting for any sign of profit.

"Oh, I do hope you'll get that. But face it—nothing good's coming out of a slot machine."

"You haven't gotten anything good from playing blackjack! How many times have you chipped in and lost all of your money?" the other retorts, chuckling. Then they turn to the slot machine, which once again has no matching symbols, and their smug expression is snubbed out. "Oh, goddamnit."

"What did I tell you?" the friend says, watching them to their side.

"Shut up, Aster!" the other yells back, frustrated.

"You aren't getting anything worth your while, trust me," Aster says, leaning forward. Their friend groans in irritation.

"I stop when I get something good, I promise—"

"You've said that far too many times, Hayden. You started at, like, 10:00 a.m.; now it's around one in the morning."

"Well, I've yet to get anything that was worth that time! And I know that eventually, I'll get that! I just have to keep... spinning this shitty machine. Plus—you aren't any better. Didn't I catch you here first?"

Aster sighs. "Ugh, fair enough," they say, defeated. Hayden grins. Well, they grin as best they can with that screen for a mouth. "No retort to that, huh?" Hayden says, chuckling to themselves. Aster does not look amused. "Fine, I guess I don't. Just—let's just keep going. We have more money to drain."

"Funny thing, actually..." Hayden says, standing up. Aster's confused. "What?" he asks, turning to them. "I have to get some of the stuff I actually did earn... gimme a moment," she says. Aster shrugs.

"Alright then. Go get the... 10 dollars you got or whatever," Aster says, giggling.

"Oh, shut up. Have you won anything? Didn't think so. Now, let me through..."

Aster watches Hayden walk down the hallway. It leads to darkness, but it's probably a busted lightbulb, knowing the place's track record of being poorly maintained. Well, that's not true; some gambler probably just broke it. For what reason do you wager—rage or intoxication? Place your bets.

You know, that's probably an idea the Audit'll take.

Aster watches the other gamblers in that empty chair, watching their stares full of excitement and anticipation disappear over and over and over and over and over. It's an endless loop. Yet somehow, nobody seems to be disheartened. Some see it as an opportunity to one-up some of the destitute.

Aster stares at them. They start to think that maybe... Maybe this is stupid. No, this is stupid. There's gotta be some reason why people have never won. Maybe it's rigged? But that just seems like a terrible excuse... but it makes sense. In a world of magic and mischief, it'd make sense if these machines... are all unwinnable.

Before Aster can think any further, he hears a voice.

"Aster, can you come over here? The uh... the room in the hallway."

Aster's head immediately snaps to the door, their hypothetical ears rising to attention. Aster's confused. Is Hayden fucking with him again? Knowing her, that's probably the case. "Uhh... why?" he asks, standing up from his chair.

"I'll explain later, but there's something I wanted to talk about."

...

"I—I got more than I thought. Maybe I could give you some? Uh... whatever, just come over."

Aster's even more confused, but he obliges. He starts walking to the door on the side of the hall. He wonders—how did she even manage to get more than what she got? And she's offering to give him some of the cut? It sounds strange, but... he's gonna find out anyway.

They approach the door, left ajar.

Aster takes a look inside. There's nobody that he can see... maybe Hayden's farther inside.

Aster opens the door and sees many things.

An ID on the floor...

...

An open window...

...

And a gun.

* BANG *

Aster falls to the floor, dead.

They leave the scene through the open window, tossing the gun aside and not looking back. Something falls out of a pocket, but they don't mind. They land on the sidewalk and make their escape.