Barron's Story (Dice Changers)

The cult was home. It pushed Barron to be a better person. He was shown the world's various evils and told that he shouldn't give up fighting for it. Even though he was only 7, he showed wisdom and maturity beyond normal for kids his age. He saw the members become people from another world, dressed in strange garments and armour. They would share stories from the other world, perform magical spells, and preach about morality. Some people were called elves, others merfolk, few were called dwarves, halflings, or gnomes, and even rarer were half-orcs and goblins. One of those people was his older brother James. He recently got his dice set, and when he figured out how to transform into his magical person, he was a half-elf warlock. The person's name was Xeran Silverroot. Barron began dreaming of the day when he would own his dice set. He would imagine the type of colored metal they would be made out of. He would dream of becoming a powerful elf and helping people who were in trouble. He wished he could grow up and fight evil bad guys and save innocent people from bad things. That desire made Barron push himself to be wise and powerful.

Then one day it all changed. When he was in the Kids' Worship area, loud screams and thuds could be heard. This caused many of the kids to panic and start to cry. Barron felt fear and confusion. He feared that bad people were attacking the cult because they had finally found where they were. Instead, a caretaker went to the door, locked it, turned around, and with tears in her eyes, she grabbed her dice set and became her magical person. An elf with long brown hair. She started to kill the other caretakers and then began to kill the kids. She was stopped when the door burst open and magical people flooded the room and killed her. Barron didn't see the woman die; only her screams rang in his ear until they were cut off. Kids were crying, and the magical people picked them up and carried them away. One of them grabbed Barron's hand as he held another child in his arms. The group then came around a corner to a squad of SWAT team members. Yelling matches started, and the magical people dropped off the kids. They then got on their knees and raised their hands above their heads. The SWAT team inspected them, grabbed any weapons they had, and arrested the magical people. The SWAT team took the kid survivors to the cars. Barron looked around and saw many dead bodies of people he knew, some he had seen but never spoken to, others were only spoken to if the opportunity arose, and then there was one body. His much older brother, James. Stomach on the floor, with a blood puddle around him. Barron, for the first time that day, shed tears. "JAMES!" he wailed as he was escorted by the policemen. But before they could get through the door. The ceiling collapsed. Dust was kicked and covered everything. Once it was settled, Barron looked back to see the cult leader's body in the rubble. Magical people took advantage of it by attacking the police and trying their best not to kill them. They freed the kids from the police and led them into the back of the building, only to find policemen waiting to arrest anyone who came out. They were surrounded. Alone. Backs to the wall. "WAIT! STOP!" cried a voice. An unfamiliar voice that rang throughout the dusty hallways of the. A group of people came out of nowhere and stood between the police and Barron and his magical saviors, only now they were normal people. Confusion and yelling ensued, but after some time, Barron and his fellow survivors were escorted out of the building. They were not arrested, only questioned by news reporters and detectives. None of the survivors brought the magical beings, dice sets, or anything else from the other world. They knew no one would believe them.

As the years went by, he befriended the group that took down his cult. That group being the Dice Changers, a ragtag team of teens and preteens with dice sets similar to what Barron saw when he was with the cult. However, their magical people were much more powerful than anyone Barron knew in the cult. Even stronger than the cult leader. Throughout the years, he saw the Dice Changers take out a sex trafficking ring on TV. After that, they recruited several survivors into the group. Barron would hang out at the game store with the Dice Changers. He would see them train, laugh, plan, argue, and cry. Celebrate, give up, and move away. He was one of the honorary members, as he was too young to be a part of the group. Then, on his 13th birthday, the group held a surprise birthday party for him. Barron was overwhelmed as he had never gotten such love and attention from the cult. To his memory, of course. Then the angel led him to the counter, where several dice sets sat in their black boxes. Whispers began to flood his mind. Memories of the cult, of friends, family, and dreams long forgotten flooded his mind. Then they were drowned out by a single voice. "Free me. Please," pleaded the voice.. "Which one are you?" asked Barron. "Come closer," said the voice. Barron moved closer to the counter. He leaned over each dice set until he stopped at a dark blue set with gold numbers. "That's it, come closer," said the voice. Barron picked up the dice set and put half in one hand, half in the other. He breathed, closed his eyes, and began to see who his dice character was. As the character walked, it became clear he was tall and lean. His face began to take shape. He was green-skinned, shirtless, with yellow fish-scale legs. He had a thick white rope thing around his waist with potions and bags hanging from it. "Thank you, stranger. I am, Shan Longsword," said the dice character.