Nomisa—Divine Realm of Greed

  Nomisa was busy collecting handfuls of gold and essence from every divine figure wanting to enter his realm. Today was a special day. He was hosting an unexpected event, and he would be damned if he didn’t make a killing off of it.

  Gods were already starting to crowd into the small intimate amphitheater he had prepared for this occasion. There was a large scrying pond set in the dead center. Thin, uncomfortable benches lined the outskirts; the farther in you went, the plushier the seating got. A year or two worth of essence bought you some middle-of-the-pack seating that included a full chair and a decent view.

  Of course most of the guests had opted to buy the best seating in the house for small fortunes and reclined in plush, overtly stuffed chairs that were forged from divine will and good intentions. These were all crowded right around the lake in the center that would be playing the main event.

  Nomisa held out his hand towards the last guest to arrive. Ironically, it was Abbicus; just because he was good with numbers didn’t mean he was punctual. Abbicus looked at Nomisa’s outstretched hand in confusion.

  “What? You invited me.” Me looked at the small pile of priceless treasures in a sack in Nomisa’s other hand. “Oh, you have to be kidding. You invited me!”

  “I invited everyone,” Nomisa said with a crooked smirk and held his hand out again.

  “Bah, fine, what do you want for admission?” Abiccus relented with a dismissive wave of his arms.

  Nomisa looked violently pleased with himself. “Oh, just a very modest entry fee: one year of essence or a treasure worth a king’s ransom.” Abbicus choked.

  “Aghh, I should have known you would do something like this. The event better be good if you called us all here to bet on snail races again... This time I’ll help the others get their gold back. Here I have a nice crown I was tithed this month; you aren’t getting a damned drop of essence out of me though.”

  Nomisa disappeared the crown into the folds of his robe along with the bag of treasure. “Nice doing business with you, my old friend. Welcome to my home!”

  “Filcher,” Abbicus grumbled out as he shuffled past to the seating area. He cursed quietly when he read the small sign indicating the seating prices. Instead of starting a debate he knew he would lose, he just violently rolled his eyes and pitched another bag of coins at Nomisa, who caught them expertly and disappeared them into his robes along with everything else.

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  Abbicus settled into the admittedly heavy seats along with another half dozen gods who were either bored enough, rich enough, or interested enough to come even though they all knew they would be getting reamed for everything Nomisa could screw out of them.

  Nomisa walked into the center of the group and spread his arms performatively. His jewelry jingled with his every motion, and so did hidden stashes of coins all throughout his garish, extravagant, and frankly tasteless silken pink and purple robes trimmed in what had to be diamonds and real gold. “Friends!” He looked at Abbicus. “Colleagues” He gestured broadly at four of the other gods present, including a trio of mercantile deities.

  He turned towards the last figure. A small man in very slick armor who was chain smoking from a hookah that came with the VIP seating “and…those who were just bored!” The man nodded in agreement before taking another deep pull. Nomisa had no clue why a god of thievery and schemes was here, but he wasn’t going to complain one bit; the more gold, the merrier.

  “I’m sure you all are just dying to know why I called you here!” He looked around, prompting people to make guesses.

  Transitous, the patron of caravans, piped up from his nearly prone position on a sofa, “Because every time you host one of these soirees, you line the shit out of your already overflowing pockets.”

  “No! Well, yes, but no, anyone else?” He prodded Abbicus with a poke of his foot and a wiggle of his heavily bejeweled eyebrows.

  Abbicus set down the small pile of coins he had been sorting through in his hands with a sigh. “I’m guessing someone down there is about to stumble on some ancient treasure you planted an age ago, and you wanted to show off.”

  “Also no, good guess though, I do still have a few of those seeded downstairs.” He looked around, but the moment had passed; no one else felt like playing guessing games.

  “The event of today!” He slowly drew his hand over the scrying lake, and its crystal-clear surface slowly filled in with colors as it showed a small waterfall next to a lake with a winding staircase heading up to a grim-looking door with a frankly strange number of signs next to it.

  Winding down the staircase was a crowd of armed figures and random flashes of magic as enchantments were cast one after the other. The armored man leaned forward in interest. “Oh ho, what have we here?”

  Nomisa smiled widely. “Tonight’s entertainment my good, good friends. Is the dungeon of greed he will live. Will he die?” Nomisa ended the proclamation with a grave tone.

  “Egbert, the soul running the dungeon, has managed to piss off a neighboring mages academy, and they are attacking in force with a small army of bandits. They have the knowledge and means to enslave or break his core if they make it past his rather unique… defenders!”

  Nomisa gestured, and small pillars rose in front of each guest. The pillars were covered in small knobs and buttons, each currently projecting a colorless 0 over the top of itself. “Now we will be taking bets on if Egbert bites it or not! Make your bets, folks; the fun is starting!”

  The brigands in the image started kicking down the dungeon's front door. “Only ten seconds now until betting stops, folks! Then in a barely perceptible voice he added, “All bets are final; no refunds. Thirty percent of all bets are returned to the host for administrative fees.”

  [Let me know what you thought of the first book!] Don't worry already writing more chapters!