Henry entered the Dragon's Hoard expecting the hustle and bustle of a casino like he remembered from his previous life. Instead, he saw a masked man in a black suit sitting behind a big wooden desk.

  “Welcome, honored guest, to The Dragon’s Hoard, the finest house of chance in the Martial Alliance. How may this lowly one be of service today.”

  The man's voice sounded like silk passing through a cloud of smoke, tantalizing and mysterious.

  “I’d like to enter and gamble,” Henry said, not sure if there was some code phrase he needed to know.

  “Splendid, sir; how much would you like to put on your account,” the man said, bringing out a gold bracelet with a clear display in the center.

  Henry fed his spatial ring with a bit of ki and plunged his hand into the black hole, pulling out the rest of his gold coins and the ki stone he had liberated from the young masters. He dropped it all into the tray on the counter.

  “Perfect, sir. The gold coins we can exchange at a 1:1 rate; this ki stone, though, we will only be able to give you eighty percent. That will bring your total to two thousand two hundred and fifty gold. Would you like for me to process this exchange?”

  Henry was shocked by how much the ki stone was worth.

  “Yes, go ahead and exchange it, but first, let me ask why it feels a little underwhelming here, considering the reputation.”

  A big Cheshire cat smile appears on the masked man's face as he waves the gold bracelet over the tray. The coins and ki stone vanish, and 2250 appears on the transparent display.

  Handing the gold bracelet to Henry, the masked man said, “Sir, I mean no offense, but you are merely at the reception desk."

  "The Dragon’s Hoard is not in this dimension, sir. That bracelet will be your membership card to where the true Dragon’s Hoard is.”

  That's pretty tight, Henry thought again, marveling at the xianxia bullshit, a casino in a different dimension. What will they think of next? Henry puts the bracelet on his wrist, and it clicks snugly into place.

  “Now, sir, some ground rules before I let you through,” said the masked man as he started making complex motions with his fingers.

  “Membership is non-refundable, non-transferable, and binding. We at The Dragon’s Hoard reserve the right to refuse service at any point during your stay with us. That’s it, that's all the rules.”

  Henry raised an eyebrow in suspicion.

  “That's it? That’s all the rules? Seems pretty lax.”

  “Yes, sir, we want you to enjoy your stay, and we find that the fewer rules there are, the more enjoyable it is for everyone.”

  The smile on the mask turns upward in a slightly predatory way as the man finishes his motions with a clap. With a flourish, the man bows and gestures with one hand towards a big oak door that had materialized in the middle of the room.

  “Enjoy your time, sir; it has been a pleasure to be of service,” the masked man said before exploding in a spray of gold glitter.

  Fucking shit, that was a little much, Henry thought, but he had to admit, this casino had style. Henry pushed the door open and stepped into The Dragon’s Hoard.

  ****

  The Dragon’s Hoard boasted ten floors jam-packed with decadence. If only you had the money for it, there was something for every taste.

  The whole ceiling looked like twinkling stars, but upon closer inspection, one could see thousands of chandeliers all lit with ki.

  The casino floor featured every high-stakes gaming table you could imagine, all surrounded by rich velvet curtains, polished mahogany, and intricately crafted sculptures of men and women locked in combat.

  The Dragon’s Horde felt more like an amusement park than a casino, at least if the amusement park was designed to separate you from everything you owned.

  It was a temple of decadence where wealth, elegance, and unparalleled luxury converged.

  “Pfft, what a bumpkin,” a well-dressed man with a monocle said as he walked over to Henry, who was currently vomiting onto the costly carpet. The journey through the door did a number on his stomach. Interdimensional travel did not agree with him.

  Henry wiped his mouth and looked around, seeing many other doors with people exiting them. Some had poor reactions like Henry, but others strode out confidently, even laughing and conversing like this was daily.

  As the nausea subsided, the hunger came. The deep hunger of Henry’s ki resonated with so much potential energy. Henry felt the gold madness quickly eating away at his common sense. He walked to the first gaming table that he could find and sat down.

  The game is Black Jack, and Henry had just bet two hundred credits. He wanted to start small at first, but at this point, he was deep in the throes of the gold madness. The dealer had dealt Henry an eight, a three, and themselves an ace. Henry wanted to win, he needed to win, he would do anything to win. Henry signals to hit; the dealer slides him a card. It's a ten; then, the dealer flips over their hidden card. The card is a seven. They hit again, and it was a king. Henry is the winner, and the madness intensifies.

  Henry wanted more as he felt a bit of ki slowly trickle away. That was weird, Henry thought. Why was his ki depleting? Bah, that was a problem for Henry in the future. The madness urged him to move on; this game was over, and he needed to find something else.

  Henry walked in a haze past the many gaming tables. Nothing called to Henry until he chanced on the roulette table.

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  The madness screamed at him; this was the next target.

  Roulette at a casino is where most people seem to congregate. Maybe it was for the communal aspect or because people enjoyed watching others fail. Whatever the reason, this table was packed even more than usual.

  There were mortals and cultivators alike, all yelling and shouting as the ball was spun at ridiculous speeds around the wheel. Beautiful women held drinks of all kinds, serving the winners and losers as if they were kings and queens. Everyone was united in the pursuit to beat the house. And then there was Henry.

  Something strange was happening to Henry; he knew he was in the throes of the gold madness, but something else was happening. When he got to the roulette table, he started seeing things. Not a straight-up mental break or psychosis, Henry began to see the numbers on the table glow. They lit up, not all of them, mind you. Some glowed just a little, some were black, but two in particular blazed blindingly.

  “Winner thirty-seven black to the big muscular man with the golden eyes,” said Khan Ti as he continued to sweat profusely. This big oaf has won four times in a row now. Khan rang the pit boss twice but got no answer. He had to be cheating somehow. Khan was sure of it. No one won like this at roulette. Damn, he just bet 1.5 million gold this fucker was insane.

  Henry had just bet 1.5 million gold and felt pretty sane about it. Maybe not rational, but Henry was sure he would win again. The number and color he bet on was blinding in its light. Deep down, Henry knew he couldn’t keep this up for much longer and was down to the dredges of his ki reserve. It also looked like several heavily armed security guards and one scary-looking woman was approaching him. Strangely enough, Henry didn’t care; he was the gold madness.

  “Hello there sir can we ask you to kindly join us, maybe we can help escort you to the cash room,” the woman asked Henry as she put a hand on his shoulder.

  Her ki pressed down on him, and Henry felt that specter of fear that he had not felt since he had entered this world.

  “If I said no would that be ok?,” Henry said, giving her the dopiest smile he could muster.

  “I mean, you could, but that would end very badly, so please, I’d rather have you walk than carried there.”

  She smiled a very dangerous smile at Henry. Henry was pretty sure this lady could snap him like a twig.

  “It was fun while it lasted, I guess.”

  Henry slammed a shot, gave a beautiful woman a deep tongue kiss, and punched some douchebag-looking guy square in the face, flatlining him. Then he tipped the dealer two thousand credits and walked off with the lady and her goons.

  “Who was that guy,” the man punched in the face asked, rubbing his chin.

  “I don’t know, but he did extraordinary things with his tongue; it squirmed like a snake,” said the woman fondly.

  “I think he said his name was Hen Ri, and I’m probably gonna be fired because of him,” lamented the dealer.

  ****

  Henry was escorted past tables onto a floating platform that rocketed the group to the penthouse suites.

  “So what did I do wrong, and how much trouble am I in?”

  Silence.

  “If you are going to murder me in some back room, at least tell me what

  I did because, honestly, I don’t have a clue.”

  More Silence.

  Henry threw his arms in the air in exasperation.

  “Fine be that way, I’m going to haunt the shit out of all of you.”

  The gold madness was whispering thoughts of punching the woman in the face and diving out of the enclosed glass platform down ten stories.

  His self-preservation told him to keep his mouth shut and stop antagonizing the scary lady in a suit that could rip his head off if she wanted to.

  They reached the top floor, and Henry was escorted to a set of double doors and left gaping like an idiot.

  “That's it, you aren’t going to murder me? I think I’m offended by that.”

  The scary lady turned back to Henry and just smiled at him.

  “Murder you? Why would I ever do that, you are our honored guest after all,” she said as she re-entered the platform and waved Henry goodbye.

  Well, that wasn’t ominous at all, Henry thought to himself. He just stood there for a while, fidgeting. His animal brain wanted him to book, but an outside force held him in place.

  “You may enter.”

  Aw fuck you are mind-speaking to me. That’s not good.

  “Yes, Henry, I am mind speaking to you, so please enter.”

  Henry pushed the double doors open and entered a room that was more luxurious and decadent than the entirety of The Dragons Horde. Sitting on a throne that was masquerading as a chair was a man.

  Calling him just a man would give men way too much credit. The man wore an exquisitely tailored black suit that screamed wealth. With wide shoulders and a broad chest with what Henry assumed was a six-pack underneath his white silk shirt, he made Henry feel small. High cheekbones on a face that looked sculpted by a very horny artist as he stared at Henry with unconcealed humor.

  His eyes, though, were what made Henry shiver.

  They felt old and terrifying as if everything bored him because he had seen it all before.

  “That is a very apt description of me, Henry, although I have a twelve-pack, not a six-pack.”

  “So, like, I'm officially freaked out because only one other person has ever mind-spoken with me before, and if you are like him, then I am royally fucked.”

  A chair moved across the room, and the man gestured for Henry to sit, which Henry did immediately.

  “Oh, don’t worry, Henry, you are not royally fucked, just moderately fucked,” the man said with a rich baritone voice.

  “And I will stop mind-speaking with you if it makes you uncomfortable.”

  “Thank you, sir, if I can call you sir, but if you aren’t gonna immediately murder me, can I leave,” Henry said sheepishly.

  “Eventually, Henry, eventually, but first, I have some questions that you will answer me,” the man said as he poured himself a glass of amber fluid from a very expensive-looking bottle.

  “I can do that, sir."

  “Good, you know when to be polite, but before we go further, let's get rid of that gold madness so we can have a civilized conversation,” the man said as he drained his glass.

  “Umm sir I kinda don’t know how to do that I just sorta ride it out.”

  “Ahh we must remedy that issue then, I want you to force all your ki out of your body Henry,” said the man with a patient tone to his voice.

  “Sorry, sir, I don’t want to offend you, but if I do that, I'm pretty. I'll die.”

  “I assure you, Henry, that you will be fine, so if you will, we are wasting time,” the man said again, with a slight edge to his voice.

  Fuck it, Henry thought if he was going to die, at least he would kill himself. Henry started to force his ki out of his core and meridians. The ki formed a golden mist around him, and steam wafted off his head. Strangely, he could feel the whispers of the gold madness subsiding.

  “Fascinating,” the man said, leaning forward and watching Henry intently.

  Henry kept forcing his ki out until he could tell his core was bone dry.

  He did, in fact, not die. What was that all about? Weren’t people supposed to die when they exhausted their core?

  “Normal people would die when they exhaust their cores, Henry,”

  Then he smiled a very predatory smile.

  “ Thankfully, we Dragons are made of tougher stuff.”

  Help a Bro Out!