How-not to be an Olympian God!

Chapter 25 - Gambling

Alex proceeded to leave the meeting room, navigating his way through the convoluted halls of the Outer House.

By now, the two rulers of this place must have already entered their personal abode, as the Outer House was back to its prior traffic and sprawl.

'Crista should be with Elana.' Alex thought to himself.

He asked some of the people around if they'd seen any nymphs passing by and was thus told that they probably were in the Leisure Hall, on the west side of this place.

To kill some time in the eternity spent in this realm, the souls were engaging in various activities and play, and listening to the music of the Nymph Chorale, was one of the most prominent among the various activities.

Supposedly, Crista should be with the nymphs in there, playing their divinely renowned music to the guests of the House.

As he was making his way to the Leisure Hall where they were playing, he found himself in a hall of sorts that was unusually crowded with various people from Asphodel and Elysium.

There were tables all around and the souls that were sat were playing....cards?

On the tables there were also placed shiny gold coins with a horse printed on them. From the information he's gathered, those are probably the Asphodel Eternities, the currency that was oh-so useful for all and every transaction done in the realm, that even souls from Elysium would go down to Asphodel just to participate in the developed economy of the limbo of the Underworld.

Piecing and processing this information, Alex concluded they were engaging in one of the oldest pastimes of human civilization, the risk-it-all activity....gambling.

It was understandable that they gambled....even in the depths of hell, but they nonetheless had playing cards, which should not have been yet invented.

Nevertheless, he shrugged. They even developed a complex capitalistic system millennia before the mortal realm so it didn't sound that impressive for them to have already introduced advanced entertainment methods.

His destination right now, however, wasn't a gambling house but the Leisure Hall, so he sped up past the polarized crowds of either hopeless losers or euphoric winners and left the hall.

Almost left the hall.

His pace was interrupted by a ghostly figure that stood in front of him and exclaimed "Brother, come play a game with us!"

"Huh?" Alex said out loud.

"You seemed to be a bit listless and what better than a good win to recover from depression....We're here for all eternity. And you're even from Elysium! Don't be so blue and shy and play a game with us!" The ghost told him with what would have been a bright smile were he to have a face.

'I seem....listless and...depressed' Alex was a bit hurt. He just wanted to hurry to reunite with Crista but this drunk-looking ghost wanted to pull him into something troublesome.

To get himself out of this, he spoke truthfully "I don't have any money. I can't play."

The ghost was still persistent however, and said to him "We're all friends here! I'll lend you some money! Just come on!"

'Hmmmm...' Alex was thinking to himself. He wasn't going to lose anything if he lost the game and if he won then it would be a good bonus. In addition, Crista was spending time with her family, and it was bit sad to think about it but he probably wouldn't be missed too much right now.

'Isn't one of the most common epithets(1) of Hermes that of a god of fortune? I should be pretty lucky?' He bemused to himself.

"How do we play...then?" Alex asked the ghost, indicating he accepted his proposal to gamble.

Alex had actually never gambled before in this life or his past life, and this would be his first time dealing with this risky field.

The ghost seemed to nod excitedly and led him to one of the tables and signaled him to sit down.

Alex sat down and took a glance at the people he would play with. In total, there were 6 other people, of which 2 had a human figure, showing they were from Elysium, and the others were more ghostly.

One of the two Elysians, however, looked a bit special. He was a man that looked to be in his twenties and he had a skinny but muscular physique, a handsome face and he was wearing a wine-coloured deep red toga.

Nonetheless, two traits stood out the most to Alex.

The man's eyes were of a wine colour and held a certain depth to them that he had only seen in extraordinary figures in this life and his face had a very deep blush, that looked to be a result of alcohol.

Noticing his stare, the man gave him a smile and Alex grimaced back in awkwardness and turned his eyes.

He reminded him of a certain someone that could potentially be here though he couldn't be too sure for now.

The ghost that brought him over distributed the playing cards and began explaining the rules.

You first had to place a bet, and then a shuffled deck of 13 cards would be distributed to the players. You basically had to form a full house consisting of a King, a Queen, a Jack and numbered cards ranging from Ace to 10 to win.

The first player to do so would win all of the bets on the table.

Furthermore, there was a joker card that could replace any card in the deck, and strangely enough, the card had the face of the man that looked unordinary, and he was holding a wine flask in it.

This was too much of a coincidence to not be true, so Alex collected himself and spoke out his thoughts to the man in front of him "Are you perhaps, sir Dionysus?"

The man gave him a deep smile and said with a familiar voice "You guessed right. And....don't be so formal, brother!"

It was very well the same man he had met accidently on his first trip to the outside world, the god of wine and parties, Dionysus.

It was a serendipitous surprise to meet him here, and Alex asked him "How was your trip to Thessaloniki?"

With the very same drunk-sounding slow tone as usual, he responded "It was a great time. The people there are always good at parties. And you? What are you doing here? I suppose you've used my letter well?"

Alex was a bit embarrassed. Many of the things he's done could be credited back to Dionysus and he couldn't be more grateful.

"Thank you, extremely!" He said.

"That aside, I brought you here to play, friend. Let's have a good time!!" Dionysus exclaimed to him.

'He...brought me here?' Alex turned to the ghost that invited him, and the ghost said "It was indeed Lord Dionysus who asked me to invite you, telling us you were an acquaintance of His!"

"I see"

They would now start their first game.

Dionysus said he would lend me 10 Eternities but he refused and the other players said they were fine with him not placing any bets in this first round.

The game hence started and he would do his best to win.

Funny enough, the King card had the figure of Hades printed on it and accordingly, the Queen card had the figure of Persephone. The Jack was represented by Thanatos and as aforementioned, the Joker had the figure of Dionysus.

When it was his round to play, he would place the cards that he owned doubles of, and soon enough he was close to completing a full house but no matter what, he could not find an Ace.

"You gonna play?" One of the players asked him as Alex was furrowing his brows and was considering what to do.

He ended up choosing to place an unnecessary card and pick one from the shuffled deck, hoping for the best.

He painstakingly took a card and reversed it, praying it was the one that he wanted.

He was instead greeted by the drunken face of the Joker, Dionysus.

"YES!" Alex exclaimed out loud involuntarily. The Joker could replace any card in the deck, and with that very same omnipotent card in his hand, he was able to complete his hand and he threw out the cards on the table after organizing them.

"I won!" He exclaimed.

The other players, including Dionysus, applauded him and the latter stated "You're quite lucky!"

Alex nodded with a smile on his face and the other players rounded up their bets in his direction, raising his Underworld net worth from zero to 73 Eternities, which was apparently quite a high amount.

"Good game, friend. But you seem a bit stiff, do you have something on your mind?" Dionysus asked him.

Alex did indeed have something on his mind. It was great meeting Dionysus again and even winning a game of cards and becoming a small tycoon, but he wanted to see a certain someone.

"I'd love to play another game, but I need to be somewhere...." Alex told Dionysus dejectedly.

However, the latter was understanding and told him "It's fine, go on. Next time we meet, as aided by fate, let us party together!"

Alex smiled and nodded in response and stood up, bidding his goodbyes to the players and he said to Dionysus "Dionysus, form your hand into a fist."

He looked confused but he followed his lead and Alex did a fist bump with the god and informed him "Where I come from, this is a way some people say goodbye to their friends."

"I'll keep that in mind, brother! Now, go on! Don't keep them waiting!" Dionysus winked at him and he waved his hand.

Alex turned around and resumed his walk to the Leisure Hall, this time uninterrupted.

After a short while and a lot of asking around, he was now in front of the entrance to the Leisure Hall, and he pushed the doors open, revealing a spectacle.

The hall was spacious and looked like an auditorium in shape, and on the pedestal down the stairs of the hall he could observe and hear the music of the gods.

There were a lot of nymphs, dozens perhaps, and they were all either singing or playing an instrument, shaping up into an orchestra that reminded Alex of Johannes Brahms's Hungarian Dance no.5, a very opulent and harmonious composition that they even added a choir to.

In the midst of the nymphs, there was a familiar face, that despite coming here on such short notice, wasn't lagging behind any of the other nymphs in terms of synchronization or artfulness.

Crista was amongst the chorale, playing a heavenly lyre and singing a tune that even dead leaves could dance to.