THE MOMENT
"Begone," Dark Lord Oren dismissed the latest commander with a wave of his wrist and a sigh. The demon bowed and made himself scarce. "They're all useless...," Oren muttered to himself. He sat alone in his vast stone throne room as he weighed his options in his mind. He was bored of the kingdom already; but, he'd put work into getting it to where it was. He hoped to leave one of his demon commanders in charge but none of them were capable of the task.
"I suppose it's time for drastic measures...," he said. He concentrated for a moment and sent a Whisper to the first person on his list. Aurelio wasn't someone Oren considered a close friend; that's why he was first on the list. He was the most profitable prospect. It only took a moment for Aurelio to step into Oren's throne room through a portal.
"I'm definitely interested in taking over," Aury nodded as he approached Oren.
"I've invested quite heavily into this server...," Oren said. "It won't be cheap."
"Cheap?" Aury chuckled and shook his head. "I don't want to buy it; I thought you wanted a challenge."
"A challenge?!" Oren sat up straighter. "What did you have in mind?"
"Nothing," Aury shrugged. "I thought you had something in mind. Uh,..," he thought for a moment. "But, I think it's my turn anyway. So, how about...," He crossed his arms and tapped his chin while he thought. "...first to three knockdowns? Winner gets the server?" he asked.
"That does sound entertaining!" Oren grinned and stood from his throne. He approached Aury, but paused before they shook hands. "But... I already own this server," Oren said. "What are you betting?"
"Oh, right...," Aury nodded. "Uhh.. nodes?" He held up four nodes in his hand fanned out like cards. Oren chuckled and held his own hand up with twice as many nodes.
"I create nanos, remember?" he asked.
"Oh yeah...," Aurelio did know that, of course. But, he was caught by surprise. It was his own fault for rushing into the situation. Oren asked him if he wanted to take over the server and Aurelio was there in an instant; he should have known what to expect from Oren by now. Aurelio owned a few of his own servers already; but, this one was leveled by Oren himself. More than anything, he wanted to study it and try to learn whatever secrets he could. Except, at the moment, he would have an easier time raising the money to buy it from Oren than finding something that interested him. Though, as he ran down a list of friends he could possibly borrow money from, Jenny crossed his mind. Not only would she have the money to lend, she also likely had some new gadget that interested Oren.
"Well...," Oren said loudly. "If you can't think of anything, I'm sure I can sell it to someone else." The added pressure of missing out made Aurelio realize he already had some of Jenny's tech that Oren might like.
"Wait!" Aury said. He stepped forward and pulled out a red translucent node. "What about this?" The fact that he was offering to bet Jenny's project only crossed his mind briefly. But, the thought was ignored. Past experience told Aurelio he was better than Oren; and, he would likely win again. Oren tilted his head at the red node.
"What's that?" he asked. His eyes glowed red as he asked the question. He was inspecting it; but, he still felt compelled to know more.
"It's a project Jenny's working on," Aurelio said with a grin. He knew the challenge was accepted as soon as he mentioned Jenny's name. Oren did not disappoint.
"Jenny?" he asked. He stepped closer and his eyes glowed brighter. Then, he nodded to himself when the glow faded. "Yes, her encryption is much better than yours. Very well," Oren offered his hand. "I accept your challenge. I will wager this server against that node. Triple knockdown, winner take all."
"Alright," Aurelio grinned. "It's a bet."