Jake was sat on a barrel beside an alley near Jim's house, he was eating a small cookie with a joyous look on his face, beside him was two sacks. While Jim was gone Jake had sold the gems and clothes in the slums for a decent sum of money. He knew Jim could have made more but Jake knew Jim wouldn't be in the mood to haggle when he came back.

Suddenly a loud groan rang out as suddenly Jim rounded the alley corner, Jim had bruises all over with a black eyes. His mouth had small cuts from abuse and he was bleeding blood from his lips and nose. Jake tossed over a cookie he bought with his half of the money, Jim tried catching it but missed. Jim bent over and grabbed the cookie off the cold and disgusting ground before eating it. Jim said

"They couldn't prove I was the culprit because our good friend from earlier who bought the dirt was naked in front of his door having the time of his life, apparently that drug does crazy things to people. Anyways though, they didn't intrude and because I had given all the stuff to you all they did was beat me up before trying to chase after you."

Jake chuckled as he tossed one of the two sacks at Jim, he said

"Thanks for that, I gave you a gift in the bag other than the even split"

Jim looked inside the sack only to see it filled to the brim with shillings and pounds. The sack wasn't big but there was almost ten pounds of shillings and pounds inside the bag. The biggest supreise though was the very bottom of his sack was a clean shirt and pants for a middle class merchant with a nice red shirt with no detail, the man's gray hip-length jacket and even shoes. Jim gave a wide smile at Jake and said

"We took almost twenty years of that poor man's work as he bought clothes and jewels for his love and his self... and all he had was twenty pounds!"

They both burst out laughing only for them to hear a monotone almost dead voice say

"What are you kids laughing about"

Jim looked behind him to see a six foot behemoth of a man that never looked this tall due to him always being crouched on the floor or laying on the ground. Jim the gave a calm

"Oh hi father."

---

Levi sat down in front of the two teenagers. On the ground were two small brown bags filled with money, Levi looked down at the bags and up at his son before sighing and calmly saying

"Where did you get this?"

Jim gave a cold stare directly at his father before saying

"Me a Jake were in the noble district-"

Levi yelled out

"You were where!?"

Jim sighed before continuing 

"The noble district... But Jake and I pickpocketed a random drunkard who may have just gotten paid but he had this much money on him."

Levi looked directly at Jake before saying

"Jake, how did you pickpocket this drunkard"

Jim tried saying something only for Levi to angrily say

"I want to hear what Jake says, not you"

Jake gave a heavy sigh as he broke a small sweat before saying

"uhm... yeah we uhm- we I mean I, found the guy in a- a uhm an alley yeah and uhm"

Levi gave a simple monotone 

"Please just stop... You are a terrible liar Jake."

Jake looked down and said

"Yeah, I know."

Levi then said once more

"You both know I won't do anything but I need to know what you did to get this much money"

Jim then sighed and tried speaking only for Levi to say again

"Son... I have known you for all your life... No. Now Jake be honest and tell me how you got this money"

Jake quickly spoke as if he was guilty of a crime as he said

"Well uh I got into some debt and I roped Jim into helping me sell... uhm, well drugs to pay off the debt."

Levi seemed unsurprised as he calmly said

"Can you pay back the debt?"

Jake happily said

"Uhm... well not currently."

Levi slightly gagged as Jim said

"Wait you said you only owed three pounds"

Jake looked down as he said

"I'm sorry Jim... but I lied so you would help me out. Truthfully they are the same people from each and every other time I gambled so my debt is almost fifty pounds"

Levi instantly grabbed a bottle a liquor on the floor and chugged it as Jim instantly yelled

"You son of a bitch! That is money even nobles are scared of, what the hell did you do!"

Jake sat quietly as Levi and Jim yelled at him. Jake then remembered

---

Jake was walking in the dark of night on a cobblestone street. Jake looked up to see a large building with loud sounds and dancing as it stood majestically upon a hill. Jake sighed as he took out a cigar a smoked it before walking towards the building in the distance

Jake arrived at the door to see a large man in a knight uniform standing at the doorway. Jake took out his cigar and asked

"May I come in?"

Only for the knight to give a calm

"You don't deserve to be inside this building."

Jake was about to complain only for a long skinny arm to go around his shoulder, the arm belonged to a tall man in complete black, clothing which almost blended into the night sky. Jake was awe struck as almost no one wore black, the clothes gave the man a mysterious and powerful look from his attire alone. The man said

"Open the door Knight. This kid is with me"

The knight got on one knee as he prostrated himself, he said

"Sorry sir I did not know."

The knight quickly opened the door as he was almost afraid, Jake looked inside to see multiple large chandelures covering the ceiling giving off a beautiful golden glow around the entire building. The man then said to Jake

"My name Caviler, what's your name kid?"

Jake stuttered out

"M- my name is Jake"

Caviler slapped Jake on the back before saying

"Starting today, whenever you enter this Casino your name is... let's call you Cage. How do you like it"

Jake nodded his head as a yes before asking

"Why do I need a fake name?"

Caviler gave a firm pat of Jake's back before saying

"There are a lot of scary people here who you don't want to anger. So the name is a back-up just in case you do make them angry"

Jake nodded only for Caviler then say

"Follow me, I'll show you a personal favorite game of mine, it's called poker"

Hours later Jake had a flush red face with a cigar in his mouth as he was playing Poker with eight others as Caviler was the dealer. Beside Jake was a large stack of shillings and pence with a single pound at the bottom. Caviler then said

"Game number fourteen, minimum bet is five shillings!"

Caviler then quickly sends out five cards to each player in a speed that seems almost inhuman, Jake picks up the cards to see a three of diamonds, a five of diamonds , a three of clubs , a king of spades , and a queen of diamonds. Jake grabs the queen, king and three of clubs before giving them back to Caviler. Caviler smiles as he says

"Cage is discarding three!"

Caviler then quickly shuffles the deck like a wizard only for three cards to slide on the table towards Jake. Jake picks them up before smiling as he says

"Half!"

Caviler nods as he looked around the table hearing different voices of confidence of dread. Everyone then flipped their cards before Caviler yells out

"That's a straight flush from Cage!"

Jake laughs as he says

"Alright that's it for me"

Caviler then says

"Hold on Cage, let's do one more round but I add something a little special for the winner"

Caviler then took out a large metal case, it was shinier then the stars up above and more than anything Jake has ever seen. Caviler says

"Winner takes the whole case but you have to go all in otherwise the case stays mine."

Jake being none the wiser sits down one more time with his stack of shillings as he say's all in. The other players all nod as the take out pounds of money equalling Jake's tower of shillings in just five or so bills. Caviler smiles before dealing all the cards. Jake smiles as he says

"Deal em Caviler!"

Caviler instantly shuffles the deck in the wildest way yet with cards flying above his head as the cards seemingly do tricks that shouldn't be possible. Caviler then gets all the cards and with a quick flick of his wrist instantly gives the player to Jake's left a card. Caviler then gives cards to each player with a smooth grace like that of a swan before saying

"Good luck to all"

Jake checked his hand to see the worst hand he could possibly get with a two of diamonds, eight of clubs, six of spades, three of hearts, and a five of diamonds. Jake sighs as he grabs every card but his diamonds and throws them back to Caviler who quickly gives out a new hand that is amazing with all diamonds. Jake smiles Caviler says

"Flip!"

Jake yells out

"Give me my money!"

Suddenly the man beside Jake laughs, the man had a green beanie and had a terrible posture and looked like he was as poor as Jake. Jake almost asked what he was laughing about only to see on the table, a royal flush.

That was the start of Jake's gambling addiction and great debt

---

Jake sat alone in an alley after being yelled at from Jim's home. Jake sighed with a cigar in his mouth only for Jake to hear

"Did you make your money back yet?"

Jake looked left only to see the r-shaped man once again. Jake sighed as he took his cigar out and said

"Nope, not yet."

The man smiled as he said

"I had a friend of mine watch you scam that poor innocent man. He had a daughter you know? That was very cruel of you to do, you dirty street rat"

Jake looked up at the beanie wearing man before spitting on his shirt as he stood up. The man responded with

"You know if you really need money I'll play a quick game with you real quick, I'll flip this shilling and if it lands up you owe me a pound and if it lands down I'll give you a pound"

Jake put his hand out and said

"I won't fall for those tricks, I'll only agree to this if I flip the coin"

The man had a devious grin as he handed the coin to Jake. Jake flipped the coin only for it to land upwards. Jake punched the wall behind him as the man chuckled out

"That's around seventy pounds you owe me, how funny"

Jake gave an angry look at the man before the man calmly said

"I'll let you off for this debt... if you lick my shoes clean."

Jake looked down at the man's disgusting shoes before saying

"I'll rather waster away on the ground then give anything to you"

The man laughed before saying

"That little kid, what was his name oh yeah, Jim"

Jake yelled at the man

"Don't bring Jim into this, he is only sixteen!"

The man chuckled before saying

"I never brought him into this, that was you."

Jake angrily looked at the man before saying

"What do you want, or are you just here to make fun of me."

The man said

"Oh no no no, don't get me twisted. I hate making fun of people, but I'm here to tell you that if you don't hurry up with the pay we might force your friend to give you a helping hand."

Jake couldn't stand it anymore as he threw his lit cigar at the man and dashed at him trying to tackle him only for suddenly a large pike to pop out the corner almost cutting Jake's head off. Around the corner a knight emerged with his pike in hand. The knight said in a rough monotone voice

"Dirt costs five pounds, if you want better products ask Jim to buy them for you. So far he seems to be a more reliable customer. Secondly, if you try something like that again we will make your mom a prostitute."

Jake tried yelling at the knight only for in a fraction of a second the knight to stab Jake in the foot. Jake cried out in pain as his vision went dark. The last words he heard was a friendly voice saying joyfully

"Where is my payment Michael."