All the Gold in the World

 Breslin Divine was a billionaire with a single solitary love of gold.

He craved it, coveted it, caressed it, loved it.

Gold made him happy and he wanted more of it. 

In fact he loved gold more than his own two children.

His stockpile was floor-creakingly vast, a tower of ingots so gargantuan that entire economies dashed themselves to nothing on its gleaming bricks.

States failed, countries fell, markets tumbled but Breslin's bullion seemed, well, incarnate.

"Divine by name, divine by nature," he would brag to his rivals, as he watched them slide into pitiful insolvency as his own pile of gold grew ever higher.

Yes, he did indeed have the Midas touch.

And even his family were barred from the golden room where he slept on his ingots.

Only the love for Luci his beautiful third wife could match this sacred devotion to the gilded ore. And Luci was a rare beauty, a svelte, almost ethereal creature; tall, arresting and completely irresistible.

Like gold itself Luci seemed to have been fashioned from all that is perfect in nature, as if hewn from the deepest majesties of the world. She had entered his life as the nanny of his children, his second wife Fer, their step-mother, a seductive beauty second only to Luci, quickly redundant in the mansion.

In all ways.

Like a cuckoo, Luci supplanted her.

Breslin had to have this woman.

And he did.

But other Men desired Luci.

Breslin saw.

And despite clearly being picked by this illustrious being, his jealousy constantly boiled in a cauldron of fury as others fawned upon her.

 But Luci had always assured him that there was no other but he.

It would always be thus, as long as he himself never ever went back to Fer, for solace, affection or most especially not the pleasures of her flesh.

"For the sake of you and your children Breslin!"

He vowed.

He would love Luci and his gold and all will be well in the House of Divine and she in turn would help him become the richest and most powerful man in the world, a tycoon to end all tycoons and rule the globe with her at his side straddling it together like furious riders taming a mare.

And so years passed in auric bliss as the golden repository swelled, his worldly power mushroomed and his love for Luci grew and grew. 

Even their mansion was turned into a palace of solid gold, a glowing edifice of amber pomp in an increasingly impoverished and barren world.

Ailing Presidents, Shieks, Kanzlers and Kings courted Breslin's company, seeking his esteemed and hallowed council, as their own meagre coffers were syphoned before their very eyes and melted down into ingots branded with his initial D.

And all the while Luci was the real power behind the glinting throne, proffering sage and timely advice to her very own mogul Breslin. And so she too gained fame and influence and the ear of many Heads of State, Arch Bishops and even the Pope and took a keen interest in the millions of souls they served and their desperate needs. She cherished their pleas and relished her position.

As did her man.

"I am more important than God Luci!" Breslin bragged to her one night.

"I am truly divine!"

"Indeed, I am more powerful than the Devil himself!"

"Strong words my love! Come, let me soothe you. Come to bed and so I may feel your power inside me!"

"No, not tonight Luci. Leave me. I grow tired of your possessiveness. I am going the gold room. Alone!"

Breslin sloped off but unbenownst to him Luci followed.

The man was clearly excited and when he let his ex-wife, Fer, in through the side door, he was in a frenzy of arousal.

They crept into the gold store, his lust for his ex swelling and they made passionate and raucous love like dogs in an alley.

Breslin felt on top of the world again and, more than that, he owned the world. All of it.

The next morning his swollen ego knew no limits and had his secretary issue a release to the press.

I am Breslin Divine, the richest man in history. I own the entire world. I own everything. I own you so listen up citizens of the globe. I demand to be worshipped. From this day on I am your only God. There are no others. Forget the devil too. There is only me. Obey or perish. For I am Divine!

A photograph was issued of Breslin splayed across his yellow element, a fearful God in command of everything, a new deity to rule with a golden fist. 

And in the background of the photograph was Fer with dishevelled hair and zipping up her skirt.

Luci stared in disbelief and waited patiently until evening by the gold room, where she knew she would catch her husband with his new lover, his ex-wife whom he had vowed never to touch again.

As they noisily copulated on the cold metal slabs, the amber reflecting on their naked rumps like buttercups, Luci walked in.

"You promised me Breslin! You vowed! And for what, this scurrilous harlot who is but half of what I am!"

Fer prized herself off the man and walked over to Luci, where she stood beside her.

"Yes it is true, I am but half a being. You are Luci. I am Fer. Together we are ....."

The two women embraced and slowly began to merge into each other's flesh until a single figure stood in front of the terrified, screaming Breslin.

"Lucifer!"

"You had everything and the world was yours but you were greedy Breslin. You pronounced yourself great than the Devil and you broke your word....

You had your chance but your time is up!"

The huge red figure touched the man's head and he fell instantly to sleep. In one flurry of the other hand the entire tower of golden ingots were melted into a fiery molten liquid hanging like the world above Breslin's face. He was woken to find the boiling gold pouring into mouth and slowly entering his whole body.

To his horror he saw in either side of him his children staring at him, pleading, succumbing to the same dreadful fate.

The liquid poured and poured.

With their mouths brimming, all the gold in the world eventually filled them and was gone.

"Shame, I rather liked you Breslin, but still, you got what you wanted after all, to be a golden idol!"

Lucifer brushed away the final shreds of charred skin and stood the three gold statues in the middle of the store room, where he could always admire them.

"Truly divine!" He laughed and walked away.