Fate is Cruel

Prologue

The  Elvin treasury was almost better than the  rumors I've heard of it. Piles and piles of gold and pearls and precious gems and jewelry. It's glittering and bright and I don't think I've seen anything like it before.

As a human, I never thought that I would be able to make my way into any treasury, let alone an Elvin one. I am a mere adventurer after all, just a traveler. But here I am. Here we are.

I smile at my twin brother Samson beside me. "Lucky adventurers, aren't we?" I snicker a little as I lower myself onto the giant pile of gold coins we're on and slide down, admiring the clinking and tinking of the metal bumping into each other. It sounds perfect.

I would very much like to grab handfuls and fill my greedy pockets, but I know better than that.  They keep the most valuable items at the back, and those are what I'm going to stuff my pockets with and sell the moment we get out of here.

"Clementine," Samson sighs at me, sliding down also. "You know we're down here for a reason, don't get distracted. We need to find it and get out of here. There are probably plenty of traps in here."

I roll my eyes at him, picking up a beautiful emerald necklace. I've never held something so valuable in my dirty calloused hands before. "Fine, fine. I know. But I'm sure we can swipe a few things without them noticing."

Samson narrows his eyes at me and his fluffy brown hair bounces as he gets up. "Don't get us caught. Let's hurry up, actually."

He pushes past me in a serious way, his body stiff, but it's funny to me because he almost slips and falls on coins several times. I giggle a little and catch up to him, stuffing a couple of things in my pockets.

I pull out an old map of the treasury that we managed to take from a guard. I study the markings on it. We should be around the middle of the map... 

"According to the map, we need to head straight this way." I point slightly to the left. Samson changes directions slightly and we pick up the pace.

Turns out, climbing over a pile a a gazzilion coins is not as fun as sliding down. I keep slipping and falling, and I can't find any stable place to put my feet. The metallic scent of the coins sticks to my hands, and I  definitely don't like it. It takes too long for us to climb over, but we eventually do.

Samson is visibly annoyed. "Let's get out of here. We don't want our ride to get caught."

He's talking about the enormous dragon that's waiting for us outside, Juniper. We're not sure what time the guards start patrolling the castle walls, but hopefully it's not soon. Juniper is hiding just outside of town, so when we get out of here, we're going to go through the back alleys of the streets as quick and discreetly as possible, and ride that magnificent beast out of here.

This whole adventure thrills me, from breaking in the treasury to getting to ride a dragon away from here. Unlike my brother though, I'm not worried about getting caught. It's the middle of the night, and nobody is going to suspect a thing. We've been planning this whole thing for years, and I have faith that nothing is going to go wrong.

"I see it!" My brother shouts, bolting forward and making me chase after him. I desperately try to see what he's seeing but he's a lot taller than me, so all I can do is run after him.

"Wait for me! Samson!" I call after him, climbing at top speed over a pile of coins as quick as possible. As soon as I'm on top, I see it.

It's a sparkling black jewel, but it looks as if the entire universe was trapped inside of it. It's cased in a large square glass on an intricately designed stand made of gold. The stand has hundreds of dragons carved on on it. This is easily the most beautiful thing in here. And it's what we've come to steal.