~by Kyle Vegh
I hurry through the poverty-stricken streets of a city that looked more like a battleground. The war raging between my country and a neighboring country was taking its toll, as attested to by the broken windows and burned exterior of nearly all the houses I passed. Forces from the opposing side had constantly raided and rummaged through any and every house possible, pillaging and stealing anything they could. Anything they couldn’t store with them on the way back to their side of the boarder, they destroyed. Our army was not strong enough to defend itself from the seemingly all-powerful units we were being attacked by. Every person in my country felt the constant danger surrounding them, but this was very apparent in one city in particular.
Everyone knew this city had a very large treasury, holding the bulk of the wealth of the country. Rumors were spreading that our government was planning to trade its massive reserves of ancient artifacts and treasure to nearby neutral countries in order to get enough money to be able to afford more troops and weapons to make a comeback in the war. The rumors must have spread into places they ought not to have spread, though, because one terrible day large legion arrived completely unexpectedly and invaded our treasury, taking as much of it as they could. We know they could not have taken everything, because there was far too much to take with them in just one raid. However, nobody is sure what happened to the rest of it, because it is nowhere to be found in the treasury.
The treasury was the only hope for our country, and the report that the treasury had been looted caused every hopeful in our country to lose their hope. Every hopeful; that is, except a very small minority, who I myself am a part of. And that is why I’m here in this city. I have sources who believe they know what happened to the large portion of the treasury that must have still been left after the unabashed robbery. Spies were sent over the boarder, and heard talk of treasure being in a large secret storage room in an abandoned house. Now, there were many abandoned houses, since there were so many fleeing from the country, but there was one particular house that was known as being long unoccupied. I am determined to find this treasure, even more so as I pass the many left homeless from the constant attacks. It is our only hope for survival.
I finally arrived at the house, panting after the long run here. I knew I had to work quickly. Bounding up the steps to the front of the house, I tested the door. Locked. The window just a few feet away was already broken, so I resolved to take that entrance. The old abandoned house, which looked so miniscule on the outside, looked much more spacious than I imagined it would on the inside. The front door (or front window, depending) opened up to the foyer, a room with a large ceiling on the right, and a hallway on the left opening up to several more rooms. In between the room with the large ceiling and the hallway was a staircase leading to the second floor. Starting on the first floor, I searched through all the rooms, hitting against the walls and floors with different hammers and things, trying to find any walls that sounded hollow or anything that sounded or seemed out of the ordinary. No luck on the first floor.
I headed up the aforementioned staircase to the second floor, using the same procedure of search. The situation was looking more and more bleak, until, in a quite small, dark room, one of the walls looked a little newer than the rest, without the grime, dust, and cobwebs that was on all the other walls. I took a blow at it with the hammer, and realized it was quite thin, since the hammer made a hole right through it. Heart beating faster than I ever remember it beating, I hammered, punched, and kicked at the wall with everything that was in me until the whole wall came down. Looking into the deep room that used to be concealed by a façade of plaster, I stood in awe of the resplendent store of treasure and artifacts.
Knowing everything I went into that house hoping I would know, and seeing everything I went into that house hoping I would see, I sped down the steps back to the foyer. Crawling back out through the window, I headed toward the police office. I walked slowly and---I hoped---unexcitedly so as to not attract attention from any onlookers. Once I arrived and told of my findings to the police officers there (oh, how I wish you could have seen it), the looks and cries of excitement, disbelief, joy, amazement were hysterical. Although, I can’t say I wasn’t doing just the same, for I too was feeling the infinite happiness of the prospect of becoming free of the bondage that seemed to have held us for ages by that point.
And now, after all this took place, my country recovered every piece of treasure in that glorious old house, and was able to trade it to the nearby countries for troops and weaponry, as planned. We were also able to work out a deal with the countries we traded with to form alliances against our attacker, much to the glee of my country, and myself. With the help of our newly found allies, the invaders were driven out, and rebuilding has begun. It will be a long and bumpy road to recovery, but a trip that I will be more than happy to take.
---Fin
I hurry through the poverty-stricken streets of a city that looked more like a battleground. The war raging between my country and a neighboring country was taking its toll, as attested to by the broken windows and burned exterior of nearly all the houses I passed. Forces from the opposing side had constantly raided and rummaged through any and every house possible, pillaging and stealing anything they could. Anything they couldn’t store with them on the way back to their side of the boarder, they destroyed. Our army was not strong enough to defend itself from the seemingly all-powerful units we were being attacked by. Every person in my country felt the constant danger surrounding them, but this was very apparent in one city in particular.
Everyone knew this city had a very large treasury, holding the bulk of the wealth of the country. Rumors were spreading that our government was planning to trade its massive reserves of ancient artifacts and treasure to nearby neutral countries in order to get enough money to be able to afford more troops and weapons to make a comeback in the war. The rumors must have spread into places they ought not to have spread, though, because one terrible day large legion arrived completely unexpectedly and invaded our treasury, taking as much of it as they could. We know they could not have taken everything, because there was far too much to take with them in just one raid. However, nobody is sure what happened to the rest of it, because it is nowhere to be found in the treasury.
The treasury was the only hope for our country, and the report that the treasury had been looted caused every hopeful in our country to lose their hope. Every hopeful; that is, except a very small minority, who I myself am a part of. And that is why I’m here in this city. I have sources who believe they know what happened to the large portion of the treasury that must have still been left after the unabashed robbery. Spies were sent over the boarder, and heard talk of treasure being in a large secret storage room in an abandoned house. Now, there were many abandoned houses, since there were so many fleeing from the country, but there was one particular house that was known as being long unoccupied. I am determined to find this treasure, even more so as I pass the many left homeless from the constant attacks. It is our only hope for survival.
I finally arrived at the house, panting after the long run here. I knew I had to work quickly. Bounding up the steps to the front of the house, I tested the door. Locked. The window just a few feet away was already broken, so I resolved to take that entrance. The old abandoned house, which looked so miniscule on the outside, looked much more spacious than I imagined it would on the inside. The front door (or front window, depending) opened up to the foyer, a room with a large ceiling on the right, and a hallway on the left opening up to several more rooms. In between the room with the large ceiling and the hallway was a staircase leading to the second floor. Starting on the first floor, I searched through all the rooms, hitting against the walls and floors with different hammers and things, trying to find any walls that sounded hollow or anything that sounded or seemed out of the ordinary. No luck on the first floor.
I headed up the aforementioned staircase to the second floor, using the same procedure of search. The situation was looking more and more bleak, until, in a quite small, dark room, one of the walls looked a little newer than the rest, without the grime, dust, and cobwebs that was on all the other walls. I took a blow at it with the hammer, and realized it was quite thin, since the hammer made a hole right through it. Heart beating faster than I ever remember it beating, I hammered, punched, and kicked at the wall with everything that was in me until the whole wall came down. Looking into the deep room that used to be concealed by a façade of plaster, I stood in awe of the resplendent store of treasure and artifacts.
Knowing everything I went into that house hoping I would know, and seeing everything I went into that house hoping I would see, I sped down the steps back to the foyer. Crawling back out through the window, I headed toward the police office. I walked slowly and---I hoped---unexcitedly so as to not attract attention from any onlookers. Once I arrived and told of my findings to the police officers there (oh, how I wish you could have seen it), the looks and cries of excitement, disbelief, joy, amazement were hysterical. Although, I can’t say I wasn’t doing just the same, for I too was feeling the infinite happiness of the prospect of becoming free of the bondage that seemed to have held us for ages by that point.
And now, after all this took place, my country recovered every piece of treasure in that glorious old house, and was able to trade it to the nearby countries for troops and weaponry, as planned. We were also able to work out a deal with the countries we traded with to form alliances against our attacker, much to the glee of my country, and myself. With the help of our newly found allies, the invaders were driven out, and rebuilding has begun. It will be a long and bumpy road to recovery, but a trip that I will be more than happy to take.
---Fin
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