Adventures in Valeria - 1

Prologue

Everyone makes mistakes. Whether they're big or small, mistakes are a part of every human's life. But no human would dare to commit the mistake of risking your life to steal treasure from a million year old Elven temple. At least no one who wasn't Tuber and his wife Dahlia. "How much longer" muttered Tuber to himself impatiently. He had been waiting for Dahlia to come out of the crack in the temple back wall for an hour at most, but was getting terrified of seeing a single elf come out and enchant him to death.

 He heard a grunt and shivered. Luckily, it was his wife Dahlia struggling through the crack with more than eight bags of treasure. "Take a few of these" she said. Tuber took five, and helped her through the crack. "Took you long enough. Let's get out of here." whispered Tuber. "The temple was beautiful. There wasn't even a single elf near the treasure!" said Dahlia, barely keeping her voice soft enough so an elf wouldn't hear. "Don't get too confident!" said an agitated Tuber. "We still have to cross the hill towards the coast." "Don't worry much. We have Roach's frolicker." she assured Tuber. He sighed and headed to towards the tree where they had tied their magic-speedy horse, his friend Roach's frolicker.

But something was wrong. The knot had been untied, and there was no frolicker. Tuber froze. "Where is the frolicker! Tuber, you were so close to it. How did you let it go!" said Dahlia in shock. "I have no idea. It was there a short time ago." said Tuber in dismay. But he knew something unusual had happened. He had been at the same spot a few minutes ago, and had seen the short haired horse there, still tied and calm as always. It was so sudden that Tuber couldn't remember a thing. A flash of light came, and then the booming sound.

Tuber stood in horror as a large, golden elf dressed in robes and a glowing amber crown of top of her head ran towards them. Her eyes were black with warm orange inside, and she held a burning, sharp blade. She muttered an enchantment of horror, and Tuber experienced the worst of his life as a ball of fire engulfed Dahlia, and absorbed her with flames. He could only hear the screams of agony, and the burning words sounding like 'RUN'. Blinded by the gleaming white light, he throw his sword in Dahlia's direction and ran towards the opposite, as fast as he could. He could hear a different screaming which he assumed was Dahlia's agonizing pain while he kept on running.

After crossing the bridge between the Petran temple and the mainland, he went inside a cave and blocked it with a large boulder. After preparing a fire, he wondered what would happen now. He had only brought with him the five bags of treasure he took from Dahlia. This would probably start a treasure dispute between the Elves and Humans, and hopefully his village would compensate for his and Dahlia's actions. His village, no. He couldn't return there, it was a risk for his people and his baby. I will go where the wind takes me from now on.. He thought as the fire went off.