The Stories of an Immortal

The Lost Tresure

I was on a beautiful hot island with warm, turquoise water and soft, golden sand. It was pretty isolated so there weren't many people about, just a few locals going about their daily business. I would have loved to just stay and relax, maybe have some delicious seafood, but I was on a mission to find the legendary lost treasure.

Efficiently, I strolled across the island, following an antique map which supposedly would lead me straight to my destination. It wasn't the easiest journey, especially because I was carrying a heavy bag of supplies, but luckily I was used to strenuous jobs.

When I finally reached my end destination according to the map, I looked for the treasure on the surface before giving up and agreeing with my sister that it was probably underground (before I went on this mission she told me "dig down; there's always something underneath you", which is strange advice, but then she's always been a bit weird).

Eventually I found a lovely pewter jewellery box with an intricate blossoming tree design on it which I assumed, quite rightly, contained the treasure. Cautiously I opened it and inside was a collection of stunning gold necklaces, precious jewels and giant coins. However, I also quickly noticed that there was something hidden amongst them and it was squirming rapidly.

Peering closer, I found a scorpion like creature with an exoskeleton like the night sky, but it was writhing and convulsing in anguish and seemed so helpless while in torturous pain. I'm sure if I could have heard it, it would have been screaming in pure agony.

I had to make a choice: let it suffer for possibly days on end until it ultimately died, or end its misery now with a quick, simple gun shot. In the back of my mind I could hear a very old friend declaring how inhumane shooting someone to kill them was, but I shut that out. The only choices I had were bad ones, yet I still had to make one.

Making sure I kept my hand steady, I pulled the trigger. Relieved it was over, I could visibly see the poor creature relax and for the first time in a long time, it could finally rest. I carefully buried it under a palm tree, swiftly gave the treasure to the chief of the island and then left, alone, with only my swirling pools of thoughts for company.