Aulga and Aulgar held each other's hand as they walked along the white sandy beach just outside the town of Derzy, the world was bathed in the beautiful orange of the sunset.
Looking out at the sea, Aulga could only see water, not a ship in site, just a calm afternoon, with the soothing roar of the ocean and not another sound in ear range.
As Aulga started to look back over to the town she noticed something on the shore halfway buried in the sand,
"Oh look Aulgar." She announced as she went over to the mysterious object she discovered that it was an old bottle with a corkscrew.
"Look a bottle." She exclaimed in sheer excitement and curiosity
Inside the bottle was a piece of paper rolled up vertically.
"Wonder what's inside?" Aulgar questioned
Aulga opened the bottle, and pulled out the old piece of paper to reveal a treasure map. A map of Oceanlandia with three spots marked on it. One a ship docked off the coast of the Muso Island, another showing a shipwreck on the Island of Derzy which was now under control by pirates, and a red X on the Island of Anmon.
"Oh Gods a treasure map." Aulga said
"It looks like it has an X on it." Aulgar added
"X marks the Spot. Anmon Island should be easy."
"I don't think the Anmonians will be too pleased with two Elves showing up on their islands after the war." Aulgar said in reference to both of the twins' elven heritage.
"I don't care what the Anmonians think, I want this treasure." Aulga said
"Whose treasure was it?" Aulgar questioned
"It says Halibern at the bottom of the map. It was Haliberns treasure."
"Halibern?"
"You know Halibern, he was one of the noblemen who reunified Oceanlandia during the second conquest, over five centuries ago."
"And he had treasure?"
"Shortly after the reunification war he turned to piracy. Before being executed he said he had hidden all his plunder in an undisclosed location, he put the map into a bottle and tossed it into the ocean so the High King could never find it. We have his map!"
"Well since we already have the map, the hard parts are done. All we have to do is retrieve the booty."
"Let's go should be easy."
Aulga took the map and held it tightly in her hand, they both made their way back to their ship.
The ship was a medieval style Galley, an oar powered ship cannon on the main deck and cannon on the deck below.
They both hopped aboard the ship and went into their shared bedroom to get dressed.
Aulgar got dressed in his pirate captain's uniform. An old weatherbeater captain's hat with a regular coat matching the color.
Aulga wore a green fabric outfit with tan knee-high, high heel wedge boots
Aulga then put the map into her pocket to save for later.
They came out of the room to announce to the crew that they were leaving.
"Drop the sail men! We're headed for long lost plunder!" Shouted Aulgar
"Where to Captain?" One of the Pirates asked
"Anmon!" Aulgar answered
"Why to Anmon? The Anmonians aren't necessarily the nicest people."
"We found this map in a bottle, it has an X right in the middle of Anmon city."
The ship then set sail, headed East towards the Island of Anmon.
"We shall arrive in Anmon in the morning Captain." Shouted one of the crew men.
As the ship sailed on through the night by morning they could see the Island of Anmon far away. Even from afar the large city skyline could be seen Castles made of the purest of white marble, nearly blinding to the eyes of humans, the light bounced to easily off the castles that the bright light rivaled even the sun on its brightest day. Aulgar and Aulga being elves had much more resistance to the light than the mostly human crew did, but even their eyes were a bit sun damaged by the city so far away.
"It truly is beautiful." Aulga commented
"You're lucky you can see it." One of the Pirates commented
The twins ship which bore the name Lovers Light docked into the harbor alongside many merchant ships, guarding the harbor was a sole Frigate with the Flag of Oceanlandia flying from its rafters.
"Keep Sekivo's flag down men. We don't want to draw any attention." Aulgar said
Aulgar and Aulga stepped off the ship and onto the marbled streets of Anmon city. Unlike many cities in Oceanlandia, Anmon city was incredibly clean, not a spec of garbage in sight. Also unlike most cities there were no buildings made of wood, most buildings were made of marble, stone or brick.
The inhabitants of the city were the Anmonians, a human-like race of people with flawless white skin, blonde hair but with two different colored eyes. Most Anmonians would have their left eye red and the right eye blue.
The couple walked down the street, drawing dirty looks from everyone they walked past.
After walking around for nearly an hour without finding the X they started to lose hope, until they came upon an intersection, with two roads intersecting in the shape of an X.
Both the twins/lovers looked at each other in intense ecstasy,
"We finally found it." Aulga cheered
"But where is the treasure?" Aulgar asked
Looking down Aulga noticed an anomaly in the road, some of the stones in the center seemed to be loose.
"There." Aulga whispered
They both ran over to the collection of loose stones, Aulga one else down, pressing her ear against the hot ground and she knocked on it, hearing an echo.
"It's hollow." She said
"How will we get to it." Aulgar asked
"An explosion"
Are you sure we'll be able to blow something up in broad daylight"
"We didn't come all this way to leave empty handed."
Aulgar reached into his back pocket and pulled out a small round bomb with a wicker at the end. Aulgar laid the bomb down on the loose stones and lit it.
The explosion blew open the ground, down the hole was a dark cave with a mountain of gold at the bottom. The citizens of the city surrounded the crater, peeking down in amazement.
Aulga could hardly believe her eyes, more treasure than she had ever seen in her.
"Oh Gods, we'll be rich." She said right before she was interrupted by a thunderous voice from below.
"Who dares disturb this sacred location!" The voice shouted
Then a translucent dark figure in a robe floated to the top
The crowd of civilians scattered like ants at the site of the mysterious figure.
"It's a demon!" Someone shouted in terror
"No one shall ever lay a hand on Halibern's treasure!" The creature said
"We do!" Shouted Aulgar with both both pistols in hand, ready for combat
"Who are you?" Aulga asked
"My name is Phantom, son of Achelete and guardian of lost treasure." The creature answered
"What business do you have uncovering Halibern's treasure?" Phantom questioned
"We found a bottle with a treasure map in it. It washed up on the beach beside us." Aulga answered in pleading tone
"It could be random chance that you stumbled upon the bottle or it could have been divine planning, I'll make a deal with you."
Aulgar tucked away his pistols and shouted.
"What's the deal?"
"If you can survive this I'll let you have the treasure, all of it." Phantom answered
"Survive what?"
As soon as Aulgar got the sentence out, the ground began shaking violently
"It's an Earthquake!" Aulgar shouted.
Both of them began running, as the violent shaking increased thirty fold. The ground began to tear apart swallowing the citizens and buildings into a magma pool.
The marble buildings began to crack and collapse onto the city, crushing those below.
The magma from the cracks began to flow through the city, melting anything and everything in its way.
The twins/lovers ended up surrounded by lava with nowhere to go. Beside them there was a building
"The only way to go is up!" Aulga shouted
They both climbed the building as the lava overtook the ground beneath them.
"We need to get to the harbor!" Aulgar yelled
"We must take the rooftops." Aulga said
The both sprinted the best they could while the building violently shook, they jumped from the building and onto another just in time, the other building collapsed into pieces then sinking into the river of molten lava.
They continuously jump from collapsing building to collapsing building,
The screams of the civilians below was deafening as their flesh melted off of their bodies.
Eventually the two make it to their ship which is docked in what's left of the harbor.
They land on the ship.
"Full sail ahead!" The both shouted before collapsing in exhaustion from the intensity of the situation.
The next morning they wake up on a beach in Derzy.
"Ah, I can't believe we didn't get any treasure." Aulga said as she turned over just after waking up.
"It's a damn shame." Aulgar agreed.
A loud scream pierced the silence of the morning atmosphere, both of them hopped up to investigate the source of the sound.
They then encounter Captain Derek Commel nursing a burned hand.
"What's wrong Derek?" Aulga questioned
"That pile of gold on your ship, it burns whoever tries to steal it!" Derek answered
"What are you barking about you mad dog?" Aulgar said
When he turned towards the direction of his ship, he noticed a large pile of gold on it.
Both the twins rushed over to their ship and grabbed handfuls of the gold without consequence.
"Phantom kept his word!" Aulga cheered in glee with tears running down her face.
"I can't imagine what we're going to spend it all on." Aulgar said
"We can start with buying all the rum in the tavern"