The Immortal Thief

Once again tightening the thin but strong fingerless gloves, a thief sat crouched in a small nook just across the jeweler's shop. Unseen by anyone that may pass by, he made sure to keep each breath silent. Having crouched in that spot for the past couple hours, his legs groaned in protest. Despite being in positions like these many times, his legs were not immune to the rigors of such a posture. Ignoring the strain, he smirked as he saw the owner of the jewelry shop begin to exit the front door. The owner quickly checked the street for onlookers and satisfied when seeing nothing he quickly locked the three padlocks and walked towards the residential area.

Waiting until the owner had turned the corner, the thief again checked the street and when satisfied that there was no soul in sight he climbed down from his perch. Landing softly onto the ground, he quickly padded over towards the door. Retrieving a key from a small pouch strapped onto his leg; with three small clicks the three padlocks unlocked smoothly. Opening the hefty wooden door, the thief slipped inside and carefully closed the door behind him, thankful that the hinges were kept well oiled.

Looking over the layout of the store, I ignored the small trinkets and false gems that would've fooled any simple thief or customer. Spotting a seemingly inconspicuous small case, I went over to confirm my suspicions. Seeing the gems have that glimmer of sheen in the light, I plucked a few choice cuts, leaving enough to not immediately look stolen. Cleaning the display case, I went behind the counter and unlocked the sturdy door with the same key as before. Entering what I found out to be the storeroom, there were several cases lining the right wall and a desk opposite of them. Sprawled on the desk were several instruments that looked to be jeweler's tools. Seeing nothing of too much value out in the open, I quickly browsed through the cases. Seeing a moderate amount of uncut gems that would fetch a nice price. Ecstatic at the potential haul from this one shop thus far, I nimbly removing a few of the more choice pieces, and secured them tightly in another pouch.

Looking over to the desk, it was by itself was fairly ornate. Built within the wall so almost impossible to move, I didn't have the time or ability to remove it should anything be hidden behind it, despite the possibility being there, safety over curiosity was what had saved my hide more times than I could remember. Opening the several drawers and not finding much besides a couple sheets of paper and other instruments, I frowned hoping to have got something more from my troubles. Running my fingers across the underside of the desk, I almost missed a faint seam in the wood. Carefully tracing the seam, I found it to be a small rectangular seam behind what should be solid wood. Feeling no opening or keyhole, it piqued my interest even more. As I was tapping the rectangular space, I slipped slightly and used a lot more force than I initially intended. With an audible clicking sound, the seam pushed out and dropped a small box. Tilting the box over, a very odd looking black crystal tumbled out of the container. On its own, the crystal was pretty small, no bigger than my own thumb. While most crystals could be cut and polished to have a gleaming look to them, this crystal was uncut and somehow seemed to...glow. If it hadn't been only slightly lit in the room from the moonlight, the faint black glow of the crystal would've easily gone unnoticed. This crystal was so well hidden and despite the irony of it being found inside of a jeweler's shop I highly doubt that the owner would miss out of the opportunity to profit heavily from such an interesting object.

Unknown to the thief, the store owner had returned to the storefront and was alarmed to see the locks undone. He rushed inside and had made just enough noise to alert the thief of his sudden arrival.

"Shit". Surprised by the noise, I knew that I didn't have time to stash the gem away securely in a pouch. Regretting the choice to not add some extra pockets to my attire, I ended up swallowing the black gem. Begrudging the future when I would have to sift through my own waste, I refocused and saw the only door leading back into the shop. Frowning, my eyes shifted upwards to the small window. It was too high up to reach by jumping or standing on the work chair, but the cases were just tall enough to reach. Unfortunately moving them silently would take too long, and rushing it would make too much noise and alert whoever had come inside the shop. Wasting only a split second, I threw one of the cases sideways, wedging it between the walls and climbed on top of the case. Making sure my footing was secure, I lightly squeezed my way towards the window. Wrapping my hand in a piece of cloth, I shattered the window and roughly removed the larger sharp pieces. Behind me, the door was being jostled open and I frantically dropped to the ground.

Dropping onto the ground, I rolled to lessen the impact, however, landed poorly on my left leg. Feeling something leaking on my tunic, I looked down to see a vicious slash on my side. Gritting my teeth, I knew I would have to patch it up quickly or I would lose too much blood. Relying heavily on my right leg, I slowly made my way towards my closest safe house, only a little while away.

Not even a couple moments had passed when I heard a soft voice behind me.

"Hello my little Thief, seems like you are in a little trouble. I heard saw your little escapade, I must say you do well for one as young as yourself."

Standing over me was an incredibly beautiful woman, she talked to me very familiarly despite never having met before. Cautious at the appearance of this enchanting woman, I knew I was in an extremely unfavorable position. Having the small dagger hidden on my ankle, I didn't want to incite any animosity in my current state. "I don't believe we have had the pleasure of meeting, what brings a fair lady such as yourself to this sham of a town? I had no prior knowledge of any nobles visiting this small town."

Laughing with a musical tone, the woman smiled. "Noble? No, I am just a wanderer of sorts. Getting back to my being here, I was actually planning on visiting the same shop as yourself. I am curious to know if you have acquired anything of value during your time."

My head had begun to get dizzy, and my stomach and tongue fell into turmoil. Getting caught up in all these issues has not impeded the blood flow out of the wound. Deciding that my life was much more important than the gems I had acquired, I thought of a way to get out of this situation with this mysterious beauty. "I managed to get myself some gems, I have two pouches here." As I was going to grab the pouches to buy my way out of this irritating time, I was astonished to see that the woman had disappeared. Behind me I felt a piercing pain slide cleanly through my back. Cursing my bad luck, I knew that I would not survive the night even if I crawled back to my safe house.

Walking back into my vision, the woman cleaned her dagger on my pant leg, sliding it back into a sheath strapped to her leg. No longer able to support his own body any longer, the thief crumpled to the ground. Too shocked to even be able to speak, the thief watched as the woman retrieved the two pouches.

After sifting through the two pouches, the beautiful face of the woman turned ugly for just a moment before sighing. "What a shame, you weren't able to find what I needed. I guess I will look myself." Tossing the two pouches on the ground, the woman ignored the dying thief and headed towards the jeweler's shop.

Unable to think clearly, the thief thought with his last few breaths. 'I never did get a chance to learn what that jewel was'.