The Thief's Hubris.

The Undying Flame.
The Everlasting Blaze.
The Ember in the Vase.

That legendary artifact has been famed throughout the entire world, targeted by all types of treasure hunters, armed forces, adventurers and seekers of wealth. It is said that the artifact lies at the depths of mythical ruins, whose gates allow entry but closes to the cowards who long for home.

Many witnessed proud explorers boldly state that they are the ones to come back victorious and bring The Flame to the eyes of the people—but they never came back. Many monarchs spent extraordinary amounts of time and money as they sent their subjects in the quest of retrieving The Flame—all they earned was a mass funeral, with empty caskets buried into the ground.

After years, decades and centuries of trying, not a single person could ever come out of the ruins alive. Ultimately, the access to the gates was sealed, and the tale of The Undying Flame remained but a bedtime story.

Such a famed relic, such a mysterious treasure, The Flame that remained unclaimed as entire nations rose and fell—who else but them are worthy to take hold of it?

When the Kingdom celebrated its liberation from tyranny, and the people crowned the new king of the golden laurel, they realized in horror that it had been replaced with a paper crown.
When the Empire conquered the Alliance, aiming for the riches of that vast land, they saw that the capital was emptied of its diamonds and sapphires.

On the day of the summer solstice, three entire towns drunken in their festivities saw their safes emptied and houses turned upside down. Every first Wednesday of the month, between noon and dusk, a random order of knights or squadrons of soldiers will find their stashes of weapons missing. 

At the time of their peak, various nations were begging to employ the service of that association of scoundrels, while others offered their riches at the gates of their castles, as to surrender, and plead them to be satisfied with it.

For every outstanding feat of robbery, as if to mock the unfortunate victims, a single golden coin is left on the crime scene—a coin they’ll realize is but copper with yellow paint.

The legendary collective of thieves, those who slither in the shadows and strike when no one would even fathom their presence. Eventually, the people coined a name for them:

The Lustrous Blank—thieves who amassed mountains of wealth, whose incandescence cannot be seen by the world. As if the gold, money and weapons they stole never existed to begin with.

In that era when the tales of those thieves unparalleled in history echoed around the world, the sealed gates opened once more.
Pretenders of a new generation entered the ruins of voracity, where an artifact just as legendary awaits them.

“We’re here, brother.” A man not older than twenty-five spoke in excitation. A lantern on his left hand and a knife held of his right. “This will be our greatest robbery, the theft of the treasure never seen before.”

“Keep your guard up.” The older brother warned him, his eyes aimed straight at the road. “Don’t give in to arrogance, there is a reason why no one came out of here alive.”

“I know I know.” He told him off. “I’m more focused than you think Shamash.”

“I hope so, Rahu.”

Taking a deep breath in sync, and making up their mind, they took their first step forward.
The theft of The Undying Flame, began.

With slow steps, they illuminated the walls of the cave, going deeper inside, taking the stairs that bring them down into the depths. The more they walked, their eyes sharpened for traps on the ground or beasts to crawl out of the ceiling. But what they noticed instead was something, surprising to say the least.

Gradually, the rocky walls and damp uneven ground, started to turn flat. The blurry sculptures engraved into the walls, of armies of humans cornering monsters into a cave, became more defined and turned to white stone.

‘It’s the story of how the monsters of old have been cornered and sealed here along with The Flame.’ Shamash recalled. ‘Could the missing adventurers have graved those?’

“Hey look. Is that, light?”

Alerted by Rahu’s comment, the elder brother immediately took the lead, exploring further ahead with just as much caution as before.
The ceiling rose higher and higher, the pathway becoming a corridor.
And when they arrived, entering a room seemingly made by the hands of man, before their dumbfounded eyes were collapsed pillars and decayed stairs, singing of a time past when the majesty of those ruins shined proudly.

That place was not just any ruin, but the remains of a lost civilization.
The red banners hung up all around, woven with the image of a serpent eating its tail being the definitive proof of it—here, people lived and died.

“Do you see that Shamash? A whole nation buried underground! Just imagine, what kind of treasures waits for us?”

His eyes wide open in amazement, Rahu couldn’t help but tremor in excitation.
He already saw the rivers of gold, and that bright flame waiting for him.

“No, wait. This is all wrong.” Shamash woke him up from his delusions. “Ruins aren’t supposed to be like this.”

“What are you even saying? Sure this one is enormous, but they are like that usually.”

“No, not at all. We can’t take this lightly.” He repeated.

Shamash’s worries weren’t unfounded. Every ruins the brothers undertook were at most, collapsed shrines and decorated caves filled with the remains of corpses. But that place, the whole structure of the cave had been remade to look like a throne hall.
Too many inconsistencies and unknowns raised every danger flag in the older brother’s mind.

“The lack of traps on the way over, and how there is not a single trace of the monsters that were supposed to be sealed here. This is too strange, something is not right here.”

“Then this means that they are further in, where our treasure is waiting for us.”

Without wasting any time, Rahu went ahead, walking up the white stairs with red carpets.

“No don’t!”

Feeling something unusual, the brother chased after him without pause.
‘Strange, what is this?’ He then thought. ‘We are underground, it’s winter, and the light of the sun can’t reach us. So why, is it so hot?’
‘I have to stop him, or something is going to happen!’

“Rahu!”

Grabbing the younger brother by the shoulder, he forcibly stops him in his tracks.

“What the hell? Why are you stopping me?” He put down his bag, facing his elder. “Ah I see, so you want to be the first to get the treasure huh? It’s always like this with you, always ordering me, always telling me to rein it in. But you’re the one who’s the most greedy of us!”

“Why are you bringing that up now? This isn’t it, going any further will–”

“Shut up!” He pushed him aside. “I don’t care about what you have to say Shamash, you won’t stop me from getting this glory!”

“Stop!!”

And then, the moment Rahu reached the top of the stairs, the space suddenly distorted.
Violent tremors ruptured the walls, pieces of the tiled ceiling crumbling and falling down over their heads. An unbearable heat filled the place, making them sweat buckets in an instant.

When the younger brother, in greed and hubris, took his last step.
The two leaders of the Lustrous Blank found themselves in another dimension.
Somewhere they call, Hell.