"Come on Louis!" his sister Elicia rushed him out the door in front of her followed by the hunting dogs. They were headed out to hunt for food that they were hoping would last them a few days at least. Ever since their father died, they couldn't afford to buy food on their mother's small income, which had to be used to pay bills. So they would go out to the woods behind their house and get as much food as they possibly could just to surmount hunger.

The hunting trips had to be abridged due to less daylight hours in the autumn and winter months. This made it harder to gather as much food, meaning that instead of going out once or twice a week, they would have to hunt anywhere from three to five times a week. This was hard to bear because of the icy breath of winter that slowly crept nearer and froze them each time they went out. But the little pauper children did whatever they could to survive. Whatever it took, just to get their next meal.

Elicia was the older of the two. She was 13 years old whereas her younger brother Louis was only 10. Elicia had been entrusted with the task of leading out the dogs and doing the majority of the work involved in hunting, but she brought Louis along with her for assistance. He would follow her everywhere and do his best to help her like a loyal adherent. They had both dropped out of school because their mother could no longer afford even the inexpensive school tuition anymore. So since they were both far too young to get jobs, they would hunt from dawn to dusk and do the household chores in the morning and in the evening while their mother rested from a long exhausting day of work.

As they walked through the woods, they were disappointed to see that there were no animals in sight. The closer it got to winter, the more and more trouble they had finding thing to hunt, which also did not help with their situation. Each day their mother tried her hardest to condone the lack of food, but her hunger made her irate. Despite her attempts to keep calm, she began snapping at her children over the slightest things. Just a few days earlier she had gotten into an altercation with Elicia about her not being competent enough to even get them a measly scrap of food for the day. She accused them both of gluttony because she believed that they had eaten it all before she got home. This argument had become so trite that Elicia was used to it by this point.

The children continued to walk through the woods that they knew like the back of their hand. Until something new appeared. As if it had been fabricated out of thin air.

"What's that?" Louis asked his sister in a whisper as they got farther into the trees. He was pointing to what appeared to be a trap door in the ground that looked as if it was made of solid gold.

"I have no idea," responded Elicia, "Let's go see." She rushed towards it and brushed the fallen leaves off of the top of it. There was some weird engraving on it that was in some language that she couldn't read. There was a large, round handle laying on top. The two lifted it up and opened it together. Underneath the door was a ladder that led down a hole that had to be at least 30 feet deep.

"What do you think is down there?" asked Elicia.

"I don't know," Louis answered, "but we're about to find out." He stepped onto the ladder and started heading down, waving for his sister to come in after him.

"Louis we don't have time for this!" she argued, "We won't catch anything if we mess around like this!" But Louis wouldn't listen. He just continued descending the ladder. Despite her dissent, she followed her brother down the ladder, unwilling to leave him behind.

As the two children reached the end of the ladder, they turned around to see a long dark path and one lit torch at the beginning of it. Elicia grabbed the torch and began to lead her brother down the path. They came across a bridge that led over what appeared to be a trench, but it was hard to make out in the dim torchlight. They slowly made their way across the rift and continued on. After walking for what seemed like forever, they came to what seemed to be a large room. They stepped inside and suddenly torches all around the room were lit as if by magic.

"Woah!" The two exclaimed in unison as they gazed upon a giant room filled with gold and jewels. On top of the mound of treasure lie a golden dragon, and in the center a large ruby that had a semblance to an egg placed on a pedestal.

The siblings rejoiced at their luck and newfound riches. Elicia dropped the torch and they celebrated. There was enough here to finally terminate their days of having to hunt just to get their next meal. They could finally go back to school like normal children. This could finally put their lives back on track.

Though they were both overjoyed with this discovery, they could not agree on what to do with it. Where Elicia wanted to pilfer the treasure and only take what they'd need at the time then come back for more, Louis swept in like a marauder, taking everything that his greedy eyes fell upon. He had been carrying all of the bags for their hunting supplies and for the meat they would bring home. He filled every last one of them to the brim with gold and jewels.

Louis ignored everything that his sister was telling him and continued to take as much as he possibly could. His mistake lied in his greed, because he decided to try to take the large ruby from the center of the room. This was the biggest mistake that he could possibly make. As he lifted the heavy jewel into a bag, Elicia noticed something strange happening with the golden dragon. The statue, which they had originally perceived to be decoration, began to melt. Or rather, the gold began to melt off of the surface, revealing red scales.

The gold was entirely melted away and the dragon lie still for a moment. Suddenly, the dragon's eye opened, revealing the bright green iris that lie underneath the eyelid. It blinked once, then again. Louis and Elicia froze in fear and Louis dropped the egg.

"Run!" Elicia screamed, trying to warn her brother to escape with her. She made it to the exit, only to turn around at the sound of her younger brother's scream. She looked just in time to see Louis fried to a crisp by the flames of the dragon's breath.

She was distraught at the sight, but had no time to mourn. Once the dragon had finished with her brother it turned its head and looked directly at her. She ran for her life, not looking back for a moment. She continued to run through the darkness for what seemed like hours to her until she reached the ladder. Ascending it quickly, she cried over the loss of her poor brother. When she reached the top, she gathered up the dogs and lead them back to the house. At the house,she dropped on the floor and cried for hours until her mother got home from work. Louis was gone, never to be seen again.

The End.