The heist of the century

During the conflicts between Beszu and Almoho about the Tower of Antharax, when Beszu had just gained control over the tower, a small troupe was send out to transport items and artifacts from the tower back to the city. They had to make a small detour, since there was heavy rain and the roads were nearly flooded. When they reached the foothills of the Noppa Hills, they where ambushed by a regiment of the Almoho's army and all the treasures got stolen.

It is said and believed to be a rogue regiment, since Almoho's officials always denied, that the regiment had any orders of this sort and also the regiment, never came back. Normally, one would be a bit suspicious of it's enemy, but in all other cases Almoho took public pride in their actions against Beszu.

Since it is believed, that these artifacts were some of the more powerful ones and the only ones that got extracted from the tower during the whole conflict, this incident is also known as the heist of the century. Shortly after, they lost control over the Tower again and never got it back during the time of the conflicts. Only afterwards, when the next generation agreed to end the fighting and started collaborating on the discovery of the tower, they entered the tower again and all treasures were shared between both cities.

Fighting wise it was not the best nor the worst of the military regiments of Almoho, but this century made itself famous by disappearing on a otherwise harmless mission. Some even argue, that they not only disappeared, but defected! This is a bold statement, since Almoho is famous for it's public pride and loyalty. So far, never in its known history were there any cases of defecting units!

After gathering informations about this indecent and finding none of the missing members, the officials came to the conclusion, that the century must have been wiped out completely by either monsters or – if Beszu's statements are true – by a misusage of the unknown artifacts.

But since gossip and rumors are hard to stop when they are out, the defecting voices became louder and more popular. Since then this incedent is known as the heist of the century.

Most fights concerning the conflict between Beszu and Almoho were located near the Tower of Antharax. Therefore the small villages in the Noppa Hills rarely were involved. So when Fyn – one of the shepherds in the Noppa Hills – was looking for a lost sheep, he did not expect what he would see.

A few weeks before, he had purchased a small telescope from a traveling merchant. He was searching the fields with it from a high point to find the lost sheep. After a few hours of unsuccessful searching he was ready to give up, but then he noticed a small group of people carrying a kind of chest with two long poles. They were wearing robes and he thought to recognize the Beszu's city emblem. He followed them through the telescope for a bit and saw how they stumbled upon a small grove where a regiment of Almoho had settled down for a nights camp. As soon as they were in reach, the scouts noticed them and the century quickly surrounded the group. They set down the chest and were forced to open it. One of them stepped closer to the chest to open it. But to everyone surprise he quickly turned around held an item up to the sky and a blinding sphere of light erupted from him. Even though Fyn was quite a distance away, he had to turn his sight too.

When he turned back, there was no one there anymore. Very carefully but pulled in by his curiosity, he looked closer. At the glove there where no signs of anyone, he only saw the sphere shrinking back. Just before is seemed to collapse in on it self, there appeared a figure out of it and started walking slowly into the glove and out of sight.

Realizing this was far beyond anything he understood, he did the only right thing that come to his mind: forget the sheep, run, never turn back and don't tell anyone!

They where called in, as soon as Beszu had gained control over the tower. Their task was simple: look for anything valuable or magical.
One of them, called Brother Jon, who was on older scribe and quite literate from all the books he studied in the last decades noticed a small box with an empty hour glass engraved into it. He collected it with a shimmer in his eyes as he had found the last piece of a puzzle. His short change in expression wasn't noticed by anyone and he continued like the rest of them. But his mind was racing and he thought: "Finally I have time!"

When they were send home, he eagerly longed for the first rest, where he could have some private time to have look at his findings. But this break would not come as the troupe was suddenly surrounded by the enemies century. When they demanded the treasures, his only chance was to use the artifact inside that box. When he opened it, they were all encircled in a bright light and shortly after he found himself in a sphere where only he seemed to be able to move and everyone else looked like they were frozen in time.

He looked at the engraved hourglass, it was nearly full now. How long would it last? How many years did it gather? Since it is nearly full, could he have taken nearly a hundred years worth of time? With a grin on his face, he grabbed the box, closed it again and walked out of the sphere.