Guests stood around the main showroom of the Minera Museum, mingling, they talked to one another as they drank from their champagne glasses and the soft classical music played from the band. Waiters came through crowds, holding up trays of food and drinks, guests picking them of one at a time before the waiters moved on.

The guests came to the museum for the reveal of a new exhibit. Selene's Opal, as the museum called it, found during a sweep of an abandoned ammunition factory from WW2 set for demolition. It was the only one found despite much searching and the museum acquired by paying handsomely to the men who found it.

It's sheer size and weight confounded experts who've seen it and the age of it confounded them even more when they found it was only a few months old. No doubt, what they saw was an opal and experts continued to research the opal that's worth millions of dollars.

The proud owner of the opal, Judas, mingled with the guests as he discussed his opal in fine detail.

The guests wanted to see the opal, but Judas wanted to wait until the clouds overhead moved on so the full moon would hit it, allowing the guests to see it in its glory. He put the opal in the centre of the showroom, above it the glass ceiling with a perfect view of the moon, and he made sure that when the moon shined down, it'll hit every part of the opal.

"No imperfections?" a woman with her husband looked at Judas as he nodded.

The opal, surprisingly, had no imperfections, it was smooth, milky white, and this oddity further confounds the experts. Judas didn't care what they found, because to him, he found a gift so great that Selene will approve of it.

"I say, what are you planning to do with it?" a man asked as he rubbed his glasses clean before putting them on again. Judas smiled as he replied, "Well, I want to make sure the insurance and care is set in stone, first, and then I plan to take this all around the country!"

They shared a laugh and the man moved on.

Running a hand through his thinning hair, Judas turned to look at his guests, numerous, excited about seeing Selene's Opal, and he smiled. There's too many people excited about it than his sole critic who begged Judas to return the opal where he found it.

Apparently, he believed that Judas had no right to the opal and by keeping it, he'll incur a fate worse than death. Judas didn't care to listen to his criticism and chose to push forward anyway. He had this opal for weeks now and nothing happened to him. If anything, only good things happened.

Thinking it was just superstitious babbling, Judas moved on to mingle with other guests, all excited to see his precious opal. Briefly he checked above the glass ceiling and saw the dark clouds slowly thinning out, the moon peeking out from behind.

In a few minutes, it'll be a proper full moon, and Judas began to prepare for the reveal, he accidentally bumped into a ditzy red haired woman and her male companion quickly pulled her back and apologized to him.

Judas walked passed a young man in a tweed jacket talking to a woman leaning on a cane and stood on the podium. Once the moon shined through the glass, he called for everyone's attention and everyone stood in front of the podium.

Judas smiled as he started with his speech, he worked on it so diligently he spent hours reciting it for days until tonight. So much of it was long, that for the sake of the writing, it's condensed to a sizable format.

"On this night, we've come to view the new addition to my museum," Judas told everyone. "It is called "Selene's Opal" and you shall see it and all its beauty!"

He signaled to the men behind him and they pulled down the coverings, revealing an oval shaped opal that glint in the moonlight. Everyone stood in awe of the size of the opal, it was smooth and looked like a teardrop.

Several guests started asking questions about it and Judas answered them all, he was out of breathe when he finished, and he took a sip of his drink.

The guests continued to marvel at the sight of the opal and Judas graciously answered questions, one woman wanted to know if there's others like the opal.

Judas tried to find others like it, but the men he hired to find more, haven't contacted him again about the search. Last he heard, they excavated the ammunition factory, but since, nothing.

A guest asked if there was any legal issues with the opal, since the factory was a Nazi-occupied factory and Judas claimed that he tried to return the opal, thinking that it belonged to a war victim, but it seemed that it had no owner, not one that he found. Germany wouldn't take it for their museum, instead they refused all inquires regarding the opal.

One of the officials Judas talked with hinted that the reason Germany didn't take it, something happened and now Germany wanted nothing to do with anything like the opal. It seemed like officials were scared of the opal and mere mentions sent them in a frenzy.

Judas didn't care to listen, they're just like his critic, superstitious. Nothing happened to him and as far as he knew, the unveiling party went off without a hitch.

If Germany moved past it, it would've had enough money to repay the debts thrice over, oh well, Judas tried to tell them they could've had it back.

He caught sight of the woman with the cane staring at the opal intently. She was younger than most of the women here and he didn't recall inviting someone her age to the unveiling.

Making his way to this woman, he struck up a conversation with her. "I don't recall inviting someone like you," he mentioned as she stared at the opal intently.

"Is there a problem?" she dryly asked him as she stared at the opal. Judas shook his head, but he pointed at her. "You sound like a Yorkshire pudding, touch of Scott, where're you from?" he asked her.

"Hereabouts," the woman replied. "Must've cost you an arm and a leg for this."

She turned towards the opal. Judas nodded. "Yes, but I am hopeful of making it back with tours. Nobody can resist coming here," he gleefully told her how he planned on having the exhibition. With people's curiosity, they'll gladly pay however much he asks, which in return goes to the betterment of his museum. He heard her reply, "Why have it at night?"

Judas explained that the opal looked best at night and the woman didn't agree, she asked him, "Aren't you concern about unsavory characters getting bolder?"

He assured her that nothing's going to happen to the opal, it's much too big for anyone to lift out of the museum and even then, he doubted they'll have a grasp on it considering how smooth it is.

"Oh, but miss, I couldn't help but wonder, will you be donating to our cause?" Judas looked at the woman. He asked this question to numerous guests as it is, a handsome donation to help jumpstart the tours and have funds to propel the opal into stardom.

"I suppose I can spare some donations, sir," the woman responded. She turned to him with a look on her face. "Here's some word of caution: I'd suggest you find a new career."

She said it so sternly, no comedy in her tone of voice. He pointed at her and asked her what she meant by that and she told him. "You welcomed death into your museum," she coldly told him.