Chapter Text
A cold, harsh snow fell on the small little town called keiss. the presence of harsh weather and thick snow covering all the streets was common in keiss and the surrounding areas. the town also was settled on the coast of the North Sea, and powerful snow squalls frequently blew in during the winter and autumn seasons. The storm that howled eerily overhead was evidence of such a claim.
A nandroid called Athena watched the snow fall from the stormy, gray evening sky, sheltered from the storm in the safety of her home. A bolt of lightning flashed in the heavens, only to fade away moments later as the thunder accompanying the bolt rumbled deeply through the air. Several seconds passed before Athena looked away from the window and shifted her gaze towards the center of the room she was in.
The room was fairly dim; only a few faint light sources helped to keep the darkness from completely engulfing the space in blackness. The powerful storm had knocked out power throughout most of town. As a result, many of residents had resorted to an age-old method of illumination: candles. As one could imagine, power outages and other similar situations were all too common in a town such as keiss, so nearly all of the residents had either candles or Gas light lamps on-hand for such occurrences.
In one corner of the room, a candle burned on what appeared to be a small, wooden nightstand. Barely visible in the warm yellow light of the dim dancing flame,As she continued to watch the snow falling over the hills, she heard the door get opened.
Which made her get up quickly to see the person she had not expected to come on this cold night.
It was Stephen, quickly entering, closing the door behind him, And wiping the snow off his coat.His face showed happiness, despite the bad weather that made the returning home mission difficult.
He was carrying a small brown bag in his hand, holding it very carefully so as not to damage what was inside.
Athena didn’t know that Stephen would arrive this night, as he told her that he would stay in a small hotel four miles away from home. She was wondering what changed his mind to make him wake this distance in this harsh weather.
"Welcome back, Stephen. get in quickly." She greeted him, quickly closing the door.
"Hello Athena, it's good to see you again"
Said Stephen with signs of happiness overwhelming his face.
"Well, would you like to-"
"Not now; follow me. I want to show you something very important."Said Stephen, interrupting Athena.
Stephen went quickly, followed by Athena. Stephen entered his office, which was full of ancient manuscripts dating back to BC, some of which had not yet been deciphered and some of which had been completely decoded and ready to be returned to museums in their original homeland with other various artefacts.
Stephen did not like to keep any manuscripts or artefacts in his house. He always said that it was not his property but rather the property of the original country in which it was discovered. This is what made him a famous archaeologist.He was different from any other archaeologist or explorer.He was famous for returning antiquities to their original homeland. He even returned more than 2,000 artefacts to museums in it's homeland, and Athena always helped him in this.
There were also some pictures hanging of him and Athena, some of them in different countries, and some of them receiving awards and honors. These pictures were indicative of the achievements that the two of them had made, and they were more valuable than anything to Stephen.
Stephen placed the bag on the desk and took out an old manuscript from it that had been carefully wrapped so that it would be damaged, and he was careful that nothing would happen to it during his journey.
During the ten days of his journey, he did not leave this bag or give it to anyone. It was very important because it was the key to the discovery of the century.
"Look"،said Stephen as he unfolded the manuscript.
"What's this?" Said Athena, approaching the manuscript, trying to set enough light with her luminous blue eyes through the inky darkness.
The manuscript was written in ancient Greek; the first side was funerary writings, and the other side was writings that were more like the coordinates of a place.
"Do you remember when we talked about Alexander's tomb?",said Stephen.
"Yes"
"You said that the tomb might have been completely destroyed or stolen."
"Yes, right"
"All this turned out to be untrue."
"How?... All I know is that in the beginning of A.D. 360, a series of events that included warfare, riots, an earthquake, and a tsunami threatened...or perhaps... destroyed the tomb by the time of Chrysostom’s visit. From that point on, Alexander’s tomb can be considered lost, and it remains so." Said Athena as she compared what she knew about the tomb and the evidence in front of her that indicated the existence of a second one.
"Well, you can say that on the first tomb, they made two because they knew that this would happen. If you look here, you will see that they described another place completely different from the first one."
Athena carefully examined the manuscript, reading every letter and every picture to see if Stephen was right.
"Yes....yes,you are right. You are totally right. If the second tomb really exists, then this will truly be the discovery of the century." Said Athena with a great joy after examining the manuscript.
"See told you, and more than that, you will come with me on this mission as well."said Stephen
"Really? Thank you, Stephan." said athena with bright eyes as she embraced him because it was her first time to go to an archaeological site, as she always spent most of her time in a hotel near the site and received news from Stephen either by the telephone or he would come and tell her himself.
She also found it an opportunity to prove herself, her ability to help, and how much easier she would make things.
"But when are we going?"asked Athena.
"Well, before that, I have to call my friend Arthur because he will support us financially, and we also have to organise a lot of procedures before going." Said Stephen.
"When will you start them?"
"We should start on them now; we don't want to waste any more time," said Stephen as he sneezed hard.
"Okay, but before that, you should rest; it looks like you have caught a cold."said Athena, placing her hand on Stephen's forehead to measure his high temperature.
"sit here I'll get you something hot to drink." said Athena as she got up to get a hot drink and some medicine.