Eras Long Gone

Chapter 1:Fossilized

"Date, March 11th,2026. My name is Dr.Mariela Owens." said a woman with short ginger hair and mixed skin. She spoke with an excited nature directly to a camera as she walked down the beach.." over there is my partner Virgil Lindsey...."She pointed the camera towards a man with dirty blonde hair pulled into a man bun with a slightly muscular build. Noticing the camera he smiled and waved at it."We are in an exhibition in Greece because an online friend of mine said they knew the location of some really rare crystals but-" Marie started before Virgil cut her off saying, "We've been here for a week and haven't found a damn thing yet."Mariela laughed then turned off the camera." You do know it's hard to record our journey's professionally when you have a sarcastic response to everything".The women spoke with a British accent, a hard comparison to Virgil's cajun one." Well a professional would've noticed the cave she walked past while she was vlogging" Virgil retorted as he put arms around her waist." Ya know Greece would be a pretty good place for our engagement. Nice sights and ya know-"." Wait there's a cave !? "Marie cut him off as he started to talk about their wedding that was still unplanned. She went through the footage she had previously recorded seeing that there was an opening in the rockface. The woman retraced her steps according to the video to find an opening the size of a kitchen cabinet. Before Virgil could react Mariela was already attempting to squeeze into the hole. When she finally got her waist past the tight spot she immediately tumbled down an interior hill. Worried for her well-being Virgil made his way into the hole, taking the satchel of supplies and spelunking gear that Marie simply forgot apparently. After falling down the same slope he saw Marie looking awestruck at a river that was flowing from deeper within the cave." I wouldn't drink that, prolly has some ancient virus "Virgil quipped with absolutely no reaction from his fiance. Marie was infatuated with this untouched river, following it deeper into the cave. As she traveled deeper, things started to get weirder. Stalagtites forming as well as floating mid-air, small creatures that weren't like anything of this time period even. The thing that caught Marie's attention the most was a cavernous pit. "Babe, you gotta stop running off like that." Virgil finally caught up to Marie who again didn't react to his worry instead she reached for the bag, taking out a grappling rope. She wrapped the rope around her waist while handing the other end to Virgil." You're not thinking of going down there love. Right?" His worry was through the roof but Marie was unphased. Her need to know more suppressed any fear that tried to come out." I am a researcher with a doctorate in archeology and a major in art but the latter half of that sentence is useless. I'm going down this hole then I'm gonna be the first person to step foot in it." She was already starting to descend down the hole, her voice getting lower in volume to Virgil. When she hit the bottom she saw the source of the river. It came from a glowing tree that was on a small island. Atop this small island were also two bodies laying under the tree. Before doing anything else she lifted her camera to record. "My name is Dr.Mariela Owens and I've just made a discovery that might just change the way we view our history" she seemed flabbergasted. A boat was pushed to the shore by the current of the river that filtered into holes. She boarded the boat and pushed it towards the island. The boat reached the island, finally, Marie could make out the two figures. Both of them were boys, if she had to make an educated guess they were around fifteen but they looked.....strange. One of the two boys wore clothing akin to a Roman gladiator, the other one was especially odd. It looked like a mix between a human child, an oriental shorthair, and an ocelot. Its legs were digitigrade. As if under a spell her attention was drawn to the glowing tree and the crystals that were in the stalactites surrounding it. Voices whispered to her the things she wanted to hear. Marie's vision started to blur as she slowly lost feeling to everything. Before she lost consciousness, a voice whispered to her "Be at peace." Then she was out.