Abaddon (BoyxBoy)

δυο: Day by Day, Watch by Watch

Present Day: Crete, July 2008

The humid Greek sun bore down on Theodore's back and he took a swig of his water to cure his thirst. His fellow archeologists around him had the looks of those proud of their accomplishment, and they should have. To discover an ancient town on the northern coast of Crete was going to shake the world of archeology as they knew it. A few ancient homes stood products of three years of excavation.

An excavation that Theodore Lowsely himself had funded. Theodore was a man born and raised in the city of Birmingham, England. His father had been a professor at the university for Classics and Ancient History. When he was young, his father had brought home many a Roman, Egyptian, and Greek artifact. The ancient civilizations all fascinated him, but one had stood beyond the others and sparked his imagination: Ancient Greece.

His father fueled his obsession by buying him The Iliad and The Odyssey. He spent hours reading an rereading the poems to the point their covers were hanging limp. His passion only grew after that. While other young boys his age were outside playing ball, he was inside with his father, studying the rich Greek mythology. He grinned, nostalgic.

His father had long since passed on, but his love of Greece lived on in his son. Theodore capped his water and turned to his companions.

"Alright guys, you can take a break."

He watched, amused, as they all headed for their water bottles. It was an abnormally hot day. The only relief that came their way was an occasional whisper of wind that lessened their suffering, but not by much. Something was going to happen, he could just feel it. I have to look around some more. Rest be damned, he thought nodding grimly.

There was one house left that they had not yet explored. A once white structure that was now gray and flecked with spots of ecru clay. It was smaller than the other homes and was more near the outskirts of town.

Theodore had concluded at once that whoever had lived there was a lone soul who preferred seclusion than the interaction of people around them, Theodore could sympathize with that. His heart beat rapidly against his ribs as he stepped inside the house, with a pick ax in his back pocket. While excavating, they found several items that led to more knowledge about the resident. However, they had not searched it fully. He took his pick ax out of his pocket and eased down to the floor, scanning the rocky dirt below him. Spotting a peculiar spot, he began to carefully dig at it. Minutes later, he heard a sharp sound and knew he had struck gold.

He brushed away the dirt to find a sandpaper colored top. He hammered around until the ground around it caved in revealing an amphora, a storage jug. His eyes were bright with excitement and he gripped at the handles and pulled with all his strength, using a rock beside his foot for leverage. He pulled out the jug with a grunt, and a shower of loose dirt rained down on him. The cover flew off and landed somewhere over his shoulder.

Theodore cringed considerably and walked over to the now cracked top, cursing his enthusiasm. It was salvagable, but just barley. He settled down upon the dirt floor and inspected the container itself for any kinds of damage. Luckily, there was none.

As he wiped the sweat off his brow, he peered inside and saw several pieces of papyrus. Each page had faded black writing and several unraveled threads. Despite this they were in better condition than most writings from the age he had seen due to their underground preservation. They only needed restoration and to be finally translated and Theodore volunteered himself for the job.