Chapter 1

Olympia

February 13, 23:48 EET

A cool burst of wind swept along the ancient ruins of the Temple of Gaia, covering the stations and dig areas that fell several feet underground to numerous levels of the temple that had previously been lost to time in a new sheets of dirt. The industrial work lights that circled the site flickered from the particles collecting in their systems. The near complete silence came from the fact that everyone who worked on excavating and restoring the site had already left for a good night's sleep.

Still, the site was not totally deserted.

"Dr. Sandsmark please, it's almost midnight. You need some rest."

"In the courtyard yesterday,I found a statue of what looks like Uranus lined up near the entrance to the temple, earlier today one of the interns discovered the remains of not only Aether, but Chaos, Erebus, and Eros also aligned. Now I'd like to think that there's a Nyx statue hidden here somewhere." With that statement, Helena Sandsmark emerged from one of the small alcoves inside the dig. The rather short woman stood with a strong sense of dignity, with her white blouse and khaki pants layered with dirt and mud. Her medium length brown hair pulled back into a small ponytail to hide the clear fact that she had skipped several washes. Using one of the ladders close by, Helena climbed up to be level with her colleague Auguste.

"But please Helena, you need sleep. The temple was built in the 7th century, it can wait a few more hours."

"It was built in the 6th century meaning it's older, which is why it deserves to have all of it's treasures out of the ground now. I need to stay a little while longer and document some of these pieces."

The stout middle-aged man looked disappointingly at Helena only for her to raise her hand to his shoulder, "Alright, I'll go home if it'll put your mind at ease. But I can't promise you a full 7 hours will happen."

Auguste's look of dismay slowly changed to a look of acceptance, "If it means that you don't pass out from exhaustion at the exhibit opening tomorrow, then it's fine with me." The hand that rested on Auguste's should gave a short squeeze of comfort, then returned to Helena's side as she prepared to leave.

As she gathered her tool kit and papers, small waves of vibration hit the side of Helena's waist. She reached down and lifted her phone to see the screen had a picture of her daughter Cassie, looking as though the photo was taken of her mid-laughing. Her eyes scrunched closed and bright blonde hair whirling around her. Helena slid the phone image and raised the phone to her ear, "Hello Cassie."

"Hey mom, just wanted to call and see if you were alright."

"Shouldn't I be the one calling and making sure you haven't burned down the apartment yet?"

"Yeah, but I figured you'd be too busy worrying about your antiquities more than me.I'm kinda surprised that you even answered."

Helena rolled her eyes to her daughter's statement. Placing her phone in between her shoulder and neck, she rummaged through her work space looking for her keys and tablet thinking of what to say next, "Cassie we just talked on Friday."

"Today's Friday mom."

Helena stopped for a minute to process what had just been said, "What?"

"Today's Friday. The last time we talked was last week."

Memories of their last discussion ran through Helena's head as she realized that it had been a week since they talked. Helena ran her free hand through her hair and pull out the hair tie holding up her hair as Cassie remained silent on the other end of the line.

"Alright you got me. Cassie I'm sorry. It's just the dig has gotten so big, the exhibits about to open, it's just-there's so much going on Cass."

On the other end Helena heard Cassie draw out a long breath, "It's okay mom. I know how important the dig is to you."

She closed her eyes and smiled, "Thank you Cass. Don't worry I'll be home before you know it."

"No, no take your time. I mean you chose to leave your irresponsible child alone in a big empty apartment. I haven't even thrown a party yet or gone out all night drinking."

The remark made Helena chuckle a little as she finally found the keys and tablet.

"So what are you really up to tonight?" Helena asked.

"Me and Liz were going to go catch a movie later."

"After you finish your homework."

Cassie quietly laughed and answered, "Yes ma'am."

Helena's gaze fell over to the crates full of broken or misplaced stones that were too small to show off to the public at the exhibit in Athens. Suddenly a moment of clarity came to Helena, "Cassie, I'll call you back in a little while. Okay?"

"Alright. Love you."

"Love you too. Bye."

Helena grabbed her dark leather jacket that was laying on the table and jogged back out to where Auguste was turning off the work lights. Most of the work site had already been engulfed with darkness, letting the bright moon cast some light on many of the columns and walls for Helena to be somewhat able to see where she was going.

She stopped a few feet away from Auguste, pulling her jacket on as another crisp breeze blew along the camp.

"Auguste, I was thinking, a few days ago we found a stone that didn't quite look right. Dr. Zabat said that the markings on the piece were most likely ancient Babylonian. I remember he wanted to examine it, but I can't recall where it went. Do you know what happened to it?"

Auguste's back was turned away from Helena, but after dimming the lights to where they weren't blinding, he said, "You should be more careful doctor. You never know when you might lose something that's worth more than your life."

Helena stepped back as she saw who she had presumed was Auguste turn towards her, "You're not-Where's Auguste?"

The man standing before her had a black and dark grey bodysuit completely covering him, except for two eye-holes that were a bright red. As he moved closer to her, Helena took several small steps back out of shock. As she moved further and further back, more similarly dressed men appeared from the shadows of the ruins, some jumping down from high scaffolds, others hiding behind columns and trees. Helena found herself surrounded on all sides.

"You're not going to give us any problems now are you Doc?" Helena whipped her head behind her to find a young woman in a ripped up kimono, her face covered in a white smiling cat mask with red accents.