PROLOGUE

A young man sitting at his carved oak desk shifted uncomfortably as he scribbled notes into his small black notebook. The more he researched, the worse his fears became. The men he had recently become employed by were dangerous, that much was now apparent. And now they were planning something big. Something catastrophic.

A knock was heard on the door and he spun around quickly, a look of surprise on his face. A tall figure stood in the doorway, a dark silhouette framed by the light outside. The young man's room was entirely dark except for the lamp that illuminated the pile of books on his desk.

"Gather your things. The plane taking you to Austria will be leaving within the hour".

The researcher recognized the voice of one of his employers, but for some reason that was not comforting. He didn't trust the man one bit. Still, he had to at least pretend until he could meet the other members of the team.

"That's kinda short notice. Why so soon?" He asked, closing his laptop after saving some files and pushing all the books into his backpack.

"We were waiting until the last member of the team had responded to our request. Now that he has, we must hurry."

"So he has agreed to help us?"

"Not yet, but I guarantee he will."

The young man nodded and turned to his still open journal. He very deeply hoped that the new member of the team would live up to their reputation. Everything depended on that.

"I'll be out in a minute. I have a few more things I need to write down."

"Take your time. After all, we wouldn't want you to make any errors."

Despite the general nature of the comment, the young man couldn't help but feel as though it were a threat. He closed his eyes and swallowed his fear trying as hard as he could to convince himself that his employers were not aware that he was on to their plan. The door closed behind him and he stared at the journal. All of his research was recorded there. If they found it, if they knew he had realized the truth… Well he preferred not to think about what would happen then. He pulled his laptop back out and scrolled through the page he had been looking at most recently. A file on the man who could save his life, or condemn him to death. Nathan Drake. Treasure hunter for hire. Well known for his effectiveness, but also for his non-materialistic views. He was infamously known for loving money, but unlike most people in the business, he had morals.

The young man ran his hand through his black hair, a habit which resulted in it being perpetually messy. His dark brown eyes were bloodshot from all the work he had been doing, but he knew it was far from over. Most of his things were already packed for the trip, so he knew that he had time for more research before needing to leave. He turned up his music and sang softly to himself as he went about his work. He tried to remain positive, but everything he read merely confirmed his fears.

The researcher suddenly snapped to attention as he noticed something written in the book he had been taking notes from. One passage, just a few short sentences, had given light to the countless hours of research the young man had been conducting. He leaned back and stared at the book in awe. Suddenly everything made sense. Well, most of it. Enough that he knew the stakes were even higher. He flipped to the cover of his journal and felt inspired to write a quote by Julius Caesar that seemed to outline everything the young man had learned.

"Fortune, which has a great deal of power in other matters but especially in war, can bring about great changes in a situation through very slight forces."

Suddenly the door flung open and the lights were flicked on. The young man cried out and covered his eyes, turning to see one of his employer's many soldiers standing in the doorway.

"American! We leave in 15 minutes. Move, now!"

"Alright, alright, hold on. I remember when archaeology used to be easy." He said dryly as he closed his journal and slipped it into his pocket, pausing briefly as his mind wandered back to what he had just read. This was way bigger than he had thought. More than catastrophic. Apocalyptic.

"I hope you really can help." He muttered as he glanced at the picture of Nathan Drake that was still up on his laptop. He shut it down and slid it in his bag, glancing around the very plain room that has no windows, only a small bed in the corner and his desk in the middle. There was also a small bookcase to the side which was stuffed with books. Many of these books had overflown and lay on the floor. The archaeologist sighed to himself as he turned to follow the soldier, duffel bag in hand and backpack slung over his shoulder, on his way to Austria to do a dangerous job for his dangerous employers, all the while relying on a man he had never met to join him in stopping the potential end of the world. He shook his head as he trudged out of the large estate and towards the private jet that awaited him. A sad smile played on his lips as yet another quotation by Julius Caesar came to mind.

"The die is cast".

Hope you all enjoy this little preview. I will post Chapter 1 on Wednesday, and a new chapter every Wednesday from then on. Please give me lots of reviews and criticisms, it will help me with the chapters that follow. Because I wrote the chapters with the intention of being a novel, they are a bit long. Each is about 3,000-5,000 words, although I've only finished half the novel (10 chapters) so far. Thank you very much and happy reading!