The Freelance Excavator

Andalusia had all the archaeologists they would ever need. Being influenced and ruled by different religious and governing bodies throughout history, there was much money to be made and too many people willing to do it. Alora was among the unlucky ones. "Nobody is in power to vouch for you, no proper work experience…why should we care?" they continuously said. Being obsessed with the origins of mankind, Alora was blessed with being born and raised in a land near the origin of humanity. History was all around her, yet had no access. The closest she could get was her father, Hugo. Hugo couldn't stop relaying information to a wide-eyed Alora growing up and bringing her along to scope historical sites. Constantly raving about how he would be a tourist in his own land.

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Alora hunted for jobs vigorously, not only for the adventure she so desperately craved, but for the money. She lived at home with her mother, Ana, doing what she could to take care of the aging woman. Her father was presumed dead a few winters ago, not once have they spoken of his death. Money was tight and Ana worked so Alora could hunt. "I take care of the house too, ma" Alora moaned. "Yeah right, and I relax," Ana rebutted sarcastically. Alora twisted and turned in her sleep multiple nights, it hurt that she couldn't provide more. Thankfully a lot of her dreams consisted of her father. The adventures they shared, the endless debates of human history, and the happiness that flowed through the family. Ana smiled every now and then at the odd joke but never to the extent she once did when the pursuit of knowledge and obsession with archeology was in the air. All she wants out of life now is to make her daughter happy.

Alora, dreaming of her fathers tales only excited her, she only wished she ventured the way he did. Hugo had one of the first compass watches ever made. He always rambled on about how it guided him, it stuck to him like glue. Unfortunately, Alora only had a pocket one that she never used but it only ignited her to pursue something, anything, to be better. She would wake up each day and visit museums on repeat, go to libraries, and read books often more than just a few times. To make sure she got everything. Meaning escaped her. She felt stagnant, no matter how many books she read, how many times, what she learned, there was no opportunity. Countries, companies, and excavation directors turned her down repeatedly with the reason never changing. She decided that this life was not worth living anymore. Alora started working as a janitor for the library. It wasn't what she wanted but it helped fulfill one of the holes in her life. At least now she brought home a paycheck, gave back to her mother and was well on her way to creating a life.

Was it a fulfilling one? Meaningless, her dream was too much to triumph and she had to concede. On the outskirts of this small Spanish village was an archeological dig site. Alora remembered trying to get in both as an employee and pundit which only drove her deeper into depression, so she chose to forget it at all costs. It was hard when the director and his compatriots came in every week to use the library for business meetings or as a hang out. Alora could never tell. All they would ever talk about was which sites would amass the most amount of profit. It pained her to be around a dream that could never come true. She tried her best to stay away. Cleaning after them grew harder and harder. Seeing remnants of the dirt that could have been a part of the civilization she yearned for. She put off cleaning their table a little more every week until she almost didn't do it at all, at the risk of losing her job. Luckily, she recognized one of the excavators coming through the door just after closing.

Alora never so much as glanced at their table so she never noticed a lone file staring at her. Alora could barely bring herself to allow the man in just knowing that this is the closest she would ever get to archaeology again. Stan introduced himself and informed her of a missing file and his need of collecting it. Alora handed it over but couldn't help enquiring, fully expecting to get turned down. "It's confidential". The words might as well be a door shutting in her face. A door she was all too familiar with, the door she was anticipating without a flinch. "…but". Unexpected. She had never heard such a beautiful sound.

"The directors only want what they want anyway. If they don't care about this, what's the harm? These files are the sites that aren't what the directors are looking for. Too much money, time, resources, Or they just think there is nothing to be found there…I don't know" he says as he shakes his head disgracefully. Too many dig sites have wasted their time apparently." he states, mocking the directors. How could these so-called archeologists think any site is a waste of time, Alora thought to herself. "Feel free to look through them if you're interested." This was a dream come true. Alora bathed in this dream of opening this file. The first site immediately fascinated her. "A site from an unknown civilization?". Alora had to read it out loud as it sounded too crazy to be true. "WE HAVE TO GO!" She moaned. Stan was hesitant but couldn't help itching to take this opportunity. "If they find out I'm out of the job." Alora could see he was another wanderer like herself as she rolled her eyes at him. "…Fine, but they can't find out. I'll pick you up tomorrow."

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No sleep, No rest. Only planning and excitement. For a while Alora gave every penny to her mother to make up for lost time. The time for a selfish endeavor in the name of knowledge reared its head once again. Once she arrived home, she went snooping through her mothers belongings hoping to find the money that was once hers. Alora knew her mother would gladly give the money for this chance but she couldn't bring herself to openly revert on her promise to give back and see the financial pain in her mothers eyes once more. Alora found some and put it all toward upgrading her minor, old digging tools. The last thing she wanted was for a shovel to snap when her dream was staring her in the face. Alora and Stan made their way to survey the dig site. Upon arriving, they immediately noticed the site had been tampered with already. Alora's face only lit up more as they didn't have to waste any time. They could pick up from exactly where the file left off. Stan's face glazed over as they walked deeper into the mined site. "There is no recording of it going this deep." The more they walked the more stonework Alora noticed. Driving lanes from the ice age layed out for her to study. She already knew about the hunting practices of the ice age but to see them in the flesh was like being on Mars and seeing the rover for herself. There was a sense of honor that she's walking the steps of her ancestors from millions of years ago.

As badly as she wanted to analyze the carvings and potentially find something that has not been recorded, she wanted to get to the end of the tunnel to see what made the archeologists stop even more. Was there truly nothing? Stan stopped Alora who was quickening her pace, skipping over all other findings. "According to this, they stopped a while ago. The findings apparently weren't what they wanted more of i guess." Stan said, trying to find a reason. "Maybe they just didn't record digging the rest of it out? They sound like they didn't care about this information, why record it?" She said hastily. "Either way, we're in the unknown, let's just take our time and pretend that everything we're seeing has never been seen by anyone." Stan said. Alora shrugged and continued through the tunnel even more enthralled with what awaited on the unrecorded end. Stan quickly looked through the carvings, unable to immediately decipher its origin. He didn't have long before Alora was out of sight and he was forced to catch up.

As she turned the corner, there it was, a large round room, deep within the trench that was pre-dug for them. At the center was a closed large stone tomb that was filled with cracks and markings beyond Alora's knowledge. Alora quickly turned her head, staring at Stan. The look of confusion on his face mimicked hers. "These markings have never been seen throughout history, they resemble nothing of any culture we've ever seen." Alora starts to walk around the coffin curious about what else can help them, maybe this really was outside both of their knowledge? "I've been on too many sites to not see anything like this." Stan confirmed.

As Alora walks around the dark room using her only source of light as a way of traversing the terrain she begins to think to herself that this discovery is not only outside of her amateur knowledge and Stan's experience but it's entirely possible that only one other set of people have seen or heard of this place. As she lights the room while circling the coffin she notices a silhouette at the base of it. For the first time her fear outweighed her intrigue. She glances back at Stan with terror in her eyes, as if she was waiting for the experienced Stan to give his blessing. Stan was too fascinated with being where no other known person has laid eyes on to notice Alora's fear. She always knew one day boundaries would need to be pushed, every story her father ever told was accompanied with his drive to uncover something that scared him. With this in mind, she lit one more sconce as the corpse revealed itself laying against the coffin. Shook at this sight she runs toward Stan who is still in amazement of this place. Stan shakes out of his delirium as Alora tells him everything.

Stan begins circling the coffin. He sees and examines the area of the corpse. As he does this he notices the coffin has been broken into by force. The hole beside the corpse that has been created was too small to see what was once inside. Stan slowly begins to take a closer look, anxiously anticipating the unknown, only to see the coffin is empty from this small opening. Alora shrieks in terror. Stan looks up to see an illuminating pink person with disfigured ligaments standing over Alora. Its tall, brooding presence was enough to freeze her. It had the resemblance of a decayed human with a slim build and no clothes, but the light emanating off of it was too strong to stare at for longer than a few moments. "Daughter of the intruder. Why here? Why impede on my afterlife again." It felt like those words came from a P.A system ringing through her ears. "Daughter?" Alora mumbled to herself. The figure looks toward the coffin as Alora makes her way around again to look at the corpse only to see her fathers compass watch weaving in and out of his decaying skin. Alora in shock starts to tear up. "Are you looking to impede on my afterlife or restore it?" Alora's sadness turns to visible anger as she begins to disregard her life. "I'm here to question it."

"What is there to question? We left markings so we could rest. We are the creators of homo-sapiens." 

"What, How?" Stan interjects.

"The end effect was to wipe, Seeds were planted."

"What about my father?" Alora growled.

"We are creators, We are still susceptible to anger of intrusion. We died so we may rest, not to be reanimated. Do me this favor and I will restore favor in return." Stan grabbed a nearby rock, patched the hole and moved the body away from the coffin. "A gesture of good faith" The pink being appeared behind Alora grabbing her head despite her restraint, as her head began to light up a fluorescent pink. Alora's mind began to warp causing immense pain. Streams of thought and pinched nerves caused Alora's eyes to roll back and her body to spasm. After the being loosened its grip, Alora heaved a long breath and closed her eyes in order to reset her angst. The pink being walked toward the coffin and opened it with ease and encased itself once more. "Speak the words." Alora begins to overcome her anger as she speaks an ancient ceremonial speech from memory with her new found knowledge. As she does this the coffin and body begin to morph back to their original form. The coffin is now one and so is her father who still layed there lifeless.

Stan, still in mild shock asks what it did to her. "I have it all, the knowledge, everything's wrong, everything we know." She says as her eyes dart from left to right. "The archeologists didn't want to dig more because everything they've worked for, for hundreds of years, is a lie, this questions everything they've told us. They were just too lazy to start over." "How? Don't we have proof?" he rebuttals. "We only had a piece of the puzzle, we only had the physical remnants, it's the culture they got wrong, humans must unlearn before they know the truth." Stan's visible confusion was paired with a heightened fascination to learn more. Alora sees this as falling on deaf ears as she starts to walk away back to the surface.

No! Wait! Teach me!". Alora looks back "I will, it's not as easy as telling you, I must show you as he showed me. In due time, you will learn,our leaders will learn even though it won't benefit them, and our way of life will change as history dictates life. It will happen, there is no choice in the matter." She turns back around and continues to walk away with the same brooding mannerisms as the pink being. Stan glares at Alora in awe, worried of the change that is to come.