Origins- Protectors

Chapter Eight: Daybreak

Kaedan Burns had been a world-class archaeologist and was the first to be called when an Egyptian artefact was found in the centre of Australia. Despite being young, only the age of nineteen, Kaedan had learned how to conduct a dig from a young age, gathering the respect of older archaeologists since the age of fifteen. It was the third day of studying the artefact. Kaedan and his code-team had managed to crack some of the writing that was on the scripture. It was thought to be a legend, a folk tale. The story began with how the Beings had descended from the sky, clad in balls of mysterious metal, they had helped choose wise leaders, give the people bountiful harvests and they had shown them how to work with the land, rather than enslave it. But one day, the Beings grew angry, they left in their spheres and dropped something. This word had no direct translation, but the closest thing was a Chrysalis, a cocoon of transformation.

Kaedan did not believe the tale until he saw the Chrysalis himself. It had been a very busy morning at the site, with a group of teens from a school in Rockingham coming in to visit the centre. Kaedan had just been strolling around, trying to make sense of why an artefact that belonged in Egypt had been found in Australia. An interesting man, whom Kaedan had never seen before, approached him across the red dust,

"Greetings," the figure spoke briskly,

"Kaedan Burns, pleased to meet you," Kaedan spoke, his voice deep and gruff,

"Pleasure," the man replied, not taking Kaedan's outstretched hand,

"How can I help you?"

"The tablet, that is to say, the Egyptian one," the man asked, "does it mention a 'Chrysalis'?"

"Yes, it does," Kaedan replied warily. The contents of the tablet had not become public knowledge yet,

"My name is Jones Blakk, Mr Burns," Jones said, "and I work for the Government,"

"What do you want with this site?"

"I have stakes in- lets just say people with very special skills," 

"Like my archaeology?"

"More special than that,"

"What do I have to do with anything?"

"My superior told me to keep an eye out, and if you could do the same, that would be good,"

"Alright,"

"Good, I'll be keeping in touch," Jones finished, turning to walk back towards the site,

Kaedan continued his stroll, not seeing much, until he came across something peculiar. In the ground, a few meters away, was a hole, a needle wound in the surface of the barren plain. Burns was very interested but hesitated, not knowing what could be down there. Then, throwing caution to the wind, Kaedan jumped through the gap, sliding into a giant cave. The cave was featureless, but for a giant stone tablet and a small red orb that seemed to pulse with an unknown energy, its surface rippling like an ocean,

"What on earth?" Kaedan asked aloud, but it was clear to him what he had found, the Chrysalis lay before him, a find that could propel him to the status of a legend in the Archaeology field

Kaedan turned his attention to the stone tablet. The massive stone surface had words carved into it. He fumbled around in his backpack before pulling out his phone. There was no signal in the cave, but he did have a photo of the code his team had used to crack the smaller tablet. Kaedan sat, legs crossed, working through the translation, until, around two hours later, Kaedan had translated the whole thing. The translation read: "The last writings of Pharaoh Tut, salvaged from the burning of the record of The Beings. They came from the sky, their gifts and abilities impressing all who saw them. We lived and worked in harmony, but they did not like the cold. They would only stay here and in a far-off place that lay far from us or Rome. They gave us the Pyramids, and we worshipped them as Gods, and despite them being treated as mere spirits in the other place, they remained to lead us. But, human nature is definite, and we drove them away with threats and weapons. They all left us be, as advanced as they were, but for one, one we had named Apis but preferred to be known as The Stranger. He was angry at the insolence of humanity and sent down a red sphere of his own energy before he left. This energy was driving us closer to war, but for the interference of people from the other place. They told us of their country, a place called many different names, by many different tribes of people. They took the energy from us and buried it, far beneath the soil, saving us from tensions that that much power would bring."