Parallel Lives, Theo of Thebes

Part 2, A Parallel Past

Setting out to find the nearest road, Theo's step slowed and faltered, until it had come to a complete rest. This land was strange, alien. 

But that wasn't all that was wrong. He glanced at his hands. The fingers, his fingers he realised, were more weathered, and more olive in their complexion than they had been in his life. Small scars were visible on his skin here and there, including a particularly deep scar on his right thumb, but they were all unfamiliar to him.. 

He found himself wearing a simple tunic and sandals, and wondered at how this came to be. Hurriedly, he cast these thoughts out of his mind. Regardless of where he was, or why he was here, he had experienced something unique, alien, and longed to see more of it. This in mind, he hurried to the nearest road he could make out. 

He could make out an old man travelling along the road, a donkey by his side laden with goods. The sight excited Theo, such things he had never seen before, and he couldn't help but feel moved to witness them. "I can walk from one side of my home city to another, and my eyes are slitted, my shoulders hunched. Nothing there invokes anything within me, but here, I feel... agitated somehow. I'm spurred to motion by the very air. Why?"

Finding his curiosity suddenly insatiable, Theo quickened his pace and sprinted towards the elderly man. Who could he be? What might he know?

The old man, for his part, took notice of the disquiet behind him and turned to look at what was causing such a fuss. His jaw slackened and his eyes widened in horror as what was surely some local bandit careened at him with a seemingly unshakeable fervour, no doubt compelled to violence by his implacable greed. 

The old man cursed aloud at his lack of a weapon or the protection of any guard "Athena's arse, how could this happen!?"

It was then he noticed the would-be bandit slow to a halt, confused at his victim's impiety no doubt. "Now there's a rich one." the merchant muttered sardonically. "Perfectly content to rob an elderly man of his hard-earned goods, but quailing before a little cursing. The young really are fools."

It was then that the bandit closed the remaining distance, though now at a leisurely walk rather than his earlier maddened sprint. He waved to the old man, happily calling out to him. "Who's Athena? And how is her arse?"

Theo's smile was so wide his cheeks began to hurt, he was filled with such elation at the encounter. If he greeted someone in his city, well... he didn't, because it was not a place for socialisation. 

Those travelling travelled out of necessity, and every social pressure that had been drilled into him made the idea simply untenable, impossible. But here... out here, wherever this was, he could throw everything he had learned aside it seemed. 

The unspoken self within himself had burst forth at the opportunity to have an encounter such as this, which was so anathema to his own society, and he realised in this moment it had been something he had longed for. 

Not having known it existed, he did not feel its absence. But now, with this new knowledge, how would he react to tomorrow, and what it may bring? 

He snapped back to the conversation and the old man, and out of the world of his own thoughts, seeing now the fear that had been upon his face. Theo wondered at it, before realising he need not wonder at all, and decided to ask the old man. "Is everything ok, old man, you look as if you've seen a ghost."

The man, for his part, had his face contort seven different ways, as he churned through his emotions. Terror, confusion, anger, disgust, curiosity, amusement, and a flat look which said just by the way he wore it "Whatever joke or strangeness this is was certainly put here by the Gods, and I am not impressed."

Struggling to settle on one mood over the other, the old man decided simply to press for more information, and to try to keep the conversation moving. Therein may lie safety, he thought. "Are you telling me you don't know Athena? Everyone from Sicily to Persepolis knows her. Who are you, and where are you from?"

"You know Sicily?" Theo responded. "I'm not from there, but I do know that place. I'm Theo, it's a pleasure to meet you." the younger man extended his hand, and the elder clasped and shook it.

"Dexiosis, eh?" the old man spoke, gesturing to their shaking hands. "I see you know some of the culture at least, and you seem to speak well enough, not like a complete barbarian at any rate. I am Linus." 

Theo noticed the man give him another look over, before continuing. "You had me worried at any rate! I thought a shade of Pheidippides had escaped from Hades and sought to take my body for his own with the way you were acting."

Theo blinked a few times, trying to process whatever Linus had just said, before finally piecing together his meaning, and the confusion he had caused. "Oh, of course! I was running towards you in excitement, I didn't mean to scare you, I've just never seen anyone out like this before!

 Beneath the open skies without protection, it's unthinkable where I'm from, you know? Actually that may be confusing, I'm realising. Here, let me explain." After hearing Theo speak of his city and the caution the people therein would need to show around the sun, for a moment, Linus wondered at what Theo's people had done. 

To anger their Gods to such fury and rage that he had forced them to dwell forever in shelter and shadow, now wasn't that something... Linus cursed beneath his breath, before clapping his hands over his mouth to refrain himself, realising that Theo's earlier impiety regarding the Goddess may have been one aspect of what brought such ruin to his people.

Theo looked askance for a moment at Linus' sudden change in mannerism, noticing the elder man had begun to speak more politely, and kept his back straighter and his head higher than before, like a child might when he realises an adult was watching.

After exchanging stories in this manner, and then realising time was quickly passing, the two returned their eyes to the road, Theo offering his company to the old man, claiming he had little else to do, and moreover, no idea which way he was going. 

This, to be sure, confused the elder Linus, but with a revitalised sense of piousness in his heart, he resolved to allow this strange messenger to accompany him along the roads through Attica, and towards Athens proper, where he was headed to sell his wares.

"Any hope of reaching Athens tonight must be abandoned." Linus spoke. "The sun is soon to set and the city guard will not allow us in past dark. We will have to wait until morning."
"Is the guard truly so strict?" Theo inquired. "There is no real comparison I can make to my country. While travel is difficult to make, those that travel, travel freely. Coming and going as they please."

Linus, propping his fist beneath his chin, began lamenting about lost conveniences of the past. "Perhaps when the long wall still stood, we could have entered Athens without much hassle in all but the most suspicious of circumstances. But the way things are now, Athens is long since humbled, and hegemon no more. 

Being humiliated by Sparta has made them wary of losing the little they have left. Now come, help me set up camp, there is a good flat spot over there, near enough the road to deter any beasts, but far enough that any unscrupulous traveller will not likely see us."

Theo made his way to the donkey, and took down the equipment which Linus had directed him towards. "Now, you want to hammer that peg on this spot here and..."

Though Theo had stumbled about haphazardly at first, he soon got the jist of the idea and, with the help of Linus' instruction, they made a decent camp of the place.
That done, Linus, yawning loudly, entered his tent and bade Theo goodnight. After a few moments of quiet, he emerged again, staring at the young boy sitting on a rock.

"Theo?" Linus spoke softly. "Are you content to stay the night out here?"
Theo offered no response but a lightly audible slumber, and Linus noticed the boy's head was slumped to one side, fast asleep. An abashed smile came over Linus, and he headed back inside the tent to rest.