Coretta
C. Martinez 04 arrived successfully in the 21st century.
According to current assumptions, her body is still in the 4th century BCE. We advise the leftover members to check the issue and take suitable measures to evict the possibility of the same.
I, Dunkin, Aarmen and Lorenzo read the message in the AI book in shocked silence.
"What type of cursed phenomena is it, huh?" Lorenzo was holding Cheryl's lifeless hands, which he let go. "Our body is making copies of itself?"
Aarmen closed the book and looked at nowhere in particular, pondering over the bizarre information. While I and Dunkin looked at each other, then at the dead body of Cheryl laying on the floor of Aarmen's hut.
I could not sleep last night when they told me about this message that had arrived in their AI book. Though we could discuss the issue in our heads with the AI chip, we decided to meet at Aarmen's hut.
Some priests had to go fetch fruits and vegetables from the forest in the early morning, and Dunkin was one of them. While the to-be-priestesses could go out only with them so it was easy for me to join him.
I dabbed a hand over my eyes, not getting used to the hard contact lens that hid the sky blue colour. Carefully adjusting my fingers, I pulled the lens out, my eyes finally able to breathe.
"This was a bad idea, Dunkin," I grumbled, reclining against the hut's mud wall to close my eyes. Waking before dawn was such a tiring task.
"Palace-living-nymph, you have no idea how psychotic people can be here outside," he shook his head, typing a code into his AI book to retrieve another pair of lenses I'd just discarded. "They can sacrifice you to some God, solely based on your eye colour."
"That'll just cause me to reach home!" I threw up my hands, sulking.
"Sacrifice you, in the most cruel way, might I add?" He glanced back at me with a no-bullshit face. "They won't just push you in a pit of fire, Cors. Not before carving weird inscriptions all over your body and taking some organs out. While you're still alive." He exhaled. "It's scary and disgusting, so I hope you get that idea out of your head as a means to reach home."
That quietened me instantly, as Lorenzo sat with a spooked expression, shooting terrible pity towards me. Dunkin looked at Cheryl's dead body, then at him, which caused him to divert his gaze from us.
He felt too guilty to ask for our forgiveness. And Dunkin was still too mad to even say hello.
"Damned time integrity!" Aarmen banged his hand on the hut's muddy floor. Too angry to notice that we'd jumped back at his sudden outrage. It was so unlike him.
"During the derivation of time integrity's post transportation approach, I did tell them to take the integration factor in mind, but no! They bragged that their electric compulsion was stronger and would defy it!" He almost snarled, his knuckles clenching, unclenching. "Just a percentage of change in the electric frequency according to my formulation and we wouldn't have to die to return!"
"Uh, that explanation just went over my head," Dunkin leant in to whisper, and I couldn't help the sudden giggle at his mock undertone.
"Dunkin, Coretta!" My heart leapt up when Aarmen shouted. "Can you two be serious for once?!" I hadn't noticed how scary his face had started to look.
The way his eyes blazed even scared Dunkin as he inched away from me. "There's a dead body over here, and four more would join it. We can't simply burn them, ignoring that we live between highly superstitious people! Do you have any idea how to destroy it all without getting charged for murder?"
Our heads hung low, feeling like two kids being scolded by the principal. He was the leader, and this horrid responsibility fell on him. He was obviously worried.
"What if her body is still connected to her former one?" Lorenzo voiced out in the awkward silence.
"Elaborate," Aarmen uttered a single word, having slipped into his alpha-leader mode I never knew existed.
"Jeez, don't look at me like that," He snorted. "Anyway, I'm saying if we… uh, for example, cut a bit of her skin," he pointed at her dead body, "Would she feel the pain at the same spot, back in the 21st century?"
We all looked at him incredulously, and a nerve in Aarmen's temple throbbed wildly. His prodigy self wasn't able to put up with us dumb folks.
"Which storybook did you read that in?" He asked, massaging his forehead.
"Aarmen!" Lorenzo retorted. "She is my girlfriend and I want every proof she's safe, however stupid my concern sounds!"
I closed my eyes, burying my face in my hands. Things were still turbulent between us and I wondered how long it would take everything to be normal. I missed our playful banter.
"Use a fraction of your mind, Lorenzo," Aarmen drawled, tired. "Her body has already started to rot. Neighbours haven't discovered yet that I'm harbouring a dead body for the last few days, thanks to that." He pointed to a long wooden box, like a coffin, filled with sand, which was prolonging the body from decomposing.
"If her body is decomposing right now, do you think it's rotting away in the 21st century as well?" He reasoned out. Hearing that, Lorenzo jerked his head aside, quietly seething.
"Leader, why don't we just do what he's asking and get over the doubt?" It was Dunkin who spoke, without looking back at his temporary nemesis. That made me smile a bit.
Aarmen looked in no mood to argue as he got up and walked over to a little wooden cabinet in one corner and took out a knife.
"Go on." he tossed it over to Lorenzo.
Pain crisscrossed his fallen face. "I… can't," he confided. "Coretta, you do it." he pushed the knife near my feet without making eye contact. Even though he very much looked like a heartless killer in his warrior attire, he couldn't cut a small inch of Cheryl's skin.
"I didn't take biology for this sole reason," I mumbled, shoving the knife to Dunkin. "I can't cut into anything, alive or dead." Biology was my second favourite, after history. But I had to say it goodbye.
"Dunkin, weren't you in the mummification department?" Aarmen's eyes narrowed when he just stared at the knife.
"Was," Dunkin clarified, "I'm Aphrodite's priest now." So he left his part-time job. But Aarmen just continued to stare at him with suspicion.
"Stop with those looks. You look rabid," he grunted. "Egyptian mummification priest converting into a Greek priest is no big deal when we are at the height of Greco-Egyptian culture amalgamation."
Aarmen facepalmed himself. "Dude, just do it," he waved at the knife. "No one knows better than a mummification priest."
Dunkin picked the knife, staring emotionlessly at Lorenzo. His face clearly asking, you've got any problem with that?
"Do it," the fake warrior replied tersely.
Taking her pale, lifeless hand, he had just placed the sharpened tip on the inside of her elbow when Lorenzo sprang up.
"Make sure you don't cut a vein." He said, his voice wavering.
Dunkin checked the area and relocated the position of his knife as the three of us surrounded him with curiosity. Dawn was slowly giving way to the morning as faint blue light filled the darkened hut.
"Not too deep… please," Lorenzo was almost begging as his face winced painfully, watching the knife's tip buried inside her soft flesh. "Just a… tiny scratch would do…"
I covered my nose, not able to take the sight when dark blood started gushing out the cut. Dark, rotten blood and Aarmen scrunched his face.
"I swear to God, Swarwoski, if this stupidity of yours gets us in trouble…" He scooted away from the dead body, glaring daggers at him. "Be ready to rot in the cellar of Romanos because even Coretta can't save us now if they find we're having the body of Alexander's concubine with us!"
"Uh, even if Cheryl feels the pain and the cut," I started, hoping to ease the tension, "They'll heal her. Shouldn't we leave a message if what Lorenzo says is true?"
"Alright." Dunkin scratched his head, not at all affected by the stench that had started to arise as Aarmen hastily began burning herbs around the hut.
"I should carve out a name in her hand then, just in case these wounds are visible in the 21st century Cheryl," Dunkin spoke.
"My first four letters," Lorenzo uttered before any of us could suggest.
* * *
The Sun was subtly rising, an orange giant in the clear sky as I crossed the forest, with Dunkin in front, removing fallen branches and large leaves out of our way.
"Cheryl used to call him baby Lore, right?" He asked as we continued to move deeper into the forest, searching for edible fruits, veggies, and leaves.
"Yes," I hummed, remembering how the word LORE was carved on her arm. I wasn't able to witness the carving process though, having moved out of the hut to assist Aarmen with the herbs burning.
"I believe she's… alright in the 21st century," he wondered aloud, "Just wait until we receive a crazy message from her."
I laughed softly, carrying a bamboo basket with me, in which we would store the fruits. Right now, just some berries rolled inside.
"Time integrity is way more powerful than we thought…" I started, stepping carefully over the forest floor, dodging the little puddles of water that may ruin my wooden sandals. "The fact that a person who stayed for a significant part in the past cannot just vanish into thin air-"
"And to make up for it, the copies of our body started to emerge." Dunkin completed. "That's some out-of-the-world phenomenon. I don't think anyone could've even hypothesized about it."
It meant that my dead body would stay here when I'll be transported back in my time. I gazed up at the sky, which was obscured by the dense vegetation of the forest.
I still had no clue how I would die, and that brought a shudder down my spine.
"Dunkin," I called him, "You used to be in the funeral department. Don't you have some priest friends who can assist with Cheryl's funeral?"
"I was a mummification priest," he laughed. "Do you want to make a mummy out of Cheryl? Damn, that'll be twisted as heck."
"Oh, no," That was a horrific idea. "The scientists said we need to evict the possibility of her dead body. So… I think burning her body is the only option."
We stood under a dense tree as I pondered over the possibility. Dunkin started climbing it upon noticing a fruit I'd never seen before.
"Dunkin! We can arrange her funeral the ancient Greek way!" I exclaimed as the idea suddenly struck me. "They used to burn their dead, right? That way, there'll be no evidence of her body in this century!" I announced, hopeful.
"I… only… know," he walked over a fairly sturdy branch, high on the tree, plucking the fruit, "Egyptian priests. Plus ancient Greeks used the burial technique." He glanced down at me and I held the basket where he dropped the fruit.
He was clearly evading my reasoning. "I know, but the Athenian Greeks cremated their dead. We can tell that Cheryl was Athenian so she would have her funeral their way!"
"This is Egypt, not Athens."
"Ugh, Dunkin!" I stomped my feet. "Where is your Greco - Egyptian culture amalgamation dialogue now?" I scoffed, as he didn't pay heed to my excellent idea of burning bodies. "I bet you have both Egyptian and Greek priests for friends who can cremate a body!" But he had already shifted to the next branch.
He plucked another bunch of those strange-looking fruits. "Cors, you do know I want to return home as soon as possible, right?" He dropped it in my basket. "And according to your idea, I'll have to be the one to go in the end." He appeared horrified by the very suggestion as I stared up at him.
"It's difficult already, kissing Aphrodite's feet and eating the blandest of foods every day. And to do this for the coming years Aarmen stays to research this century, I'll deffo go mad."
He already regretted his decision to be a priest and now I was making him regret it ten times harder.
"Oh, okay then, we'll leave it to Aarmen to decide." I nodded as he climbed down. He scratched his head, waving me to follow as he began plucking some leaves.
"It's not only that I miss my fam, but my age too," he mumbled. "Do you have any idea how old we have become during our stay here?"
"Probably… late twenties?" I guessed, throwing the selected leaves in the basket. "According to that time dilation concept, a person time travelling ages slower compared to the person on Earth."
"Five years have crossed here." He halted suddenly, gulping, "means double the time crossed on Earth already. Means my parents are gonna be old soon and my little brother's gonna get married before I even reach home?!" He questioned, baffled.
"If time dilation calculations are true, people our age would really grow old in our century," I said in horror. "I won't be able to marry anyone…" I mumbled stupidly.
"Oh, Cors, there are so many older women these days marrying younger men." He shrugged, "And who wouldn't wanna date a time traveller?"
"I don't know why, but… younger guys are a turnoff for me," I muttered. "A few of them tried to flirt with me and it was absolutely nauseating."
He burst out laughing, "Soo older guys it is for you, huh?" He grinned, "Well, well, that explains Max Castle a lot."
I grew silent, my hands momentarily losing their grip on the basket. As if I'd suddenly become aware of a long-forgotten arrow stuck in my heart.
"Oh, shit," Dunkin pressed a fist to his mouth, eyes going wide, "shit, shit, shit, I'm so sorry. Lord…" he facepalmed himself, hiding his face from me, "I've really got no filter to my damned mouth."
Closing my eyes, I exhaled and shook my head in a little smile as I felt that arrow melt from my heart. I crouched to pick the basket, putting back the few fruits that had rolled out.
"It's alright," I beamed. "I don't mind. Not like there were any bad memories to ponder over. Just the… sudden mention after such a long time, surprised me."
When he continued to look miserable, I laughed out loud, "Dunkin, you really are a Pandora to my box of past memories."
"Yes, an absolutely shitty Pandora reminding you sophomore year crap." He came forward to help pick the berries. "But I have to say, dude could be termed as the coolest ex of the decade. Like I never knew breakups could be sweet until I saw you both."
I gave a faint smile at the memory, "Just… right person at the wrong time stuff," I shrugged, standing up, "I don't even know what he does and where he's now. The last I checked, he disappeared off the face of Earth."
"What?" He was dumbfounded.
"Yep, internships were important for senior year students." I dusted my linen that was soiled by the forest floor. "And the Raymond officials gave him an archaeological project in a very remote location. I hope he's alive, though." I hummed.
"You miss him…?" He trailed.
"Do you miss Steffi?"
"Fuck, no!"
We laughed, jesting how we were remembering people from like ten years ago.
But as realization dawned on me, my laughter ceased.
Right person at the wrong time. It always happens to me, almost like a curse. Like all the good guys would come my way, but they weren't mine to have.
I was always thankful to God that the guys closest to me were good. Be it my first and the only boyfriend, Dunkin, Lorenzo, Aarmen or Julian. I seemed to have a sixth sense for the bad ones and stayed away from them, however hard they'd try to lure me. Girls fell for that dangerous aura and I wondered if they had no regard for their lives, turning up to smoking, drugging and illegal activities.
Dunkin shook me out of my daze as he waved wildly, ushering me to follow him out of the forest. Absent-mindedly, I ambled behind him, wondering if Julian had chosen his bride by now. I had been hearing for some days how marriage proposals were pouring in for him from around the neighbouring kingdoms. And as far as Greece, Persia and Babylonia.
I wished I could live long enough to see his wife and children. To see him happy at last.
"Ooh, guess we walked in on someone…" Dunkin whispered to me and I blinked back, looking around.
Against one of the many trees in the forest, was a… priest? Judging by his dress and bald head, yes, he was a priest. And he had a woman against the tree, who appeared to be his wife - a fellow priestess.
I snapped my eyes shut, turning around. Yanking Dunkin along with me to face away from them, mortified.
"A priest and priestess… kissing?" I asked him, bewildered.
He began laughing, "Man's been thirsting away for a wife for a couple of years. And I mean thirsting away in the literal sense. He'd be fasting twenty-four-seven every other while, praying Aphrodite for a wife, and Voila, the consequences," he waved at the ancient PDA, nonchalantly.
"But… he's a priest?" I was flushed and confused at the same time. "I barely saw a warrior making out with a woman back in the palace, and you priest people turned out way more." I gave a fake clap.
"Cors, we may be the epitome of holy entity, but that doesn't make testosterone magically disappear from our bodies." He snickered, glancing back at the couple. "It's not like he's sinning. He's doing it with his wife-to-be."
I swatted his arm when he continued to watch with an amused expression. This kissy priest was definitely his friend. "Don't look! That's… That's voyeurism!" I stuttered.
He looked down at me, his eyes widening as he pressed his palms to my face. "Damn, Cors, you're a fully grown adult and still become a burning tomato, seeing a couple kissing?" He withdrew his hands to stare at them. "I see smoke emanating from my palms."
My face heated way more, and I pushed him as hard as I could before hiding behind a faraway tree. The kissing noises were increasing, and so were the donut's hysterical laughs.
I sighed as I felt like slipping back into my previous self. The extremely shy and paranoid girl. But I had changed with Julian. And the way I was evolving with him was pure ecstasy.
I should be the last person you should be embarrassed with, hmm?
"Y- Yes, you would be the only one…" I whispered to myself, trembling. I would never understand how other girls did it with just anyone. Because baring myself to someone was the hardest thing I could ever do.
I had never done it in the two years with my boyfriend because, in some way, he was just like me. Together we were obsessed with archaeology more than we were obsessed with each other.
Julian was the only one… And the way he unravelled me… was as if he was caressing my very soul.
Before I could spiral down into the emotional wreck I'd been avoiding since I left him, Dunkin came rushing and grabbed my hand.
"Don't want you missing out on the fun," he suppressed a laugh as we stopped at the same spot. And then he called on top of his voice.
"Hey, dude!"
I gawked at him as the apparently horny priest whirled around at the voice, his face all red and dishevelled. While the priestess looked like she was about to faint any moment as she stared at us, appalled.
I didn't know what surprised me more. The fact that he interrupted them just like that, or that he literally called a 4th-century priest dude.
"What the hell?!" I hid behind him, unable to stifle my laughter and embarrassment at the priestly couple's comical expression. I had forgotten that Dunkin could be totally shameless sometimes.
The priest was young, around our age, as his face surprisingly relaxed, watching us. Whereas the priestess appeared to be wishing for the ground to open up and swallow her whole. Her head lowered, fingers fiddling with each other.
"Sinning in the middle of the forest laden with fruits which would be served at holy Aphrodite's feet?" Dunkin grinned, coming to stand in front of the haphazard priest, "Nice going, my friend."
'How did he understand 'dude'?' I messaged him.
'Codeword. Plus, he finds it nice compared to his very boring name aka Priest Progestronathumus.'
I pressed the back of my hand to my mouth, hardly able to control it. What kind of name was that?
Dunkin continued to message. 'I know it sounds like progesterone. That's what I called him in the initial days and boy, didn't I burst into a laughing fit whenever I saw him. So you can laugh too. You have your priest husband's permission *winks*'
The explanation was all it took to throw me off the edge as I began coughing loudly to hide my laugh. This Dunkin made everyone laugh at the worst of times!
'I'll make sure to make you laugh so much one day that you'll die!' I shot back.
"Uh, I- I think I'm feeling sick," I clutched my stomach, face twisting in laughter which I tried disguising into pain, "I- I'll come in a while." And I dashed to the farthest tree just to laugh it all out. The cursed word Priest progesterone wasn't leaving my head.
"Look at you chiding me for sinning when you already made your woman pregnant!" I heard the mad laughter of the horny priest. "She's having morning sickness!" He shouted jovially.
What the-
I walked back to them, flustered. What he said was scary. The idea of something growing slowly inside me was utterly terrifying.
"I haven't eaten anything since morning. That's why I was feeling sick, not that I am pregnant!" I exclaimed.
His eyes widened seeing my outrageous self, and I immediately lowered my head. Oh damn, a meek, ancient woman did not speak to another man in front of her husband.
'Sorry, bestie. I'll have to be a bit of a caveman here.'
"What did I say about keeping your voice lowered, Chryseis?" Dunkin spoke in a deep, emotionless voice, crossing his arms.
"I apologise my Lord-"
"Apologise to him," he cut me off sternly.
'Uh, you can slap me later.' He messaged.
"Remun Ra?" the priest interjected, baffled. "Mate, you are not eligible enough to have a wife. That is how you treat her?"
I listened in stunned silence.
"Just look at them," he waved to his wife and me. "They are literally like frail flowers, who must be tended to and not some weeds that should be hacked away by that scythe-like voice of yours." He scoffed. "Being Aphrodite's priest all these years taught you nothing, huh?"
Internally, I was smiling so widely it hurt. The more I spent my time in this century, I was realising that some men, indeed, were awesome.
'He's an exception. Don't think all men are like him. Beware.' Dunkin nodded.
'I know, I know, dad.' I huffed.
"Anyway, so there was a situation I wanted to tell you," Dunkin sighed, "They recently appointed you to the priesthood of Greek funerary practices?"
"Yes." The priest replied.
"I have an uncle over here whose daughter's been going really ill…" he glanced back at me and the other priestess. "You two can go for a walk, but don't wander too far." And then he turned around to walk away with the priest.
"Doctors say she's probably going to die soon, so he's wanting to prepare for a funeral…" Their voices faded away.
I felt like jumping up and down in elation. Even though he didn't want to stay here anymore, he was willing to help in Cheryl's case. He had listened to my advice at last. 'I love you so much Dunkinnnnn!!'
'Lol right back at ya. But don't think I'll be staying here till the very end. Only for Cheryl. Mr Prodigy would decide the rest.'
I laughed to myself, happy for the time being. The priestess beside me continued to stare at the ground.
"It's nice to meet you." I gave her a slight bow. "I'm Chryseis." I smiled.
But she didn't even move an inch, as if someone had frozen her there. And then I looked on closer to see tears brimming her eyes.
"Oh, um," I did not know what to say as she began shaking, the tears now pouring down her eyes. She had the rarest hazel grey eyes. So beautiful, they reminded me of Alexandria Daddario's eyes.
"My… apologies, if I did something to make you feel bad…?" I trailed as she began wiping at her face.
"N- No, it's just-" she hiccuped. "I'm not… suitable enough to be a… priestess. Isn't it?" She looked at me with guilt marring her face. "I am not virtuous enough… To give in to my- my husband so easily…
"And- And Priest Remun Ra saw it as well…" Tears formed back in her eyes.
If only I could tell her that priest Remun Ra was an ass!
"No, he wouldn't mind. I know him," I smiled, holding her hand to start walking. "We are still new at priestly duties. We'll learn."
"B- But I sinned…" she mumbled.
"Doing it with your husband isn't a sin," I giggled. "Worship Aphrodite heartily and it'll be alright."
An unsure smile came to her. "Thank you. By the way, my apologies, I didn't introduce myself. I am Miria. You can call me Mir as well."
I hummed. "You are… Persian?"
"Half Persian," she replied as we walked randomly around the trees. "My mother is Persian, but my father is Greek. His stories of the Greek Gods intrigued me and so I made up my mind to serve them." She whirled around in the forest like a happy little child. "It feels like the Greek Gods are calling me to serve them. And I'll happily do." She beamed.
I nodded in understanding, and she wouldn't stop talking. "Egypt is so good for the women. They are so free here!" She squealed. "I even heard that the ruler of the neighbouring kingdom of Alexandria had appointed a female court writer?"
My heart turned to lead hearing that. "I've heard too," I mumbled.
"You know, I was so happy to hear that," she said, her smile gradually fading. "But recently I heard she isn't there anymore. I would've loved to meet and talk to her. She would've been so intelligent!" She sighed dreamily.
I couldn't bear to talk about Althea Rosemary. She did not exist anymore.
When she glanced at me in scepticism, I pretended to look a bit interested in her talks. "How do you know? I never heard anyone talking about it in the temples."
She settled on a low-lying tree branch. "I was passing the marketplace and most people were talking about her," she hummed, wondering aloud.
My breathing quickened. I hated to know when people talked about me behind my back. I hated to be the centre of a topic.
Her face grew sadder. "They were saying how she was thrown out of the palace because she was trying to… seduce the king."
A sharp pang and then the pain engulfed my very soul.
My eyes burned at her revelation. It felt like a hammer beating at my heart until nothing was left but a bloodied mess of the poor organ.
I tried hard not to let it go as the first sob-filled hiccup escaped my throat.
"Why are you… sad, then?" I whispered. "Isn't it good that they expelled her because… she was trying to… distract the king f- from his duties…"
She looked at me like she couldn't believe it. "No! I think it's a rumour…" she murmured. "What if… the king was trying to make advances on her? And she couldn't bear it anymore and left the palace?
"So the king… spread this rumour to save his impression…"
"No! The King would never do anything like that!" She shrunk back at my sudden outburst. And when she just stared at my face, did I realise that tears were drenching my linen.
"It's always the woman who is blamed, even if she didn't do anything." She spoke softly. "And being a woman, you should defend the writer, Chryseis."
"Y- Yes, I hope she has a good life ahead. My apologies for the rudeness." I gave her a slight bow and ran away, the tears barely stopping.
She was trying to seduce the king.
She is a whore, just like her sister!
Do you have no shame doing a man's job?!
Don't you know she goes to his room every night under the pretext of her book?
Who? Althea? That wretched writer of a woman?
"Stop! Stop!" I screamed, closing my ears to curb the voices within me as I ran away, wanting to run away from this God-damned world.
Maybe Julian should've killed me when he had captured me in those warrior camps.
That way, I wouldn't have been known as the wretched writer I became today.