The Archaeological Chronicles - The New World
Chapter 2

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-time

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Mari

I wake with a jerk. Uneasiness washing over me. This is not how it was supposed to go down. This is not part of my plans!

I’m in a bedroom. I can decipher as much.

King sized bed, all black. Cream walls with black furniture. Unpersonal.

Looks like a hotel room to me. But I know better than that. I’m still wearing what I wore yesterday. Luckily.

Or was is yesterday? I check my apple watch. Yeah, it was yesterday.

September 22nd.

Wait. They were stupid enough to let my smart watch stay on my wrist?

God they are stupid.

The door opens with a silent ping. I jump from the bed instinctively.

I open my mouth, ready to start yelling at the creature standing before me. He quickly interrupts me and ask; ‘’Do you understand English?’’.

I look at him with an angry glare.

‘’Good, your brain registered it,’’ he says.

What the actual hell.

I snarl and try to lunge at him, he doesn’t even flinch.

Not even a little bit.

He flatten out his palm and I am roughly pushed back, without him even moving his arm. The second my chest touched it, I'm sent flying backwards. I cough hard, trying to inhale as much oxygen as I can after he knocked it all out of me.

‘’I am Kai’ine,’’ he introduces. ‘’As you probably can see, I am not human. Well observed, stupid being,’’ he mutters the last part of the sentence, insulting me. ‘’I am not acquainted with all the languages of the humans yet, so as long as you understand English, you should be able to understand me just fine,’’. He explains.

What can I say? There is nothing to answer.

‘’And you are called Mai’yri,’’ he announces.

‘’Mari,’’ I correct out of habit.

I realize my mistake quickly and bang my head against the headpost. He didn’t even have to do or say anything, I just answered him right away.

Jesus I’m bad at this.

His emotionless face just stares at me.

‘’My name is Mari,’’ I repeat.

He narrows his eyes and ignores my remark.

‘’I am from a planet far away from Earth-‘’

‘’Go figure,’’ I mutter.

I can see him visibly get annoyed and I know I’m pushing my limits. I just can’t help it.

‘’You were not meant to see us. It turned out quite beneficial to us, as my right hand did a little background check on you – you are what humans call an archaeologist,’’. He states.

I just glare at him.

My pants suddenly start vibrating. My phone!

I look up to meet those terrifying blue and yellow eyes, before I quickly dive down for it and try my hardest not to shake.

Before I know it, I’m straddled by the being that was in front of me moments ago.

He stares intensely into my eyes as his hand goes down my thigh, and I squirm uncomfortably underneath him, and pulls out my phone.

He doesn’t break eye contact as he snaps the thing in two.

That just pisses me off.

Does he know how much smartphones costs these days?

I start struggling like a mad woman and try my best to reach him and hurt him in some kind of way.

He presses me hard into the mattress, takes a hold of both of my arms and pushes them above my head in an iron grip. He uses his other hand to grip my chin roughly. He’s snarling by now.

‘’Weak,’’ he growls out. ‘’Your pathetic technology won’t help you out of this,’’.

Our noses are almost touching, and I’m scared out of my mind. My heartbeat is quicker than I ever thought possible and I’m hyperventilating uncontrollably. I never thought I'd lose control of my body like this.

’’Let us get one thing crystal clear my little Viking,’’ he snarls out in a dangerously low voice. ’’You have no power against me, so you better stop trying, you will not like the outcome,’’.

By this point I’m dizzy from the hyperventilating.

I’m so scared, so scared, but I cannot seem to tear my gaze from his. Those swirling blue and yellow eyes. They keep me captive and my brain won't listen to reason.

I still can’t see any whites in his eyes. He really is inhuman.

‘’Understood?’’.

My defiant side of me does not like his tone.

So, I have another inner battle with myself. What would be wisest if I want to survive? Hell, will I survive no matter what I chose?

He grips my chin tighter, and growls at me. Waiting for my reply.

I nod vigorously.

The second I do, he’s off me. I breathe out. He’s right back where he originally stood when he first entered the room.

‘’You will be of great use to us,’’ he starts, and I interrupt him – again.

‘’No! I will not! I have a life out there and people will notice me gone,’’ I hiss.

He doesn’t even seem bothered. At all. He still has that same annoying emotionless face. Not even a twitch, a wrinkle - nothing.

‘’I will let you continue your life if you help us,’’ he states. Still no facial expression, so I cannot decide if he’s lying or not.

‘’What do you need me to do?’’ I finally answer.

He looks satisfied. Even though his facial expression didn’t change at all, his floating colorful eyes moved a little.

He was still wearing all white. Wide pants narrow at the waist and wide all the way down. The same thing could be said about his shirt.

If it even could be considered a shirt.

He was wearing some kind of light green – nearly white – robe over it. His whole demeanor looks inhuman.

‘’This world intrigues me,’’ he starts, whilst staring just as intensely into my eyes as before, ‘’If I am to understand your race now, I need to understand the whole development of it. I know some, but not enough to paint a clear picture of what to do with you,’’.

‘’Do with us?’’ I ask.

He nods.

‘’You are destroying a perfectly fine world,’’ he states. ‘’You kill your own, animals and woodland,’’. He muses. ‘’Just to satisfy the endless need for more, no matter what the cost,’’.

I shrug. ‘’You’re not wrong,’’.

He nods. Just barely.

‘’I need you to explain how it came to this,’’ he says.

He takes a step closer to the bed. I am rooted to the spot, not wanting to repeat the episode that happened only minutes ago.

‘’I don’t think I can,’’ I state.

It’s true. Partly. As far as my knowledge reaches, humans have always wanted more.

It really doesn’t matter what, as long as it’s more. Times have changed, and during those times the need for more has also changed. During the Iron Age the wanting for more land to conquer, more things to steal was probably the biggest want at that time.

During the Bronze Age the wanted to expand. To start trading. Chiefdoms appeared; the first knowledge of religion comes from this time. The time of the Rock Art. They always wanted more. Arranged marriages started, to make alliances. Arguably the most advanced boat building technology is birthed in the Stone Age and is developed more throughout the Bronze Age.

The want for more food, more clothes and more jewelry were insatiable. It always has. It still is. We always want more, and that is how we show power. Much like crows, we like shiny things. And we like to keep it to ourselves or share with our ‘group’.

Norway, and the rest of Scandinavia was covered in ice long after big parts of Europe started to fully develop societies. Not to mention Asia and Russia. Basically, everyone started ‘earlier’ then we did.

So, all the materials left in Norway is visibly different, due to the time it took to build up a society in Scandinavia compared to rest of Europe. Settlers came in from different parts of the world, and no one has ever agreed on who came first. I have always thought it doesn’t matter.

The ‘Norwegian’ we think of today is constructed anyways. Every country is.

What we are sure of, is that there were two different groups that came simultaneously. It was someone that we can call the ‘first Norwegians’ today (even though there were no land borders like there is today) and the ‘sàmi’ which also concludes as the first Norwegians. The Sàmi population still lives today and are Norway official indigenous people.

They haven’t been treated well throughout time. It is probably one of Norway’s biggest mistakes.

I’m so lost in thought that I don’t sense or see him step closer to me.

‘’Share your thoughts,’’ he states.

I look up at him in confusion.

‘’I can see your brain working, you’re thinking hard about it,’’ he answers.

‘’I don’t know why we’re like this. All I can say is that not everyone is like that,’’ I say confidently.

Because it’s true. Not all of us just keeps harming the Earth, even though we all know it’s dying. He hums quietly to himself.

‘’That’s what I thought you’d say,’’ he says and for the first time his facial expression changes.

His smile widens and he’s showing off his pearly white, sharp teeth. It looks wildly unnatural and forced.

This is not good.

His smile widens menacingly, as he stalks towards me.

I rush out of the bed as quickly as I can, before he can reach me. He is quicker than me. Sadly. Yanks me by the ankle and pulls me back to the bed. I start kicking and screaming with all my might.

‘’You said you’d let me go!’’ I scream in hysterics.

He laughs.

‘’I never said when, little Viking,’’ he grins wickedly as he pulls me closer to him.

I fight with all my might.

How can a being be so strong?

My attempts for freedoms seem futile as he drags me towards him. In a second, I’m right underneath him.

Once again.

‘’No!’’ I scream. ‘’Please, I’ll do anything, just let me finish my degree!’’.

I can even hear how pathetic I sound.

However, if I don’t finish it on time, I will never be able to apply for a PhD, and then all of my hard work will be for nothing. I’ve worked so hard, all of my life. Worked hard to get where I am.

He cannot take that from me!

He will not take it from me.

His smile never falters. Doesn’t seem phased at all.

‘’Don’t worry, you’ll have all the time in the world to do that, where you’re going,’’.

My blood freezes. Where I’m going? I’m not going anywhere!

I kick and scream even more, and I suddenly remember that he doesn’t like loud noises close to his ears, so I save the last and loudest scream for when I am pulled closest to him.

And that is exactly what I do.

I scream as loud as I can.

Instead of pulling away or letting go – or even just loosen his grip, he does nothing. The only difference is that now; his eyes are slowly turning completely black.

That cannot be a good sign.

His mouth opens wider and gets impossible huge. His whole face changes into something monstrous, something I wish I had never ever in my life encountered.

Oh, he’ angry now.

‘’I told you that you wouldn’t like the outcome,’’ he snarls in a completely different voice than what he had before his face turned into something from a horror movie.

I hope I never have to see that face ever again. It looks like half of his face just turned into a gigantic, depthless hole with razor sharp teeth.

Ready to devour me whole.

He shifts his grip from my ankle to my arms and roughly pulls me up from the bed. By this time hyperventilating isn’t even putting it close to what my body is doing now. I’m crying and screaming, whilst trying to breathe properly.

He drags me from the room with quick steps, and none of my attempts to free myself are successful.

I am met with cold metal floors, completely sterile and white. I try my best to look at my surroundings, but I’m panicking so badly that it’s hard to concentrate.

I register long windows, that reaches all the way around this circular place. I see wires and screens, doors and more doors.

Wait.

Before my brain can register where I am any further, I am being pulled into another white, even more sterile room. This does not look good for me.

His snow-white hair is floating wildly in the air, as if there was a breeze in the room – which it’s not.

With one single tug on my arms, he has me slammed down on a sterile metal bed. This looks very much like a hospital room.

Jesus, I’m going to get probed, aren’t I?

My screaming and yelling haven’t stopped, the only difference is that I changed to scream at him in English, to scream at him in Norwegian.

‘’Din jævla-‘’ I start, before I’m cut off.

He has my face in both of his hands as he presses his forehead against mine again. His face is back to normal now.

Well, as normal his face can get.

‘’But first I have to fix you up a little,’’ he smiles cruelly as my brain starts to tingle.

‘’Don’t you dare probe me!’’ I slur. His only response is a chuckle as I gaze into his eyes before my brain shuts down on its own.

Before everything goes dark, my heartbeat calmed and I wasn’t hyperventilating anymore.

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Translation

Din jævla - you fucking