The Archaeological Chronicles - The New World

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- Time

Follow everywhere I go

Top over the mountains or valley low

Give you everything you’ve been dreaming of

Just let me in, ooh

Everything you want in gold, I’ll be the magic story you’ve been told

And you’ll be safe under my control

Just let me in, ooh

Just let me in, ooh

--

Kai'ine

True to his word, Zuuri showed up the next day. I had lost track of days, but according to my phone it was the 21st of September, a Monday.

I wasn’t sure if they counted days and hours the same as we do, but I was planning on asking Zuuri that.

Things have gotten quite awkward after what happened on the ship.

I lost control, I shouldn’t have.

I can’t have fun with the enemy.

Kai’ine was in the study, doing whatever he did in there. I had my Beatz firmly pressed against my ears as I blasted some pretty heavy, angry music. Oddly enough, it made me relax.

I was bobbing my head to the rhythm, as Zuuri tapped on my head.

I jolted in fright.

Removing my headphones, I glare at him.

‘’Do you want to kill me?’’ I ask.

He chuckles nervously. ‘’No! No. You were just so lost in the music, I wasn’t sure how to reach you,’’ he explains. A sheepish unnatural smile on his mouth.

I smile back up at him.

‘’Just messing with you, smurf,’’ I joke as he gives me a mischievous smile.

‘’You’re the one to talk, ghost,’’ he snaps back in a joking manner.

‘’Fair point,’’ I shrug as I get up from my spot on the floor. I really enjoyed sitting in that exact spot and doing my work in peace.

‘’I have questions for you first today, Zuuri!’’ I yell after him as he heads through the patio doors.

The sun was shining today, a really beautiful day to be outside. I plop down in one of the chairs and stare at our surroundings.

A huge garden engulfed the entire glassed villa. I heard a lake in the background. I didn’t even know Kai’ine’s back yard was this big.

I kick off my shoes and pull off the white socks. Wriggling my toes in the grass.

Nice.

Zuuri gives me an odd look.

‘’What? I like being barefoot,’’ I shrug.

‘’You know the rules, Mai’yri, I get to ask the questions first. Then you can have your go,’’ he smiles. A glint in his glowing eyes.

I sigh dramatically. ‘’Oh, okay. What do you want to know?’’ I cross my feet in the chair, leaning in so I could focus my full attention to him.

‘’Everything you know about the Bronze Age,’’ he states.

‘’Well, it’s not my field of study, that either, but I know enough. Sit tight,’’ I smile.

He nods eagerly.

‘’Well. The Scandinavian Bronze Age was from around seventeen hundred to five hundred years before our timeline. What I mean by that is when the year zero, from the Christian calendar starts.

The Bronze Age is mostly categorized by the start of bronze in their material. There isn’t just flint being used as their main tools anymore.

We also see a shift in society. Tribes form their power-centers by marking their areas with rock art and huge burial mounds. Bigger than the ones during the Iron Age.

That underlines the argument that this was all for show. To show everyone else how powerful their village was compared to others. We see alliances being made, through marriage. I think this is the first time in Norwegian history that we see the actual act of marriage.

The ties between two people, either for power, alliances or for love. We’re not completely certain. So, don’t take my word for it,’’ I explain.

I take another deep breath. The Bronze Age was really fascinating to me, even though I’m not doing my thesis about it.

″According to the rock art from this period – which we are able to date from the designs of the rock art, because the styles change over time – they worship the sun. Rebirth, fertility and the female body.

Finally a religion that works in the favor of women! The sun is their main thing to portray, just as boats and the human body. The males were first identified by their ‘huge staff’s’, but let’s be real about it; it was a portrait of their very, not natural sized, dick,’’.

Zuuri chokes on his drink as I explain that part.

‘’I have some rock art pictures on my computer. I’ll go fetch it so you can see them too,’’ I say as I run to fetch it.

I nearly crash into Kai’ine in the doorway.

‘’Whoa,’’ I say as he steadies me.

He has my laptop in his other hand, clearly listening in on our conversation. He hands it to me, without a word. I look at him for a second, considering inviting him to see as well, but I decide against it.

I have red marks on my throat after that man. Bruises. I am not having a history lesson with my abuser.

I sit down in the chair once again and flips the screen open. Kai’ine takes a seat next to Zuuri, who gives him a look.

Guess he didn’t need an invitation to join.

‘’Here, as you can see these are the most normal carvings. They almost look like the carvings on the flint building in the capitol. Norway is known for the amount of rock art discovered. We have a lot of it in certain areas. Sometimes even in caves.

The interesting part about this is that I’m never too sure if this was a way of communicating or just portraying their artistical talents. It could also be a way to tell their future ancestors about the life they lived. We don’t know. Personally, I think that it’s probably something in-between all of the three suggestions,’’ I explain as I point at several pictures of rock art.

The boats seem to interest them the most.

″We know that the stone age people had contact with other regions because of the flint. It didn’t come naturally in Norway and the slabs left after the Ice Age – no, wait, after you – they had to trade and get better slabs of flint.

So in a way, trading was already a thing back then. We know for sure that trading was a big part of the Bronze Age. A great example of that is in Tutankhamun’s grave it was found pearls of rav, or amber, which is an organic material that Norwegians were known for trading.

So, somehow, pearls of amber traveled all the way from Norway and all the way down to Africa. That proves the theory of trading. We can also see it in the valuable fishing resources Norway had, compared to many other countries. Fish, is still one of Norway’s top delicacies, and still are world examples of taste, size and quantity,’’. I take a breath.

Both of the brothers are paying full attention. Their eyes staring intently at me.

’’The bummer about Norway is that the soil is so toxic, compared to other countries. This means that materials laying in the ground, often rots away completely. Not even teeth remain.

There are many finds from the Bronze Age in Norway, but not nearly as much as it is in other countries. Take Germany or Austria for example. They have a lot.

Another problem is grave robbing, both in prehistoric times and modern times. The artefacts lying in the ground are irreplacable and therefore extremely valuable. Many would want to sell these artefacts on the dark web, no doubt,’’ I sigh. ‘’Well, that is all I can remember, without having to re-read about it again,’’ I say as I close the laptop.

‘’Any questions?’’.

Zuuri nods rapidly. ‘’How did they dress?’’ he asks.

‘’Well, few articles of clothes are found. If I am to assume, they dressed in dresses, shirts and trousers in different colors, all depending on how rich you were. One of the things that actually are preserved are the jewelry. They are quite cool, if you ask me,’’.

I open the laptop once more, and find some pictures from the local museum in Trondheim where I took pictures of the jewelry a while back, for an assignment.

It all felt so far away now.

‘’Cool,’’ Zuuri murmurs.

‘’Now,’’ I state. ‘’It’s my turn! Tell me about your people,’’.

I get comfortable in the chair, once again. Folding my fingers together.

‘’We are divided into three zones. Originally, these zones were to keep each tribe to themselves due to conflict and war. The three leaders met up after twenty thousand years of separation and wanted to reunite the tribes.

They met up at the, now, capitol of Ter’ais and discussed how, when and why things were supposed to be sorted out. They did, after a while. The three tribes met once again and never separated again. Our differences in skin tone is a result of the merging of the three clans. Some had darker shades of blue and some had lighter,’’ he explains as he points to his darker skin tone compared to Kai’ines paler.

‘’But why do you have white hair?’’ I ask.

‘’The three tribes had something called Supremes. The Supremes were the people of the clan that was taller, broader, stronger and more powerful.

It was only natural that these people were chosen as leaders. The DNA and genes that run through their veins are extremely powerful, so they tried to keep it isolated. Alas, breed strong with strong.

This worked for a while, but then inbreeding became an issue, so they started breeding with lesser stronger individuals. The DNA was still dominant, so every child was still white haired and stronger than the average,’’.

It makes sense, in some way, but in another it sounds a lot like white supremacy.

‘’So, it’s basically white supremacy?’’.

Kai’ine shakes his head no, but Zuuri is the one to reply.

‘’No, because we do not base it on skin color. We base it purely on the strength and power of the being. It has nothing to do with skin color or anything of the sorts,’’.

‘’But you separate the white haired as Supreme? How do you know that the ones with black hair and black eyes are less powerful? Isn’t it weird to base leaders only on the idea of how powerful they are?’’.

Kai’ine shakes his head once again, disagreeing.

‘’It’s basic logic. The strongest are the one most likely to survive. Alas; they are the ones who keep the rest alive and well, as well,’’ Zuuri replies.

I make a grimace. Not sure if I agree.

‘’It doesn’t make sense. You are chosen over everyone else based on your hair and eye color; because that is what you do, no matter if you call it basic logic. You don’t know that the ones without white hair isn’t as strong,’’ I state.

‘’Our hair and eyes define our strength. Our strength is measured on how much matter we inhale from the atmosphere and around the galaxy.

The more matter you wield, the stronger you are. The matter changes how the DNA is portrayed, which means the matter is the thing that makes the Supreme look different from others.

You can compare it to a fog. The matter clears the fog. Without matter, the fog stays,’’ Zuuri explains as he creates fog with his hands. As he runs his hand through it, the fog clears.

‘’You never told me that you could do that,’’ I state accusingly.

‘’You never asked, either,’’ Zuuri shoots back with a smile.

I rub the spot between my eyebrows. Trying to understand.

’’So, to simplify it – so that I might understand it – you inhale something from the atmosphere and galaxy and that makes you do fancy things? What can you do?’’.

The brothers nod in unison.

‘’Stuff,’’ is his only reply.

‘’Oh, so you want to know all of my history, but won’t tell me what you can do as a Supreme?’’ I accuse.

Zuuri shrugs.

I rub the spot between my eyebrows again. Frustrated.

‘’Okay, whatever, forget it. Tell me your version of marriage,’’ I say, trying to change the subject so I won’t get angrier.

‘’All beings have a certain amount of people that genetically match with you,’’ Zuuri starts.

‘’You humans often sense this through smell. If you find someone’s natural smell appealing, you are a genetic match, and vice versa. To us, it’s a bit more complicated.

We have the same principal of genetic matches, but a lot fewer than other beings in the universe. This means that when we first see, smell or hear that individual, we know instantly. This makes dating quite easy,’’ he jokes.

‘’We don’t marry, in the sense of how humans do it. We mate. Like many other species, we mate for life. A bite seals the process,’’ he explains.

Ew. I frown.

‘’A bite?’’. Zuuri nods yet again.

‘’Yes. The bite will create a bond between the two. This makes it a lot easier to tell their feelings, without having to touch foreheads all the time. We communicate differently from humans, so we rarely use facial expressions. We communicate through touch and sight. My eyes will change when I feel something strongly,’’.

I already figured the eye-part on my own. Touch was explained to me by Kai’ine yesterday.

I shiver from the memory.

I do not want to think about it.

Kai’ine gets up from his spot beside his brother.

‘’I have matters to attend to. Stay with her,’’ he mumble to his brother.

Zuuri nods curtly. Kai’ine walks away, without another word. When I’m certain that he’s gone I look back at Zuuri.

‘’Is there more of you?’’ I ask.

He tilts his head. Not understanding the question.

‘’More Supremes?’’.

He shakes his head no and blink once. Slowly.

‘’At one point we were hunted down and killed by rebellions. They did not want the Supremes to rule. To exist. They will always be weaker than us, and that bothers some. Our parents are the last. Which makes us the last as well. Our father has been crushing the rebellion for several thousand years now. It’s safe for us to reproduce again, without the fear of the rebellions killing innocent children,’’ he explains. An unreadable expression on his face.

‘’That’s horrible,’’ I state.

‘’Some people are just simply born leaders. They protect and take care of others. I do not see how that makes us so horrible,’’ he says. A faraway look in his eyes.

‘’Because, no matter the species, no matter the planet, intelligent beings will always be selfish and jealous. There will never be complete peace. Never contentment. Ever. I know we are different species, but we share some likeness,’’ I say as I get up from the chair. Stretching my legs.

‘’I suppose you are correct. A gloomy way to portray intelligent beings, but you are correct either way,’’ he smiles as he joins me.

‘’Zuuri?’’ I ask after a moment of silence, just enjoying the view.

He replies with a soft ‘hmm’.

‘’I want you to teach me how to fight,’’ I state.

He snaps his gaze to mine.

‘’What?’’

‘’You heard me. I don’t want to be coped up inside all day. I miss being outside. I want to run and train again. You can teach me how to fight, so I would know how to defend myself if another idiot species tries to kidnap me again,’’ I joke.

A smile spreads across his lips.

‘’I won’t be gentle,’’ he warns.

‘’Fine by me. I’m stronger than you think,’’ I challenge.

He raises his eyebrows in surprise.

‘’Oh, you are, are you?’’ he laughs as we walk down the garden.

We walk on a narrow pathway, that eventually lead to an opening.

Flowers are systematically placed all around the ares. A small lake with purple water. Several marbled benches decorate the are beautifully.

It’s so indescribably beautiful.

‘’I am ready when you are,’’ Zuuri says playfully as he gets into position. I mimic his stance. I nod, a determined look on my face.

‘’Ready,’’