4.0. The Atoner(Orestes)
I’d been at this since I was a teen. So long, my mum swore it’d actually be harmful. “They’re old, musty places, those tombs,” she’d say.
It’s not like I didn’t agree. I couldn’t rule out that it had caused some of my allergies and of course all the scrapes and bruises I’d gotten over time.
But I was used to it by now. I thought to myself how hard it had been, the first time I pulled one of these statues. I did it with relative ease, these days, and with this particular one I even tried to be as quiet as possible.
I could hear the voice above ground. My brother, chatting with the guy who owned this basement and whom I’d rather not have to explain why I’d started pulling hidden switches and dragging around stuff down here.
“So, you’d rather… not wear proper clothes then?” I could hear my brother say, a note of nervousness in his voice.
I chuckled, and could hear the owner of the house ranting about the oppression of modern society and especially clothes and dress-codes and the tyranny of propriety. Orpheus played him completely, from what I could hear. Agreeing, sounding as pleasant as possible…
But the further I got into the basement, the less I could hear, until there was only me and the silence of the tomb. I could feel my body shaking slightly as I neared. I disarmed the traps, amazed that they still worked after what was likely a long time, and finally I found the right switch.
This had to be it. The chest I’d been looking for. My contact had said that this was most likely it… I opened it with bated breath, biting my lip, and… nothing.
It was full of fine nectar, some old coins, an ugly relic that was, in my estimation, worth exactly nothing at all.
I slammed it shut with a frustrated yell and left.
Orpheus was surrounded by locals when I came up again, and he was busy talking to someone less opposed to clothing. My brother still looked at me with huge relief when he saw me.
“Hey bro, great to see you. Did you make it?” he asked, deliberately vague.
I shook my head. He looked exasperated. “Right, we’d better go then. Nice to meet you, Amin. Sorry about your… sister’s boyfriend’s great-aunt’s… foot. Gotta go.”
As we left, he shuddered. “You do know I hate you, right? Those people… they’re insane.”
“And that’s why they like you,” I teased.
“Oh yes, you’re so very funny. My brother, the joker. You are known for your legendary humour – I mean, you’d have to have a sense of humour to spend your days among dead people and broken pottery. Which reminds me… Are we done now? Can we go home?”
“Of course not. I still haven’t found what Minerva was looking for. I have another place in mind…”
Orpheus groaned.
“Pyramid of the Sky,” I said. “This is the last place it possibly could be.”
“Yeah, your contact said that about the basement of the People’s Front Against Clothing. What am I going to do this time? Walk someone’s dog? Sing to their new-born?”
“You can just come along,” I said. “
If you dare.”
“Oh yes, because it’s so super scary in there, I’m sure.”
I didn’t say that yeah, it probably was pretty scary in there. I was just so used to being scared out of my mind that it didn’t register properly anymore.
Inside, it was damp and two giant pools blocked our way, so we had to change and swim over.
On the other side, it was the usual stuff. Some relics, a pile of ancient coins, switches and statues. I found the first switch in the wall, and when we heard the click, we entered the next room.
Orpheus ran ahead of me.
“Oh, dude, let me find the hidden door here…”
He started inspecting the wall and I laughed. “Yeah, you find that one. It’s not really obvious or anything.”
“Oh, shut it. I haven’t tried it yet… I haven't been playing Indiana Jones since my teens like you have.”
And he did figure it out and pushed open the door.
On the other side, we were greeted by… well, not much, except for a huge dive well in an alcove. I tried to see if I could discern the bottom. I couldn’t.
“Orestes, I know what you’re thinking, man. Don’t.”
I smiled at my brother. “What do you mean?”
“You know what you need, dude, you need a girl. Gally can find you one when we get back home. A nice girl.”
“I already have a nice girl back home,” I smiled fondly, but my brother groaned.
“You’re talking about your daughter, aren’t you?”
“Of course I am. Who else?”
“Orestes, you really ought to think…”
I didn’t hear what else he had to say because just then I dove into the well and the water muffled all sound from the surface.
I searched around and when my lungs felt like they were screaming for air, I returned to the surface, greedily breathing in the fresh air.
“I’m not feeling sorry for you,” Orpheus said.
“There’s a tunnel,” I said, as he helped me out of the well. “Down at the bottom there’s a tunnel, but I can’t get through it.”
“You can’t be sure it’s a tunnel.”
“It is. I’m too large to get through it but it’s definitely a tunnel…”
“So? Shouldn’t we just search this place thoroughly and see if it’s somewhere.”
“No, you don’t get it.” I was drying off, already getting into my everyday clothes. “If Minerva hasn’t found whatever it is she’s looking for, it’s well hidden.
Very well hidden. She’ll have combed this place thoroughly. It has to be through that tunnel.”
“So…?”
“I have to go home and find a way to dig through. I need to get in there. Wherever there is.”
He looked at me with something like sadness in his eyes. “You know, no one expects you to find it. No one blames you for what happened back then. We all forgave you.”
I shook my head. “I didn’t.”
He hardly spoke a word on the way home, and nor did I. Two things were on my mind.
Minerva, her search through the tombs of Egypt. She’d worn herself out, wormed her way into the town I’d visited. Everyone knew her and knew her well – some thought her charming, others sneaky and others again ruthless. She’d done whatever was necessary to get as far as possible.
The other thing on my mind was a certain little lady, who, when I entered our music room, beamed at me and shouted: “Daddy!”
My Iphigenia.
[Author’s note: Because I want to stop incorporating them into the story, have pictures of the boys, Galatea and baby Iphigenia:
Orestes and Orpheus in the outfits that they wear when they’re not in Egypt. Gotta say, Orestes was always going to be the heir but look at how gorgeous Orpheus turned out. Ugh, way too handsome!
Galatea, imaginary friend turned real sim turned royal pain! She rolled the Irrisistable trait and flirted with everyone so I got frustrated and just got her and Orpheus out of there as quickly as possible.
And the “mysterious” Iphigenia. I mean, she did kind of appear out of nowhere because time skip! But here she is. Quite a cutie – it’s pretty easy to see who her mother is, if you remember the past couple of chapters.
Also, about her name:
Iphigenia: In Greek mythology, the oldest daughter of Agamemnon and Klytaimnestra. When on their way to Troy, the army was stranded at Aulis because Agamemnon acted like an idiot and made Artemis mad. To appease her, he had to sacrifice his oldest daughter, Iphigenia. He was about to do it but in the nick of time, Artemis pulled the girl away and replaced her with a female deer. Euripides’ tragedy, Iphigenia at Aulis, tells the story and it’s really, really good. Fun fact: it’s the central text I’m using for my bachelor project which I’m currently writing.]
