“Now students I know that this trip to Greece will be your first time leaving the country, but please restrain yourselves and stay with either your teacher or guide!” Principal Eggfort had said before the trip.
Those last words echoed through Mason’s mind as he’d done the exact opposite with his friend Jeff. At the first possible instant the two students explored very far away from their teacher and guide. Both boys had a wander lust from their shared past and their eager curiosity. Jeff’s parents could barely afford college let alone vacations to far off locales. Meanwhile Mason’s parents immigrated to the U.S. at great personal cost and had no desire to see the rest of the world. This left the two students more than eager to find the more interesting parts of ancient Greece that their boring tour guide was obviously missing.
“You really think that this leads to the underground tunnels?” Jeff said to Mason as they descended an old staircase. “Definitely!” Mason confidently replied adjusting his glasses. “The Colosseum has a bunch of hidden places that just get cooler the further down we go. Once we get to the bottom floor, we should be able to find some cool tunnels for sure!”
Jeff scratched his head, while his other hand held out his phone’s flashlight. “The guys back home won’t believe all the things we’ve seen by the time we’re done here! Think this old place would miss a few souvenirs?” Mason smirked. “I don’t think so. I doubt half this stuff had even seen the light of day in over a century. I’ll just take this weird metal thing for later! Hey Jeff, you’re the history nerd, what’s this supposed to be?”
Mason held out an old rusted object that Jeff squinted at, partially offended. “It looks like an ancient Greek candle holder. Stuff they used to probably explored tunnels like these! But it says something on it hold on… it’s a bit dusty. Hold my flashlight. I think I can rub out the rest of the rust. It says… ‘Σεβαστείτε το ιστορικό ή το επαναλάβετε’. Weird. I think that has something to do with history… and respect… or repeat…. Cool just translated it. My phone says it means respect history, or repeat it.”
As Jeff finished speaking they began to feel the entire tunnel rumble. The two looked at each other and ran back towards the stairs as the ground crumbled beneath them.
Mason coughed in a daze. The dark room around him was only illuminated by a few faint cracks of sunlight, causing Mason to reach around blindly in the dark. His hand hit something hot and he was able to see the old candle holder now had a lit candle in it… and it looked new. Before it was a rusted piece of gold holdings, but now it formed the base of a very well designed small golden figure that held the candle in one of its arms. Without the rust Mason could read, “Aidos. Goddess of respect, lights the way. Respect history or repeat it”
“Wait a second.. I thought the word were in Greek before, why can I-... why does my voice sound so rough.”
More sunlight began to fill the room as the flame grew brighter and Mason could see why his body felt so strange. It was covered in armor… and large muscles.
He got to his feet and realized how strange his body now felt. It was bulky and powerful! His once tanned skin was now whiter and his dark curly hair now looked closely cut and blond. He even realized that his eyes were adjusting to his new scenery without glasses.
He propped himself on the stairs free of debris and examined his body further. The armor he was wearing definitely looked like the depictions of the warriors of ancient Greece he’d studied, right down to the insignia of an ancient king across his leather bound chest. Mason tried to examine it more but found himself constantly getting distracted by his very powerful arms what had veins bulging out.
When the debris had finally settled, Mason explored this strange area he’d fallen into. Eventually he found a mirror and couldn’t help but smile.
“I’m really glad I decided to explore.” Mason said to himself in a powerful baritone. “I better go find Jeff. If he looks half as good as me, maybe we could try some Greco Roman wrestling.
