Chapter 1
Gring!!!!!! Gring!!!!!! Gring!!!!!! Gring!!!!! Gring!!!!! Gring!!!!!
“Oh my goodness, what!” I exclaimed as I looked at my clock. It was just 4:00am and it felt so cool under the duvet with the air condition on. I was just hitting a new gear in dream world and then my phone started ringing…
Gring!!!!!! Gring!!!!!! It kept on ringing.
“Hello,” I said in a rather hoarse voice; as I picked up the call.
The call was from my boss at Centrino Oils. I was needed in the office ASAP. Still trying to fight the urge to go back to bed, I slothfully went to the bathroom, took a quick shower and brushed my teeth. I came out and then put on a black police T-shirt and denim jeans.
It was 4:35am by my swatch watch, by the time I got out of the house and obviously I wasn’t used to waking up this early.
I am sorry if I didn’t introduce myself. I am Adolf Edinburgh, a Nigerian. My parents were both medical doctors till they died in a car crash when I was just eight years old; I was taken in by an Uncle. I studied geology at the University of Ibadan in the south-western part of the country. After my schooling, I worked for a while with the Nigerian Geological Survey Agency (NGSA), which is responsible for studying the geology of the country and production of geological maps. Sometimes we partnered with geological agencies of other countries. That was before I got employed by Centrino Oils which is the leading oil company in the country . . . and speaking of Centrino Oils, I am on my way to an important meeting which I wasn’t aware of until I got the call just thirty five minutes earlier, and all my boss said was that I should come as soon as possible (I can’t refuse the guy that pays my salary, can I?).
“Welcome Adolf, and please close the door behind you”, my boss said as I walked into his office. “Sorry for bringing you out so early”, he continued. There were two other men in the room and a lady I just couldn’t get my eyes off. When I realised I was staring, I immediately replied him, “No problem sir”.
The lady had on pair of blues jeans and a red top, she had the most beautiful eyes, with such free flowing black hair and the most perfect figure 8 I had ever seen, she had these lovely. . . “Adolf! Adolf!! Adolf!!!”
I realised I was daydreaming, and my boss was calling my name. I then turned and made the excuse that I was tired and didn’t sleep early enough the day before (and obviously didn’t expect to wake up this early). I made it more convincing by feigning a yawn. He then apologized for the impromptu meeting and told me to clear my head and be at my smartest because there were delicate issues at hand (in my mind—“I don’t see anything more delicate that my night sleep at the moment”)
These gentlemen here, “He said, are from the Archaeological Society of Nigeria (ASN) and the same applies to the lady”, He continued.
“What are they here for?” I asked. One of the men was stout and wore a black smart suit and a red tie, while the other was slimmer and didn’t have a tie on although he also wore a black suit. It was the stout man that replied in a rather croaky voice; we are from ASN (Archaeological Society of Nigeria) and we require your expertise in our search for a long lost relic (in my mind—“you don’t say? That was why I had to wake up by 4:00am! Long lost relic! Can’t we look for it during the day when it is bright?).
“What do you require my expertise for?” I asked, looking at the stout man. His slimmer colleague replied, “we are not the ones that need your expertise but your country. Here with me is one of our leading archaeologists Miss Charon Stone; she stumbled across a very important archaeological artefact”.
“Miss Charon, please show him”, He said. “So Charon is her name”, I thought to myself; She had barely said anything since I came in. She opened a duffel bag and brought out what seemed to me like a phyllite plate (phyllite is shale that has been metamorphosed; it is usually recognised by its glossy sheen).
She gave the plate to me and our hands got in contact with each other, it felt nice . . . . Finally she spoke “This is a phyllite plate”,
“Just as I thought”, I replied.
She gave a faint smile and then continued; “Take a closer look at the plate, what do you observe?”
At first I saw nothing out of the ordinary but on a closer inspection, things that resembled characters in the form of dots and lines began to appear. It was like a language of some sort, I tried to make out what sort of language it was; it didn’t seem to fit in with any language pattern I was familiar with. I saw myself as a connoisseur of sorts of languages, been able to speak five Nigerian languages, in addition French, German and Spanish; with an understanding of cuneiform and hieroglyphics. You would understand my surprise. I still had that bewildered look on my face when Charon giggled, sensing the confusion on my face and said.
“This is an old Ge’ez code from Ethiopia, It was written at about 1539AD, it most probably was written in the ancient town of Axum; the then capital of Ancient Ethiopia”. Now I know why she kept quiet all this while; it was probably because spoke geek instead of English. Cutting her short, I asked “If I got what you said right, you are telling me that this phyllite plate was gotten from Kenya?”
“No!” She replied, “We actually found it in Kano and it’s Ethiopian not Kenyan”.
“Either way”, I thought to myself, “it’s not from Nigeria”.
So I asked, “How come it was found in Nigeria when as you stated earlier, it’s from Ethiopia and now a relic of the archaeological society of Nigeria and not the archaeological society of Ethiopia?”
“Well”, she replied; “what you have here is like a manual on how to use the philosopher’s stone”.
“What!” I exclaimed, “She must be joking” I thought to myself “the philosopher’s stone, does she even know what she’s talking about?”
She continued, “You must have heard about the philosopher’s stone”.
Of course I had heard about the philosopher’s stone. Even without J.K Rowling’s popular book “Harry potter and the philosopher’s stone” and it’s blockbuster movie, there have been several movies done and books written in relation to the stone.
I just nodded to signify that I had heard about it.
She continued, “You see the philosopher’s stone is a legendary alchemical substance”.
I know, I said; interrupting her ‘‘it is said to be capable of turning base metals such as lead or silver into gold”.
“I see you have done your home work well”, she complimented. “Well that’s not all”, She continued. ‘‘It was also believed to be an elixir of life useful for rejuvenation and possibly for archiving immortality”.
Cutting her short I stated: ‘‘you told me earlier that the phyllite plate..... <<continue reading>>


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