Seekers of the Crypt; the Lost Artifact

Decipher the Text

After dinner, Garie stomped her way toward her room. She can’t believe that her uncle wanted not just a guy but two guys to stay with her, not to mention work with him. The surprise infuriates her.

She decided to have a warm bath to relax. And when she’s finally soaking in a warm bath, and the aromatic scent of lavender invaded her nostrils, she finally let out a sigh of contentment. But then her mind went back to their guest.

Jin Qiang or James, as how he likes to be called is her childhood friend who likes to tease and bully her. The two of them and two more children became friends when every summer vacation, their families would get together. Since they were kids he would tease her, and bully her but when she starts to cry he would be the first one to make her smile.

James was a lanky kid before; Garie didn’t expect him to grow to be such a hottie. A smile then grew on her lips as she remembered when she laid her eyes on him earlier. His serious face contradicts the playfulness in his eyes, and she finds it cute. Garie then shook her head when she realized what she was starting to think of him. She then decided to think about something else, and her mind then went towards the jade tablet that was sent to her.

She feels like there is so much more in that tablet, especially since it contains the glyph that meant cure and immortality. It made her think; that a cure is relevant but immortality, she wonders if it’s really true. Can someone really live forever? She asked herself.

After her relaxing bath, she changed into her pajamas, and then she grabbed her bag and went towards her grandfather’s office. She looked around before she picked the lock and quietly crept inside. After her grandfather died, her uncles kept the office locked most of the time to prevent her from rummaging through his things. But of course, the curious cat in her made her pick the lock and did what her uncles forbade her to do.

Once she was inside, she carefully went towards the desk and turned on the desk lamp before taking a seat on the chair. Her grandfather’s office is like a museum as it contains a lot of expensive antiques, books, and rare items. She then pulled out her laptop from her bag and placed it on the table. She turned it on and opened the file that contains the scanned details of the tablet.

Once the file was displayed on the screen, she then let a certain software analyze the data that was collected on the tablet. Once it was done analyzing, it was confirmed that the tablet was a high-grade jade that dated thousand years back. It fascinates Garie that the way the glyphs were engraved is very meticulous. Every curve is a work of art.

When it is time for her to try and decipher its inscriptions, she stood up and went towards the huge portrait of her grandfather. She run her fingers along the edge of the golden frame and pressed a button. Then the painting swung open, revealing an old vault that was fixed against the wall. She then started rotating the knob that corresponds to the six number codes that she immediately memorized after seeing her grandfather open it once.

When the vault opened, she pulled the door open and pulled out an old journal that was hidden behind the stacks of gold bars. Then she walked back to the table and took a seat. She started going through the pages of the journal until she found what she was looking for.

The journal was her grandfather’s notes and records of everything that he learned ever since he started doing the Seekers business. If she would rely on her own knowledge of ancient scripts, she won’t be able to decipher the text, a good thing her grandfather’s notes are there for her reference. Garie grinned when she finally found the page where her grandfather noted the translations of ancient glyphs.

Then she grabbed her notebook and pen, and started deciphering the inscriptions on the tablet; writing down what she translated. The glyphs used on the tablet are really confusing that she had a hard time deciphering them. Not only that some glyphs are not in her grandfather’s notes, but some of the glyphs also have two or more meanings.

Garie has no choice but to decipher the whole text using each meaning. She worked hard on it that she spent the whole night inside her grandfather’s office. It was around dawn when she finally finished deciphering, but she hasn’t made up anything from it. She finally felt how sleepy she is, she decided to put away everything including the journal. She placed it back in the vault and locked it up.

Then she put away her things into her bag and fixed the table. She closed the lamp and grabbed her bag before carefully going out of the office locking it behind her. She then sneaks her way back to her room.

Unknown to her, James saw her come out of the office when he had just come up from getting a cup of coffee. James watches her sneak back to her room and it made him smile.

“Can’t sleep or you just wake up?”

James was startled when Michael appeared right behind him.

“I can’t sleep. Maybe it’s the jetlag talking.”James told Michael while his eyes were still on Garie.

Michael noticed it too and let out a chuckle.

“Margareth thought we wouldn’t know that she would sneak inside dad’s office. She even learned to pick the lock.” Michael said.

“Why would she go there?” James asked.

“Didn’t you remember how dad would always bring her there? She spent most of her time with dad inside his office, learning everything from dad himself. When dad passed away she was devastated and we thought she wouldn’t move on if we let her in the office so we locked it. But as you can see, she found a way to get inside.” Michael explained.

“What was she doing there anyway?”

“Doing what dad would always do, studying, researching, and deciphering.”

James then looked at Michael.

“Do you think she deciphered the jade tablet?” He asked.

“Without a doubt. She can’t decipher it on her own so she went inside dad’s office for help.” Michael answered and then he turned towards him.

“You should try to get a shut-eye; I have an early business meeting in Wales so I have to get ready,” Michael said and then he patted James’ shoulder before walking away.

After Michael was gone, James also went back to his room. After he finishes his coffee, miraculously, sleep finally came to him.

*****************************.

It was around afternoon when Garie finally woke up. She still feels a bit groggy but she still got up and took a shower. She changed into a white shirt with red stripes and denim shorts before she went down to find something to eat.

When she got into the kitchen, she saw James eating a sandwich. He looked like he has just gotten out of the shower and he was wearing a white shirt and ripped jeans. And base on his nonstop yawning, he seems like he just woke up.

“Just woke up?” She asked him and he nodded as she went to the fridge and opened it.

Garie doesn’t seem to like anything inside the fridge so she closed it again. Then James offered her the other slice of his sandwich.

“Jetlags are the worst,” James said, and then she urged her to get the sandwich.

Garie looked at him and then at the sandwich. Because of her hunger, she grabbed the sandwich and mumbled a soft thank you. Then James grabbed two glasses and then he poured some orange juice into them and gave the other glass to Garie as she munched on the sandwich.

The two of them quietly ate their sandwich, until James decided to break the silence. He plopped his elbow on the counter as his fist supports his chin.

“Do you need help with the decoding of the tablet?” He asked and Garie looked at him.

“I think I can manage for now, but I’ll let you see it and tell me what you think when we go back to London.” She told him and James smiled.

“I’ll look forward to that.” He said.

There was another wave of silence between them when Garie chose to ask him.

“You were sent here because of the Lost Artifact, I know it. Can you tell me what you know about it?” She asked and James looked at her.

“Not much. From what my grandfather told me, the Lost Artifact was a jade mask.” He told her.

“Jade again? Did it originate from China?” She asked.

“What made you think that?” He asked back.

“Well because jades are from China?”

James smiled at her.

“Jade is mined in many locations around the world. Both jadeite and nephrite are found in Russia, China, and Guatemala. But yes, Jade has been mined and worked in China since the Stone Age.” He explained and then Garie gave him a deadpan look for giving her a lecture.

“That being said, does this mean that the Lost Artifact is from those three locations?” She asked.

“That can be the answer but until we found that artifact, we wouldn’t know.” He told her.

“What does this artifact do? Aside from it will cost a fortune and a nice addition to the museum, why is it really important?” She asked.

James stared at Garie before he sighed and finally answers her.

“My grandfather said it has something to do with Tiān sānjiǎo(***).”He answered and Garie furrowed her eyebrows.

“What’s that?” she asked again.

“Heaven’s triangle.”