Sarcophagus

The Obsidian Crown

     The site was bustling with activity, for quite some time he had searched for the evidence, but now he might have found it. The evidence was years in the making and so many leads had evaporated. The obsidian crown was an artifact lost to time, it wasn't even supposed to exist. Along the Southern United States it was rumored that some Aztecs had left the confines of the Empire and moved north. This faction seemed to have splintered from the main empire and sought their fortunes northward. Warring with the indigenous tribes of North America, yielded some of the evidence that the new tribe had arrived. Tribal artwork had shown men wielding weapons with black stones on them, which was thought to be obsidian, which was used by the Aztec warriors. They soon dominated the landscape, setting up permanent settlements and agriculture, hundreds of years before the Pilgrims showed up. The obsidian had been recorded as being a vicious and effective weapon. The obsidian would chip and fester in the wounds. The leader of the new tribe was an Aztec called Yaotl, and he wore an obsidian crown to mark his reign. The crown is the piece that he sought after.

      The crown was the concrete evidence needed to prove the stories were indeed true. He had never felt so close before, all of the meticulous research and data collection had led to this. The shovels clanged on something hard and the crew jumped in with brushes and rakes, and in a few minutes the top of the stone sarcophagus was uncovered. Using the brushes they found the four corners and the pry bars were brought in. The crew struggled to lift the giant stone lid, they pulled against the stone with all their might. A loud hiss escaped as they separated the lid from the sarcophagus. The lid flipped over and landed with a thud in the soft dirt. Encased inside was yaotl, with an obsidian tooth club and his obsidian crown. He held both in his hands as if he should need them in the next world. Dr. Capell stood gazing into the stone coffin, just stuck in the moment, the disbelief of finally finding that which he had searched for. The crown sucked all the light out of the area, giving it an otherworldly look. The crew stood there with the doctor wondering what to do.

      "Dr. Capell, what do we do now?" One of the crew members asked him.

      "Sorry everyone, it's just hard to explain how I feel at this moment. I've been after this thing for so damn long and now I have it right in front of me, it's very surreal." Dr. Capell explained. 

      "So let's catalog everything and document our findings." Dr. Capell stated.

      A flurry of action followed; pictures were taken, rubs were done, samples were taken, but Dr. Cappell took the club and crown for further examination. 

      "Let's get any writing on the tomb translated as soon as possible." Capell ordered. 

      There was an Aztec language specialist he had brought with him, any writings left on the site could prove valuable to piecing together more of the story. Dr. Capell took his new treasures and retired to his trailer. There wasn't anything left for him to do at the site, so he might as well stay out of the way. Documenting the two items of the late King, Dr. Capelll donned rubber gloves and started his close inspection. The wooden club was massive, with sharp obsidian teeth that lined the outside of the club. Obsidian was a particularly nasty customer in his time, for the obsidian would chip and end up in the wounds. It was also rumored that these types of clubs could sever a horse's head in a single blow. The real prize was the crown itself though, proving all this wasn't a fantasy. The crown was an impressive creation to behold, totally flawless in its design. It was all that Dr. Capell hoped it would be when he finally found it. The script on the club proved it belonged to yaotl, another huge piece of the puzzle.

      The crown however didn't yield its secrets easily, even though it was clear as glass, no reflection could be seen in it. Dr. Capell put it through a machine that scanned items and even told their composition. When the crown was scanned it came back blank. Dr. Capell have never seen this before, maybe the machine wasn't working properly, so after a diagnostic test he ran the crown through again. Unexplainably it came up blank again. Puzzled, Dr Coppell removed it from the machine and decided to just do a visual inspection. Putting on the special glasses he flipped the light on and started to inspect the obsidian crown. The craftsmanship was impeccable. It looked to be made from a single piece, no seams or tool marks were apparent on the surface. It wasn't meant to be an extravagant piece, no points or other adornments were on the crown. It was simply an obsidian circle, that an ancient warrior king once wore. Moving the crown on his hands, he was amazed by the smoothness of the crown. He finally sat the crown down and took off his glasses.