Yael Mouton was an archaeologist. One of the best in her field, in fact - a young woman with an extraordinary talent for tracking down treasures, and uncovering ancient secrets. Egypt, Rome, Mesopotamia, South America, China... She's seen them all, and brought back artifacts from each, giving them to the world's most prestigious museums...

Well, most of them, anyway.

It has been rumored (but never proven) that while she surrenders most of her finds to the curators, Yael has a habit of keeping some of keeping some of the finest treasures for herself, as a sort of finder's fee. A tomb raider, her less charitable colleagues might call her. And they are not...entirely incorrect.

Returning home from her latest expedition, Yael throws open the door to her bedroom, clutching her latest prize. Plucked from an ancient, elaborate Sumerian temple outside Uruk, the structure buried in the sands since before the written word was invented. Dedicated to a timeless, nameless god of bounty and fertility, it remained untouched for more than 4500 years - until Yael found her way inside. The Temple of Udu, she named it, after its pastoral pictograms.

The treasures inside were of immense historical value, already promising a huge advancement the understanding of Sumerian culture, but this... This was something else. A nearly fist-sized red gem of unimaginable brilliance, left laying on the altar of a great horned god, the stone practically called to her. The quality of it was impossible - no ancient civilization should have been able to make such clear, brilliant cuts, and yet there it was.

The Eye of Udu, the name it would have held if it was ever catalogued. Just holding it made her feel...powerful, euphoric, alive. It is not the first time holding an artifact made her feel something, but this was different - stronger, better, too much to be just her imagination. So she kept it. And even now, holding it in her bedroom, it makes her feel hot, flushed feverish, needy...

And much like after any normal, successful expedition, there's only one thing to do...




Art ©  shawoo