Since the beginning of human history there have always been inconsistencies in humanities genetic tree, with missing links and extinct ancestors, where did they go?, what happened to them?, those kinds of questions are what plagued the mind of Spanish archaeologist Rodrigo since he was young, and visited the Altamira caves in Cantabria.
His parents had taken him there as just a Saturday plan, but they had no idea that that decision... would change Rodrigo's life forever.
Those drawings on the walls of bison, deer, and other humans as they were hunting or just the negatives of their hands on the walls... it was fascinating to him, humans tens of thousands of years ago had stood in the same place as him and drawn all those wonderful scenes... were they happy? Were they celebrating a good hunt? or were they just hungry and planning for the next?...
With all those drawings from ancient humans, that very day his curiosity, the very thing that makes us humans..., was sparked.
Young Rodrigo: "mom... I wanna be an archaeologist when I grow up!"
Both of his parents were surprised at the sudden yell, so they quickly apologized to the guide and crouched beside him.
His father ruffled his hair and asked with a smile: "so you wanna be an archaeologist huh? what are you gonna research then?"
Young Rodrigo pointed at the drawings: "that! I wanna know who they were! how they lived! I-"
Mother: "shhh, don't shout honey, it's okay..., if that's what you wanna do in life, then we will support you" she then smiled and kissed his forehead.
Father: "Just promise us you will study hard okay? if you are gonna do it, then be the best!"
Young Rodrigo nodded seriously: "i promise!"
Father: "that's my boy! now let's continue the visit okay?"
Young Rodrigo: "okay!"
Years passed and Rodrigo kept his promise, he didn't get the best marks in other subjects, but he was always the best in biology, geography, physics, history, and all other subjects related to archeology.
Finished high school, he enrolled at university to get a degree in archaeology in Madrid, and after finishing the best of his promotion, he managed to get a job in the South, he had done his field practices nearby so it was easier for him to get a spot.
He was in Gibraltar in the south of Spain, the last believed refuge of Neanderthals was here, in the cave of Gorham where our protagonist was investigating some Neanderthal carvings and remains along with other archeologists.
"¡Rodrigo!, ¡get that bucket checked!" shouted the chief archeologist.
Rodrigo, our young archaeologist, and protagonist was just an archeologist's aide for now.
"¡going!, I will screen it now!" answered Rodrigo.
The entire team had been working for a long time, and had found quite a bit of things buried in the mud layers inside the tunnels of the cave, from dolphin bones, and intricate stone figurines, to carved deer bones, the problem was that they had to stop at times due to the tide, since the water level had gone up by a lot since ancient times, with the seawater now flooding the cave at high tides.
Rodrigo had just used a metal screen on a wheelbarrow to screen through three entire buckets of mud, all while enduring the scorching summer sun from the South of Spain.
"hope we find something cool today" Rodrigo mumbled to himself.
That's when someone told him "Rodrigo, the tide is going up, go inform those inside the cave to exit!"
Rodrigo: "okay, right on it sir!" Rodrigo was happy to go into the cool shade inside the cave.
The entrance to the cave was muddy and quite slippery, so he held a rope that was tied at the entrance as he slowly descended inside with a headlamp.
He walked through the dark, wet, and muddy cave floor with his rubber water boots squeaking as he went.
Deep inside the cave, on a muddy slope, he saw the leader archeologist smiling as he dug through a deep layer of mud, on his hand was a rough stone figurine of a quadruped lizard creature with long legs and a spiky spine.
Leader: "ah Rodrigo, just in time, what do you think this is?"
Rodrigo scratched his head: "a crocodile?"
Leader: "Bah, crocodiles don't have legs so long or spikes on their backs, this... is an unknown species!" the old man said with enthusiasm.
Rodrigo: "is that so... ah! doctor, the tide is rising!"
Leader: "is that so... then aide Rodrigo, pick my tools, I will go out first"
Rodrigo: "but-"
Leader: "I have my hands busy with this priceless figurine"
Rodrigo: "...I understand"
As the leader went out, Rodrigo used his hands to move the mud away as he the tools from the slippery mud.
As he was almost finished while muttering curses, and the water slowly flowing in pushed the mud away, he pick some tools that had slipped near the edge, and his lantern flashed over something shiny.
Rodrigo: "what the..."
Rodrigo put the collected tools in a bag and left them on a ledge further up, approaching the sparkle as he slowly advanced down the muddy slope again.
There he saw it, there was a precipice, the seawater churning at the bottom, but in front of him on a two meter away, and one meter down jump from him, there was a sparkling necklace on a stone ledge on the wall.
Rodrigo couldn't avoid smiling: "haha~ that is much better than that stone figurine... I have to get it!"
Rodrigo was quite athletic, and the ledge seemed sturdy for what he saw.
Rodrigo smiled to himself reassured: "totally doable~"
He took some steps back, ran, and jumped with his rain boots almost slipping down the ledge, but his hand managed to grab the ledge, he pushed half of his body up, and grabbed the collar, a sparkling metallic chain held a piece of golden metal with a rainbow colored jewel in the middle, the light of his flashlight coming out as lots of other colors.
Rodrigo: "wow... this... this can't be from the stone age..." his smile became wide at the realization "I'm gonna be famous... this is big! I will be way more famous than Modesto Cubillas for this..."
He looked down, the water churned down the dark slope, he would need both his hands, so he put the necklace in his t-shirt's pocket, and pushing his legs against the cave wall, he made the jump.
His left foot touched the ledge, as the feeling of success washed over him, but... the piece of ledge broke, his hands not ready to grab onto the slippery edge... he was falling.
Rodrigo: "shit!" time seemed to slow down as he saw the light reflected on the wet cave walls, soon his left leg impacted a rock, and broke, then his back.
He was sure he had broken his leg, but he couldn't feel anything from his waist down, the water pushed him against the cave walls again and again, as he did his best to protect his head. His skin broke and tore... his blood was everywhere on the water.
Rodrigo could feel it, his body felt cold and sluggish, and his eyes could barely open, the scenery turning dark: "I'm gonna die..." he muttered, minutes earlier he had been the happiest, but now...
The tide kept rising, and as the caverns flooded, the current hit his head against the rocky walls, his strength left him with the concussion, and he felt his lungs filling with water... his consciousness was fading, he could feel his life ending as he held on tightly to the necklace in his pocket, thinking "the rigor mortis will keep my hands in place, if they find my corpse with the necklace, at least..." and that was his last thought.
Darkness..., wet darkness all around him, but he no longer felt any pain.
"what's going on? am I dead?" Rodrigo thought, but he couldn't see, he couldn't move. The wetness around him felt warm though, not the cold he was expecting.
He concentrated and managed to move a bit but... his body felt different... strange... the proportions didn't match...
As he was thinking that, the world around him started to tremble, and he felt something squishing his entire body so much his head distorted.
"what the hell's going on?!" Rodrigo thought to himself.
His body travelled through a narrow wet tunnel, and then a light blinded him, he opened his eyes and could barely see blurred images around him, but then he looked at himself.
Rodrigo: "am I... a baby?! how?!" but only cries came out of his mouth when he tried to talk, a towering creature holding him on his arms, that was... "my father I guess... but that face... a Neanderthal?!" the face of him father and tribe members around, were surprisingly those of Neanderthals.
Rodrigo was in disbelief as the tribe people around him seemed to be cheering loudly.
His father smiled at him, and rested a finger on his chest: "Shak'Ar"
"guess that's my name..." Rodrigo thought, he looked around a saw his mother smiling tiredly at him from a pile of furs on the floor "that must be my mother he thought" as he thought that, a man weird man approached him, wearing a huge horned animal skull on his head like that of a lizard and deer combined, and multiple animal fur scraps stitched together.
On the left hand of that man there was a bowl made of an animal skull, and a glowing red liquid inside, the man observed him with a smile, he looked ancient from up close, his skin rugged like tree bark. The mysterious man dipped his index finger into the liquid and drew lines all over Rodrigo's body.
Rodrigo didn't know what they meant, but the liquid slowly absorbed inside his body, making him feel energized, but extremely sleepy at the same time.
Rodrigo could feel his eyelids drop as his father put him in the arms of his mother "well, I sure need a nap, can't figure things out tomorrow" and fell asleep soundly.