Chương 15: A Story Written on Stone(1)

After 8 days of travel, the carriage finally reached the city of Abdera.

The city's design was dissimilar to that of Olep, as instead of one singular and interconnected city, Abdera was composed of fortresses inside of which were buildings that abode to the ancient equivalent of zoning laws according to the purpose of the fortress.

Nonetheless, Abdera is quite a bit larger than Olep, and even the short walls couldn't conceal the bustling streets and the thriving port.

When they reached the walls of the city, the crew asked Alex if they should disclose on who's account he was visiting the city, but he refused, not wanting to be in the same situation as he was back in Olep as he wanted to explore the city freely. To be sure that it was fine for the crew, he asked them if they had any urgent plans.

They all denied and informed him that the consul back in Olep had arranged for them a whole month of paid leave, largely more than the time required for a round trip from Olympus to Abdera.

It seemed like he knew that Alex would want to visit the city.....He applauded his careful observation.

With that out of the way, Alex gave some gold coins to the crew to restock their supplies and left the carriage, willing to visit the city, well, at least what he could visit with the sky darkening and artifical sources of light taking the place of the sun.

After asking around some locals about the city, Alex now had a general overview of the way the city worked.

Abdera was composed of seven large fortresses, each serving their own purpose to the city. The one he was currently in was the Plebeian's residential quarters, a fortress with living places for the city's commoners and a small shopping and food district. There was also similarly the Patrician's residential quarters in another fortress, which contained living quarters for the city's nobles.

There was also a port quarter, containing both the city's sea port and dry port. The 'industrial' quarter also looked interesting, containing the city's art studios, textile 'factories' and food processing sectors. Those were in fact, the city's main industries and exports.

Those 4 were the only fortresses with a free movement policy, as the rest, which were the administrative quarter, the religious quarter and the King's quarter, were only to be visited with a permit conferred by the King's council in each fortress.

As for the fortress with the best food, most of the locals seemed to agree that it was the port quarter, as due to to the influx of people and goods, held a really large assortment of food and mercantile businesses held by foreign residents and a great diversity in terms of the cuisines.

By conversing with some of the locals, Alex also discovered the reason behind the city's peculiar architecture; Abdera held its roots in the Mycenean Age, before most of the Olympians were even born and instead of new buildings being constructed, they only repurposed and renovated old buildings while only building new ones when it was absolutely necessary.

While following the direction of the coast to enter the fortress, Alex was astonished at how Abdera managed its nighttime lighting. There were tall lanterns made with fireproof materials, inside of which blazed fires ignited from the animal fat they recycled from their textile sector, brightening up the city at night and allowing for a myriad of human activities even when the stars were visible.

While maintaining clueless internal monologues, he unknowingly had sight of the short walls in the distance but his walk was interrupted by a figure that stood in front of him. Alex stopped in his tracks and looked at the devil in question.

It was an unfamiliar man who appeared ordinary in every way except his clothes. He wore a sleeveless white linen shirt and black silk pants. The entire outfit was wrapped in an orange toga and he wore a brass olive hairpin. He looked a bit.....stylish? Alex thought.

The man then spoke "Sir, would you be interested in becoming our model?"

'Model? What is he talking about?' Alex was dumbfounded and looked at the man incredulously.

The man seemed to understand his gaze and started to blabber on "Bla...Bla...Bla...Bla"

After what seemed like a 15-minute speech, the chatterbox finally quieted down.

Alex didn't pay attention to the man for most of his 'speech' but he got the general idea. It seemed that recently, several art studios started working with the textile hegemons of the city to create line-ups of artful and stylish clothing and as a means of promotion, they would have good-looking people wear their clothes, plastered with the trademarks of the art studio, and walk around, publicizing their studio. It was essentially the Antiquity prototype of an influencer.

After consuming Ambrosia, Alex did feel like he became quite good-looking and that was probably why he was approached. It was too troublesome, however, so he flat-out refused.

After the man left with a sigh, he resumed his way back to the fort walls separating the port quarter and plebeian quarter, greeted by guards that let him pass after stealing a glance at him.

The port quarter did really look different from the residential quarter, with the wide streets instead replaced by narrow alleys with brick-red tall red buildings and diverse businesses dotted everywhere. Losing his sense of direction in the labyrinth of alleyways, Alex caught a whiff of an appetizing fragrance and followed it until he found a stairway leading to the rooftop of a building, which seemed to be the source of the fragrant smell.

He hence went up the stairs and found himself in a roof with archaic but comfortable looking couches, tables, a kitchen where you could see the cooks practicing their art and people crowding the place and occupying the chairs, waiting for their turns.

After going through the crowd, Alex barely found a table for himself and sat down. A waitress who looked foreign came up to him and gave him an overview of the menu. It wasn't very extensive but it sounded appetizing so he ordered and waited for his food.

Meanwhile, he kept thinking about the events that ensued the last time he went out for food. Meeting Aadityapal, the arrogant young master that was actually capable and strong and his caretaker, the immortal monk Padmapani. It was quite funny, but he would rather eat in peace tonight.

The food finally arrived and on the tray he could see the food he ordered. It was fried spiced dough with a vegetable and ground lamb filling and there were dips like chickpea paste(Hummus), crushed eggplant salad and a chili oil. It was a bit heavy but incredibly delicious as he finished the whole tray in a few minutes and paid his bill then left the overcrowded restaurant.

Remembering his way through the alleys, Alex found the fort walls and went back to the plebian quarter and found the carriage in the backyard of an inn that agreed to let them park there. Entering the big wagon, he found the crew eating and conversing and he greeted them with a smile and they did the same. He then went upstairs and readied himself to sleep, as he wanted to wake up around sunrise to be able to experience the whole city.

"zZzZzZzZzZzZ....." Soon enough, very light snoring sounds filled the carriage as the bustling city quieted down too and the light of the tall lanterns was replaced by the bright constellations of the night sky.

___________________________________________________________________________

As Alex woke up and left the carriage, he could observe the sun rising on the east side of the city, where the port was situated and he started running as not to avoid the scene of the dawn on the Aegean.

He was able to make it to the port neigbourhood uninterrupted in a few minutes and navigated his way through the maze, perceiving the city's residents waking up to open their shops and businesses, and left the maze soon enough, finding a marketplace and a busy sea port in front of him.

He asked one of the locals if there was any sort of sandy beach and they nodded, pointing south. Alex ran up there and found a pristine white beach, with small waves rolling on the fine sand and reflecting the reddish hue of the rising sun. There was boundless sea to all the directions of the horizon and the waters looked refreshing.

'To swim...or not to swim? That is the question.' Alex bemused to himself.

Ultimately, he decided on 'taking a dip' which of course meant swimming in the shallow waters of the coast and playing with water like a child for literally an hour or so.

After finishing his 'dip' in the sea, Alex dressed himself and started thinking on his new destination, which wasn't so hard to do, as the white limestone tower towering in the distance practically begged him to visit it.

Interrogating some of the residents, he discovered the tower was a lighthouse and one of the main landmarks of Abdera, standing upright since the city's founding.

It wasn't too far away and when he stood in front of the tall tower, he discovered a circular staircase that led up to the top of the lighthouse. Making his way to the top of the structure, Alex was surprised to see the whole city from the top of the tower.

The bustling port, the restaurant he ate in yesterday, the patrician and plebian quarters, the hilly part of the city containing the famed administrative, religious and King's quarter...

When he was appreciating the scenery, he noticed some writing on the walls of the lighthouse. It was foreign and clearly not Greek and also a bit faded away but he could distinguish what it said.

"Thank you very much for your company, prince of love. I, however, have to go back to my temporary abode. If you wish for us to meet again, please visit the Arc of Victory on the day of Venus(1) at the peak of the midday sun."

It seemed to be someone who met up with this 'prince of love' and wished to meet again, probably an invitation to a date. Alex grew curious, as the writing looked old and maybe he was onto an interesting event in the history of Abdera, or perhaps it was just that, an invitation to a date.

'The Arc of Victory...I'll have to ask around to see where this is' He thought to himself while anticipating the story he was about to uncover.