It was hot. The temperature hung in the high eighties. But it seemed much hitter than that, to the workers. They had been working without much rest that week in the dry plains of South Africa. They were digging. They were digging up some sort of ruin that was lost long ago.

Archeologists Ivan Von Coy was the one who discovered that the top of it was in fact, the tip a building rather than a boulder in middle of the field.

Dust kicked up in the air, creating low hanging cloud across the whole site. Ivan climbed down the slope to the door way that just been revealed. The thing was huge. It towered at least a meter over his head.

“The building shares characteristics of both Victorian and Persian designs,” a woman’s voice said behind him. “Yet they are half way around the world from them. No one, before the colonies built anything like this. It would be one of many if that was the case.”

Ivan turned his head and saw pretty dark woman behind him.

“And you are?”

“Zoë Danidel. I’m a historian.”

“Ivan VonCoy. Archeologist. I found this place,” he said shocking her hand.

“Your tests so far show that this is six hundred years old,” she brought.

“More or less.”

“That doesn’t make since at all. There were no castles or structures like this, in this part of the world.”

“Well, you’re standing in front of one. What’s your theory, Zoë?”

“That they would have to rewrite a bit of history, I guess. This changes everything. What’s inside?”

“I don’t know. That’s what I’m about to find out.”

He pushed the door open with a bit of a struggle. He got to open just enough to slip through. Zoë followed.

The room was dark. The only light supplied, was the light shining through the open door. A new beam of light shot out form behind.  Ivan quickly turned to see the source and saw Zoë with a flashlight.

“Need one?” she asked handing him a light.

“Sure,” he said taking it.

“It never hurts to be prepared for everything.”

“Hey whose bloody operation is this? Yours or mine?”

“No one’s. Actually, this temple is on the heart of South Africa’s wilderness. Land that may be part of the country but virtually unclaimed.”

Ivan only looked at her. She was a girl with all the answers and he hated that. Yet he went on with out a word.

They shined the flashlights around the room. It may have been set up like a church. It was a place of worship with a tiny hall and dome room. Symbols and pictures covered the walls. Yet they resembled nothing that appeared through out other religious artwork.

“This is incredible,” Zoë said.

“Very,” Ivan said. “And what is this up here?”

Zoë followed Ivan to a table at the end of the long hall. She shined her flashlight onto what he was looking at. It was a mummified corpse. It was a corpse of a young woman. She was curled up on the table as though she had died in fear. Yet something about this corpse struck the two of them as odd. The girl had wings.

Zoë circled the body shining a light onto it.

“What do you think?” Ivan asked.

“I think we hand an angel.”

“You don’t think it could be a mutation?”

“It’s possible. I guess. But if it was, there would have been others in history, I think.”

“This is amazing,” he said. “Do you have any idea of what this is worth?”

“Or the idea of the number of wars it will cause,” Zoë said. “I say we not let anybody get wind of this until we know exactly what it is.”

“We?”

“You and I are the only ones who know about this. And I think it would be better if we not let people know about this until you think out a plan.”

“Plan. What the hell do I need a plan for?”

“I don’t think you see what I’m trying to say here Von Coy. Nearly all wars have been based upon a dispute over beliefs and religion. If you exploit a winged corpse, people are going to think angel. Half the world believes in a religion that one way or another relates to angels. And they will not like it if you advertise it to be a specimen of any experiment. When we take something that half the world may consider being sacred then we have quite a dilemma on our hands.”

“And you think people will go to war over this corpse?”

“People have gone to war for less. We just need to-”

“First, stop using the word we, because you did not discover this temple. I did. So for anything inside the temple, I will be the one to decide what to do with it. You are not involved in the least.”

“I am only warning you that-”

“Zoë, are you done yet? You are beginning to sound like a broken record. This is my discovery, not yours. So I suggest you let it go.”

“But-”

“Maybe you should leave before I have you removed.”

Zoë stood there stunned. She could not believe what he just told her. Was he really so self absorbed, that he would not listen to any sort of reason. She guessed so.

“Well I’m taking my flashlight then,” was all that she would say before snatching the flashlight out of Ivan’s hand.

She then left there.

“Hey you’re just going to leave me in the dark back here,” Ivan said. “Why are you so mad?”

Zoë didn’t answer. She was too frustrated to answer. He was being a jerk and she didn’t even want to talk to him again. She just went home.

Her plan was to forget it. She wanted to forget it entirely. But as much as she tried to ignore it, she couldn’t. After all it was the find of the century. A six hundred year old temple found in center of South Africa that appeared to be a tomb with a winged corpse. She should have been working with Von Coy out in the field, but he was such a jerk. Could she really stand to work with him? She did a lot of work for the museum and this research could get her a lot of money. Very lucrative for her, but could she manage to work in the disaster he was willing to create.

And as time went but, the corpse made headlines on national news through television and internet feed. Magazine articles were published. Hell, Von Coy also made the cover of Time Magazine. And she worked in the libraries day after day making sure that the books were up to date. She started to feel like an idiot. She was stupid not to take a job with Von Coy when she could. She had to give it another try.

Unfortunately, she did not have a phone number or any other way to get a hold of Von Coy. But she needed get to him some how. And the only way to see him was to go to the site. She needed to make the offer. She would just go crazy, if she didn’t do this.

As she returned, she saw that the dig site had expanded. There were at least twenty tents surrounding the front doors of the temple. It was like a tiny wood stock filled with a massive number if daggers and scientists. It actually occurred to Zoë then that he might not need a historian. He may already have one, two or eve three. Yet despite the fact that she felt useless, she wanted to go ahead anyway.

She asked around and was told that Von Coy was most likely in the temple working.

She trusted that he was right and proceeded into the temple with the flashlight in hand. But she entered she found something completely different.

There was a trail of blood leading into the center of the room. There she found Von Coy lying on his back in the middle of the room with a bullet hole in his head.

“Oh my god,” she said in shock.

She then looked up to the crypt in the center of the room and saw that corpse was gone. Some one had stolen it right under their nose. Who ever did it wanted the body so badly, they killed Von Coy for it.

He was stupid and most likely brought this onto his self. Zoe even warned him of it, but he didn’t listen. He wouldn’t listen. And here was dead. But he didn’t deserve this? No one did.

And Zoë looked back to the door realizing for the first time that the people outside clearly had no clue that a murder and robbery had just taken place.

And as for the body. No one had a clue as to where that went. It could be anywhere in the world now.