Man Digs Up Basement And Discover Ancient City Underground

Something On The Wall

Jude was enjoying the company of his friends on a Friday night in his basement.

He had converted the concrete room into a mancave with darts, a TV, and even air conditioning.

But this time would be different. After roughhousing a little too much, one of his friends knocked over a standing heater and chipped the wall. At first, Jude was annoyed, but then he saw it.

Writing

Jude slowly approached the patch of wall that had been chipped away.

But instead of rough flakes, he saw the smooth stone. But it didn’t end there. He noticed strange writing.

It felt like something out of an Indian Jones movie. Had he stumbled upon something that had been buried for centuries? He wanted to find out more, but his friends didn’t seem to agree.

Speculation

Many of his friends told him that it looked like graffiti to them. It wasn’t an ancient script like he thought.

But somehow, their speculation only drove him deeper into becoming obsessed.

He felt ignored when they only quelled his excitement. He knew he had to prove everybody around him wrong, even if it meant spending a fortune.

Not Crazy

Jude knew that he wasn’t crazy. His friends had told him that the writing on his wall was just graffiti, but he knew better.

He devoted his free time to showing them that he was right.

He bought expensive tools to try and prove himself right. But it took a lot of dedication to get through the thick concrete walls. He nearly gave up; was he really crazy?

Breaking Through

After weeks of intensive labor in his basement, it seemed pointless. He didn’t seem any closer to finding any more of the ancient writing he had seen. But that’s when he broke through.

Suddenly, all of the resistance gave way, and Jude topped through his wall.

He landed on hard concrete shards and coughed his lungs out. But when he noticed where he had fallen, he knew his life had changed forever.

Jude Lawson

Even though Jude Lawson was technically a Citizen of Syria, he always felt like an immigrant.

Even though the place was his home, he was often mistaken as a tourist in his own city.

He understood the confusion and often surprised locals when he replied to them in their native tongue. But he knew why he was different; it was because of his father.

Jude’s Father

Jude’s father was a well-known and respected archaeologist.

He had been to dig sites throughout the world before he decided to settle in Syria, but it was for one special reason.

He was looking for something big but could never find it. While living in Syria, he found a distraction from his work, a woman who he later married.

Having Jude

After their matrimony, Jude was born. He never thought it was strange having a white father, but it was for a lot of others.

Still, Jude shrugged them off and continued his life as normal.

He remembered his father always being cryptic about his research. After he became a family man, he gave up on his adventures. He still had all of his records in a dusty trunk.

Tragedy

At the age of 22, Jude got the worst news of his life. His father passed away in his sleep at the age of 60. His world shattered, but at least he knew his father didn’t suffer.

His life went on as normal; he moved into a small house and tried moving on.

Now a more confident 25-year-old, he hosted parties for his closest friends and got into all sorts of trouble.

A Night Like Any Other

Jude decided to have a Friday night party after a long week of working his job in construction. The job was labor intensive, but it had its perks.

He had converted his concrete basement into a mancave with darts, a TV, and even air conditioning, all thanks to some of the tools from his job.

He thought that his days of borrowing tools were over. But it was only the beginning, as he would find out once he found something amazing.

A Party

Jude invited his friends around. It was a good night of shenanigans.

But one of his friends decided to wrestle a little too hard, and it would end in damage to his room.

But this time would be different. After roughhousing a little too much, one of his friends knocked over a standing heater and chipped the wall. At first, Jude was annoyed, but then he saw it.

Script

Jude slowly approached the patch of wall that had been chipped away.

But instead of rough flakes, he saw the smooth stone. But it didn’t end there; he noticed strange writing.

It felt like something out of an Indiana Jones movie. Had he stumbled upon something that had been buried for centuries? He wanted to find out more, but his friends didn’t seem to agree.

Recognizing It

Jude somehow recognized the writing. He shouldn’t have been able to, but memories of when he was young flashed before his eyes.

He remembered bugging his father while he was looking through his notes.

On one of his dad’s pages, there was writing just like the type he saw in his basement. Something sparked inside of him; he had to find out more.

Speculation

Many of his friends told him that it looked like graffiti to them.

It wasn’t an ancient script, as he thought. But somehow, their speculation only drove him deeper into becoming obsessed.

He felt ignored when they only quelled his excitement. He knew that he had to prove everybody around him wrong, even if it meant spending a fortune doing so.

Not Crazy

Jude knew that he wasn’t crazy. His friends had told him that the writing on his wall was just graffiti, but he knew better. He devoted his free time to showing them that he was right.

But in order to do that, he had to do something that he had put off for three years.

He had to face the box of his father’s possessions. He didn’t know he could do it.

His Possessions

When his father died, Jude inherited a box of his possessions.

There was a note on top that read, “For my son, maybe one day you’ll find the thing that I spent years searching for.” But Jude felt emotions rush through him.

He put the box in a cupboard to collect dust and tried forgetting about it. He couldn’t face that kind of emotional turmoil yet, but now he was forced to.

Facing His Past

Jude knew he had to confront the box if he wanted to find out more about the writing.

He pulled the box of relics out and started sorting through it. That’s when he found a letter from his father.

He took a deep breath and decided to read through it. He knew that it would rip open old wounds, but there was more to it than just words on paper. He had a message for his son.

A Message

“My darling son, I always saw the same spark of curiosity inside of you that I used to have when I was young. You need to nurture that curiosity and let it guide you. ”

“I never found the last relic I was looking for, but I found something better – a family. Remember to have adventures while you are young before you find the ultimate treasure.”

Jude’s tears stained the paper; he knew what he had to do.

Finding The Writing

Jude managed to find the old writing that he had remembered seeing.

He looked through the notes but got frustrated. There were no translations in any of the notes.

This meant that he had no idea what the writing on his basement wall meant. But at least he now knew that it wasn’t graffiti. Motivated, he pursued his new obsession.

Borrowing Tools

He borrowed expensive tools from his work to try and prove himself right.

But it took a lot of dedication to get through the thick concrete walls. It wouldn’t be an easy feat.

The concrete walls that lined his basement were also the foundations of his house. This meant that they were extremely thick, but it also meant that he had to be very careful.

Knowing What He Was Doing

Thankfully, working in construction, Jude found the blueprints to his house to see what parts of the basement were the foundations. He got home and rolled out the dusty plans.

They seemed old, but that’s when he noticed something peculiar about the plans.

The wall where he found the ancient script seemed to show a gap there. Was this the clue he needed?

Get ting To Work

When he wasn’t at work, Jude was trying to figure out how to find out more about what was on the other side of his wall.

The tools he was borrowing helped him break through most of the wall now that he knew where the foundations were.

But he had his doubts. Sometimes he wondered if he was doing anything or just ruining his basement. No one else believed him.

Crashing Through

But after weeks of feeling doubtful, one night, he was trying to shave more layers away from the wall when something incredible happened.

Suddenly, all of the resistance gave way, and Jude topped through his wall.

He landed on hard concrete shards and coughed his lungs out. But when he noticed where he had fallen, he knew his life had changed forever.

A Dark Place

Jude was in a dark crawlspace. He pulled his flashlight out of his tool belt and saw something that made his heart race.

The writing he saw was all over the inner walls of the space he had fallen into.

But there was so much more than that. He pointed his flashlight ahead and only saw darkness; how deep did this place go?

Exploration

He felt almost kindred with his father as he slowly pushed forward, the prospect of adventure keeping him going.

He didn’t want to fall and hurt himself, so he made sure every step was stable.

But after only two turns, he saw a branching path in front of him. It looked like he could easily get lost. Fear flooded his mind. He didn’t want to starve down here.

Getting Out

Jude managed to backtrack to the hole he had created and had to use all of his energy to climb back through it. It was a struggle, but he couldn’t believe what he had found.

He decided to do the right thing. Jude decided to contact someone he knew could help him.

It was an old colleague of his father’s. But he had no idea the man had ulterior motives.

Arriving The Next Day

After getting off the phone with the old archaeologist, he told Jude that he’d arrive in the morning. That meant all he could do now was wait.

Twelve hours later, Jude woke up to a knock on his front door. He quickly got dressed.

He expected to see the face of his father’s old colleague, but his face turned to horror when he was confronted with the truth.

The Authorities

When Jude opened his front door, he was face-to-face with a man who looked like some kind of authority figure.

He introduced himself as Abraham Hassan, a representative of The Safeguarding the Heritage of Syria and Iraq Project, or Shoshi for short.

He told Jude that what he had stumbled upon was a part of Syria that they wanted to protect and conserve.

Conservation

Jude spoke with the representative for a while until the colleague he had called finally arrived at the scene.

He explained to Jude that he was obligated to call Shoshi because of the gravity of what he had found.

But Jude still felt like he was in the dark. What had he really stumbled upon just meters from his basement?

A Lost City

The representative explained that what he had found was possibly a lost city. A part of ancient Syria that was built over centuries ago. They had already found parts of the city in other areas, but none where Jude lived.

It meant that they could learn a lot from the dig site, but what would happen to Jude’s home?

He was compensated for the value of his property by the government and even allowed to help on the dig site because of his father’s credentials.

 

In order to protect the privacy of those depicted, some names, locations, and identifying characteristics have been changed and are products of the author’s imagination. Any resemblances to actual events, places, or persons, living or dead, are entirely coincidental.