Name: Sophia Alexander<br/><a class="postlink" href="http://i.imgur.com/TO0Orxx.jpg">http://i.imgur.com/TO0Orxx.jpg</a><br/>Nickname: FiFi; Mouse<br/>Age: 28<br/>Gender: Female<br/>Occupation: Archaeologist and Greek Mythologist<br/>Height: 5'8"<br/>Weight: 145lbs<br/>Hair Color: Dark Brown<br/>Eye color: Green<br/>------<br/><br/>Today was the day. She could feel it in her bones; well that was just what she thought to herself every day.<br/><br/>The sky was bright and clear, the color of azure was so pure. There was a light breeze, the smell of the salt familiar to her senses. The sun beamed strong rays upon her back; it was like any other day out on the job. However, today was the day, she knew it. She had been searching for years, in order to reclaim the esteemed name of her grandfather and her father before her. She knew that they were right, they weren't crazy. She would spend the rest of her life trying to prove it. She smiled slightly as she reminisced about the past, the stories that she grew up with and the ones that she would pass on to her children, if she ever decided to settle down.<br/><br/>She grabbed her clip board as she moved towards the railing of the ship that she was on. She stared down into the clear waters of the Mediterranean Sea, the turquoise color glistening in the sun. They had been out, since the new day was breaking. What would cause them to leave so early? What was she so invested in? Long ago, her grandfather had been doing his fieldwork in Greece, off the coast of Kalamata. He had found a Grecian scripture reciting the tales of Atlantis. He had been so driven by the notion that this mystical island could have existed that he pursued after these tales, he even went as far as to hold conferences with all the evidence he could find. Her father had followed after him, searching for the lost city. However, due to many debates and non-believers, her family's name had been tarnished over the last fifty years. No one had believed her successors. Every time they had gotten close to discovering the secrets, they were cut short. It was like all their materials and discoveries had disappeared.<br/><br/>The scripture that her grandfather had found fifty years ago had disappeared, the amulet that her father found twenty years ago had done the same, and sometimes she would lose pieces of pottery she had excavated from the sea floor. It was as if something was trying to keep them from redeeming their family name. Maybe she was being too pessimistic about it; after all, she was hoping that today would be the day that all her hard work would be paid off. For the last twenty years, she had been working hard for this moment. The radar had picked up something strange about 3,500 meters below them. They had set off from the coast of Crete, one of the areas that her grandfather had written about as being a possible area. Then again, she had spent the last eight years travelling to every place that had ever been written about between her successors.<br/><br/>The machine that had been digging around the ocean floor suddenly caused the boat to jolt. She quickly grabbed onto the railings in order to keep her balance. "What the hell? Be careful with the crane," she yelled, turning around to glare at the man operating the machine. He poked his head out of the window, a frown on his face. "Stop complaining, it looks like we hit something," he grumbled, rubbing the shadow of a beard that dotted his jaw line. Her eyes brightened with excitement, could this be it?<br/><br/>"Alright, bring it up!"<br/><br/>A crane whined as the operator began to move it, grabbing hold of what it had hit. The crew of the ship and her archaeology team slowly started to move to the deck, wondering what all the commotion was about. "What's going on Sophia," one of her companions asked.<br/><br/>"I think this is what we've been searching for, Adrian," Sophia said, unable to hide the excitement that was buzzing throughout her body.<br/><br/>"How many times have you said that," Adrian muttered, only to get punched in his left shoulder. He let out a sigh, shaking his head.<br/><br/>Sophia watched the line slowly pull up whatever that it had found; it was going too slow for her liking. She started bouncing up and down on her feet, her teeth chewed on her lower lip, and she felt like she was going to vomit. She stepped away from the railing as the boat began to creak; her eyes were moving all over the place, hoping that nothing was going to interfere with her discovery. She would redeem her family name, which was all she ever wanted. She tugged on the hem of her shirt, unable to fight the nerves that caused her body to tremble.<br/><br/>"Look out," the operator yelled as the crane came out of the water, the claw was covered in seaweed but held a object in its grasp.<br/><br/>Everyone moved away in order for the crane to place the object on the deck. Once it was settled, Sophia quickly rushed to inspect it, her hands brushing away the seaweed. She was kneeling down in front of the object, delicately brushing away the sand, coral, seaweed and sea life that clung to it, only to discover that the object was an old chest. Her jaw dropped as she looked at the elaborate designs that had been carved into the hard material. Although the chest was worn and tarnished, it was the most beautiful material remains she had ever seen. The chest was a dull grey; it had to have been made out of some sort of steel. Stone would have been disintegrated by the ocean thousands of years ago. The designs on the chest fascinated her, though it was hard to tell what exactly the figures were doing. Her hands traced over the writings on that encircled the entire chest, but she knew that this wasn't Greek. No, this had to be the famed Atlantean language. There was so much going on for her brain to process, it was like some sort of surreal dream.<br/><br/>She could feel the rest of the crew crowd around her, wanting to get a better look. "Go get a crowbar, we need to open this," Adrian called out.<br/><br/>"No," Sophia said suddenly. "We need to write down this exact location and take pictures and document this immediately." She stood up, pulling off her backpack, searching for her camera. She stopped and looked at her crew. "I'm serious! We need to record all of this before we forget! I need the exact time and date, the location, how many meters we found it, and so much more. This is a huge discovery and we need to be as thorough as possible."<br/><br/>â€œHow do we even know if it is the real deal,â€ Adrian questioned, crossing his arms over his chest. â€œI have been on your team for eight years, from the very beginning. All we had found were a few pieces of pottery and those somehow got stolen. So, I want to make sure this is it, this is what we have been looking for.â€<br/><br/>Sophia frowned, her green eyes staring at her longest companion. It was true that they had barely found anything in the last eight years, she could understand his skepticism but he had always stood by her, even during those dreadful press conferences. He never once doubted her, but surely he was growing tired of travelling all over Greece, looking for evidence that she believed was there. She glanced from the chest to him and let out a sigh. â€œLook Adrian, I know that these last eight years have been rather lacking but this is itâ€¦.I know it is.â€ She noticed the way he still seemed unhappy. â€œLook itâ€™ll take an hour to record all the details and then we can open it. I promise.â€<br/><br/>â€œAlright, fine. Itâ€™s your world.â€ Adrian turned away looking at the others. â€œYou heard the Boss Lady; itâ€™s time to record everything.â€<br/><br/>Thank God he was so level-headed. Sometimes she wondered why he stuck around for so long. She looked back at the chest, studied it long and hard. Her heart was pounding in her chest and her mouth felt extremely dry.  She watched her crew begin to move around taking pictures at all different angles, while the others began to record everything. Sure, she was a little too demanding for all the details but this...this was what she had been searching for, for eight years now. Her family had been searching for fifty years; this would be what she needed to prove that Atlantis existed.<br/><br/>She felt overwhelmed by emotions, though this was no time to be crying. She had pictures to take, details to record, and then there was the part where they opened the chest. She was too excited to think, she couldn't wait until she told her father and grandfather about this later. She grinned the entire time as she began the process of documenting the chest.<br/><br/>Today was definitely the day.