The Son’s in law crew

It is difficult to escape from the overwhelming burden of tradition, especially if you grow up in a society that supports tradition more vigorously than the most fanatical dogmatist. Wealth, however, can be a ticket to escape for a while from its vanguart, and wealth was not lacking in the family of Manolios. The young man, feeling suffocated in such environment, used the family’s money to travel the world under any pretext – study, pleasure, work. This continued alternation between family pressure and nomadic freedom also had its price, and after graduating from the Institute of Agricultural Sciences in Berlin with a degree in molecular cultivation, he felt drowned by their demand to immediately return back and take over the family business. He packed his last belongings and abandoned the family home in Crete to wander for years in exotic destinations, expanding his horizons and creating unknowingly an endless network of friends and acquaintances.

On one of these trips, he met Alexandra, a student in the Department of Genetic Engineering at the University of Texas, USA. The petite mongrel, half German – half Greek, looked like fire. They two of them met at an activist action in Austin when he was on his way to the Burning Man Festival and made a stop in the city to pick up some friends. They led him to a demonstration in the heart of which that petite creature was standing. And yet that creature with the harsh hair had a spark and a fire that if you got too close it could burn you. That was easy to find out when four police officers fell on her to put her down, and she not only got up, but she picked Manolios’s bag and threw it to them. The rest is a story about fingerprints, plastic prison food, and a night that made them realize that they were meant to be together. For a few years, nomadic life was a way of always being together in whatever they did, but when Manolios visited her family house and found out about the hardcore, nationalist, fascist character of her stepfather, the choice to continue a nomadic way of living or settle somewhere away from the toxic environment of Alexandra’s family led them back to Crete.

Together they started building their lives from scratch, and after a few months they had already produced the first batch of medicine cannabis with a Cretan aroma. Because of the circle of friends of their old life, the product was channeled entirely to pharmaceutical companies and universities, giving them a comfortable life and plenty of new business opportunities to extend to. Economically settled and having satisfied their thirst for traveling, they decided to stay forever on the island, and within three years, Manolios decided to make the coveted marriage proposal to Alexandra.

Unfortunately, a new turn of events in relation to his wife’s biological father came to shake the waters of their daily lives. Alexandra’s father had disappeared a few days after communicating with his daughter to attend the wedding. Alexandra, in the midst of her turmoil, had told him about a great discovery of the archaeologist, for which he informed her that he was worried “if it fell into the wrong hands“. When he heard her testify to the police, who were investigating the case, what Cleopatras Kipselis had told her on the phone, Manolios considered that the archaeologist’s research could indeed change the world. It was then that Manolios realised that he could probably take advantage of the research findings and continue changing the world of medicine as we know it. He knew that his wife’s anxiety had to come to an end but he could also benefit from a successful conclusion of the research. He wasted no time and once again addressed his network of friends to find the answer to the mystery that forced the kidnap or even worse the death of her beloved father. He would keep this mission secret, not because he did not want to further disturb the love of his life, rather than he believed that at least, in case the professor was dead, he and his wife as first-degree relatives could benefit in the end.

Invitation

Letter

Hey everybody,

Hope you’re doing swell. Last year was great for me and Alexandra and it was a pleasure to host you all in Crete. Hopefully, this letter finds you all happier, healthier and with your new plans in progress despite CoVid-19.  As you already know, Alex and I are getting ready to get married. Nonetheless, this is a personal call for help that I ask of you not to share with her. Since we are supposed to be preparing the reception and stuff, I cannot personally take care of a situation that has surfaced. Do allow me to share with you few background information.

In recent months, Alex has shared with me the story of her biological father, the famous archaeologist Cleopatras Kipselis. From letters they’ve exchanged and Alex shared with me, it seems that her father has come across findings that would turn the world upside down. He usually spoke of them with fancy words like treasure, or something that will make people change their minds about the way they live. This exchange of letters has been going on for years, still, it wasn’t until few months ago that he revealed to her that his research site was established in mount Pelion, near a village named Kissos. The last letter, actually a package, was received a week ago and Alex chose to keep this one a secret. However, two days earlier when the police visited us and informed us that her biological father has dissappeared, she chose to share with me the letter, which among other things included the following phrase: “…my beautiful Amazon, I hope we’ll meet soon. Yet, I need to ask you not to share with anyone the findings that came to your possession. I am begging you, if the secret is revealed, the world will fall into the depths of Erevos. No matter the motives, humans will stand no chance if immortality was to be given to the ones not worthy enough. Please, I beg you keep it safe and I hope to be there by your side in your day of wedding, so that we may discuss what to do with it…”.

As you already know the purpose of our company is to guide more people to an alternative lifestyle and that’s the reason why I dare to ask of you to offer me your help. My father-in-law had dissappeared and I believe this has to do with his findings, which probably made some people feel uncomfortable. My request to you is to create a team and travel to Pelion. Once there, you’re to introduce yourselves as our company’s employees and thus use it as a cover to interact with authorities, locals, establish relations with the excavation team members – something difficult I guess with the police in your way – and if possible try to find out anything that might be useful to our mission. I would ask you to be as discreet as possible, having been informed by Alex that both the University in which her father worked and also her grandfather’s company have send teams to investigate the situation.

Sincerely yours
Manolios