Athena_4some.mp4

When he looked back at the screen, the four figures were gone. The room in the video was empty, but the LED cube was still there, now glowing a steady, defiant gold. The timestamp on the video file read October 14, 2029 —three years into the future.

Elias realized with a cold shiver why the number had dropped. He looked at the security camera in the corner of the lab. It was blinking red, recording him. He was the new participant. He was now part of the file. Athena_4some.mp4

Elias tried to pause the video, but his cursor wouldn't move. The file began to delete itself, the progress bar eating away at the data until the media player snapped shut. He pulled the flash drive out, his heart hammering against his ribs. When he looked at the drive in his palm, the plastic was warm—hot, even—and the handwritten label had changed. It no longer said Athena_4some.mp4 . When he looked back at the screen, the

"Is it recording?" a voice whispered, sounding impossibly close, as if someone were standing right behind Elias. He spun around. The lab was empty. Elias realized with a cold shiver why the number had dropped

In the same jagged handwriting, it now read: Athena_3some.mp4 .

The "4some" wasn't what a casual browser might expect. The camera was fixed on a heavy oak table where four individuals sat in absolute silence. They were dressed in modern clothes, but they wore 3D-printed masks of the goddess Athena—stark, white, and expressionless with empty eye sockets.

The file sat on a discarded flash drive Elias had found in the back of a drawer in the university’s archaeology lab. It was labeled simply: Athena_4some.mp4 .