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The Dig

At the northern end of Tarret's Gorge, the sun-parched earth is slashed open, to reveal the dry, dusty interior, giving way to darker, cooler soil further down. About two dozen people are there, armed with shovels, picks, brushes, trowels and toothbrushes. The team of archaeologists is a class of college students, here to hopefully answer questions about the enigmatic Torston people. A civilization that was born and thriving two thousand years before the Egyptian Empire. Then, like the lost colony of Roanoke, the Torstons vanished, leaving behind everything. Including their glassworks, for which they had been renowned.

The team's findings so far have been sorted and recorded, including a three-foot-long strand of red glass beads. That had been dug up a week ago. Some of the students are beginning to think there's nothing more to be found. But there's still a small team of four or five that have dug in even deeper. One girl, Melysa, is carefully turning over portions of dirt with her trowel. She stops as the blade scrapes across glass. Carefully, she brushes dirt away, and finds herself looking at a flat portion of glass.

"Hey. I've got something!" she calls excitedly to the Professor and her classmates. "Come over here! It's big, I can tell that much!" Melysa pushes aside more dirt, wanting to see what she's found.

Light? Is this a joke? Locked away underground, and hidden from view of the diggers, a pair of malevolent eyes glitters behind a stiff, jeweled mask. The being dares to feel hope with this fragile ray of sunlight.