Trev’r felt his shovel strike something solid, quickly eased his shovel back out of the hard clay and put it aside, then knelt and began to patiently scrape away the yellow earth with his trowel.
His pulse began to race when he saw the first blue-red gleam of Founder Metal. Hands shaking slightly, he placed his trowel aside, jumped up, and ran to the ladder leading up out of the excavation.
“Come quickly!” he cried to his fellow monks when he reached the top. “I have found it!”
As Loryd and Gherr’m raced to join him, their worn sandals making clip-clapping noises, he scurried back down the ladder and retrieved his trowel. They joined him and knelt alongside him to assist. They asked no questions. They all knew the importance of what they sought.
The sealed ceramic crucible came to light slowly. One crack would doom them all.
When the crucible was cleared down to its octagonal base, Trev’r took the heavy brush from a loop on his robe and, after taking a breath to steady his nerves, began to clear away the sand and grit from the inscription.
Loryd had his lexicon out and opened to the appropriate page.
Trev’r read the ancient words to his fellow.
When, after a moment of translation, Loryd nodded, Trev’rs hands began shaking again.
“So this is it?” Gherr’m demanded, fear cracking his voice.
“Yes,” Trev’r gasped. “We have found a Particle of Creation, of the Second Tier!”