The Artifact | WOOSAN

2

Annoyance was nowhere near enough of a word to describe San's current mood. The air in Hogarro was hot and pressing, but the most stuffy and infuriating thing in that place were the people. The dry landing strip near the town's edge had never been San's favorite spot, but during the thickest heat of summer and the busiest vacation season, the whole strip was filled to the brim with his least favorite group of people: vacationing aristocrats. Rich people with vacation houses bigger than the average zoo and ideologies that seemed older than the mummies and ceramics San's profession focused on.

Having switched to a privately owned circuiting plane in Recanto, San' s day had been spent listening to moans and groans about the drastic decline of some diamond mine's productivity, how lord Baybroad's social circles were "simply unfathomable" and how the little lord Michael had been utterly bored the whole flight. After roughly fifteen minutes on board San had been ready to throw the Michael in question out of the plane window, boredom and all.

To add to San's misfortune, what waited in Hogarro would not brighten his day at all. As a matter of fact, the presence of Corresco would most likely bring forth catastrophic storm clouds over San's previously bright mood.

Holding on to the strap of his shoulder bag a bit tighter, San huffed out a long sigh, at long last exiting the plane-turned-modern-day-torture-chamber. No matter how hard he tried to hold on to his displeased frown, he couldn't stop a small grin from spreading on his face.

Regardless of his annoyance, San was excited for this new dig. Excited shivers ran down San's back just at the thought of the ancient mystery that started it all.

Even as a young child San had showcased great promise in the field of history, remembering and understanding details better than your average thirteen-year-old. After his hometown's local library had run out of new reading material, San had turned his eyes to the local Archaeology club. Filled with mostly graying old men, the club welcomed San and his thirst for knowledge with open arms.

Growing and learning amidst these loving old gentlemen, San thrived in the middle of old manuscripts and lost artifacts. Seeing the passion the young man showcased, on one fateful day the old retired archaeologists took him with them to Magna Domus, the Great House, the country's largest and most extensive museum.

What no-one could have guessed however, was that the young man barely out of high school was able to discover something never before heard of.

Standing in one of the archive halls, San had seen what professional archaeologists had yet to see. The secrets held by a single unassuming item.

The Artifact.

A tablet made of light gray stone, thin and cracked. Worn down by time, but still holding the carvings made centuries ago, at a time no-one living could remember.

The newest addition to Magna Domus' collection, freshly brought in. Thought to have been an impressive but common relic of the ancient Catus people (a long since faded community from the Western edge of Bolivia), the tablet didn't originally spark much interest in the museum's archaeologists.

Still, something about the rough, worn slab of stone had piqued San's interest. While the rest of the Archaeology club had already moved on to the next exhibit, San had lingered next to the tablet. A strong feeling in his gut and an odd tingling in his fingertips, he'd felt the need to get a bit closer to take just one final look.

And then he had seen it.

Strange repeating patterns in what was initially regarded as a decorative symbol ring on the tablet's surface (interesting, but nothing of major importance).

Only that the markings were a bit too systematically placed for them to have been only meaningless symbols meant for decoration. Certain markings repeated a couple of times within the symbol ring, some were only carved once. The pattern was too illogical for it to have been decorative symbols (those were often done symmetrically or at least with a certain pattern).