Twins Amber and Calcite couldn't be any less alike. Where Cal is happy to stay at home with his piano and guitar, Amber has a desperate need to see unknown places and explore the wilds. Chasing a childhood dream into the jungle of Selvadorada, Amber finds a dream cut short...and Cal finds himself living for two lives, instead of just one.
Nova: That’s your train. You’d better go.
Calcite: Yeah…we’ll talk soon.
Nova: I’m holding you to that.
Some days later…
Amber: Ugh…I did not miss this heat!
*knock on door*
Prof. Ciruela: Come in–oh, Amber! Welcome home, mija. How was university?
Amber: Eh, dull. Lots of listening to old men lecture on things they haven’t seen since I was born.
Prof. Ciruela: Buuuutt?
Amber: But I got my degree, full honors!
Prof. Ciruela: Oh, I knew it! Congratulations, Mija. You must email Canela and let her know as soon as possible.
Amber: Wouldn’t it be better to tell her in person?
Prof. Ciruela: Yes, but–well, I am afraid I have other work for you, first. Selvadorada will have to wait.
Amber: What? but I thought–
Prof: Oh, do not worry! You will still be going, but there was something discovered much closer to home while you were away. Come–I will show you.
Amber: is that–
Prof. Ciruela: Selvadoradan construction, hidden by hundreds of years of sand and stone. We only discovered it last winter.
Amber: but the Omiscans never came this far north! How did it get here?
Prof. Ciruela: One of the many questions we are trying to answer. Let me introduce you to the crew.
Prof. Ciruela: Mora! A moment, please.
Mora: Of course, Professor.
Prof. Ciruela: Mora, this is Amber Crystal. She’ll be helping out from now on.
Mora: Nice to meet you! Name’s Mora, but you can call me Mo, if you like.
Amber: Sure–so, where do you want hands?
Mora: Watcher, just pick a spot! We’re still trying to hit bottom in some places, so watch for scorpions and set any finds aside.
Prof. Ciruela: A moment, ladies, please. Everyone, a moment!
Pato: Hey, Professor–oh! You must be Amber. The Professor’s mentioned you’d be coming by! Guys, get over here.
Jungla: Oh, wonderful. Fresh eyes!
Coral: Perfect!
Mora: Amber, this is Pato, Jungla, and Coral. Don’t mind Coral, he’s an old fart.
Coral: Oi!
Amber: It’s nice to meet all of you. Just tell me where to start and I’ll be out of your hair.
Pato: Over here’d be fine. You mind if I whistle while I work?
Amber: Please do!
Prof. Ciruela: I have to be going now. Mora, you’re in charge.
Mora: You got it, Prof.
Mora: So, fresh out of Wineburg?
Amber: Yep! Accelerated course of study. You?
Mora: Ha, just the local high school. It was either this or Athletics, so.
Pato: Speak for yourself, chica. Jungla and I came from Rio, so we’re old hands at this.
Mora: Oh yeah, did I mention they’re all old farts?
Jungla/Coral: Oi!
Pato: Excuse you, we’re only fifteen years older than you, whippersnapper!
Amber: *laugh* Now I really feel like a baby.
Mora: Oi, Amber! It’s time to call it a day.
Amber: Wha–oh, wow. It’s that late already?
Pato: You didn’t notice? Ai, que la Miradora te cuide, chica! Getting so buried in your work isn’t healthy!
Amber: heh, I guess not.
Mora: Sink’s over there. Go wash up a bit .
-
Amber: huh–whoa, no you don’t!
Amber: How’d you get here…
Pato: Vamos, chicos. First round’s on me.
Coral: Best thing I’ve heard anyone say all day.
Amber: Hey, Mora! Hold up a second.
Mora: hm? What’s up?
Amber: This got stuck to my hand–do we have a unit for coins or…
Mora: That? That’s a one centavo piece–about one simoleon or so. You keep it. We have a million of them.
Amber: Are you sure?
Mora: Sure–tell you what. Come here and we’ll make it special.
Amber: This is seriously okay?
Mora: This is seriously okay! You can find these in any dig from the Golden Era on–there’s whole lots of them up for legal auction back in Selva! No one’s gonna miss a penny, kid.
Amber: Okay…okay,
Mora: There we go. Your own lucky penny.
Amber: I wonder if the Omiscans ever wore them like this…there’s still so much of their culture we don’t know yet.
Mora: Eh, we’ll find out when we find out. Hey, you wanna come with me and the guys for drinks? The Llama’s got a two for one special this week.
Amber: Thanks, but I’m gonna head home. Next time?
Mora: Next time. Night, Amber.
Amber: I’m back!
Moonstone: Welcome home, honey. How was your day?
Amber: Hot, and sweaty, and…everything I dreamed it would be.
Moonstone: *laugh* Oh, Amber. If I’d known digging would make you this happy, I’d have gotten you a sandbox!
Amber: *laugh* Mama! It’s not just the digging, it’s the finding lost histories! Finding out what happened to the Omiscans, and learning about how they lived, and–
Moonstone: And finally getting answers?
Amber: Okay, yeah, answers. But seriously–there’s so much we can learn from them still! They had an incredible infrastructure, and irrigation system, and their temples! No one’s built anything like them since!
Amber: Can you imagine? Places so complicated no one’s been able to copy them in over two thousand years!
Moonstone: Hm, makes me want to toss a few Omiscan scholars into getting disability payments sorted out.
Amber: Oh, please. They’d have that done in a day!
Moonstone: Oh?
Amber: Totally. The Emperor in the Golden Era? He united five warring city-states, and his daughter? She got the other ten! A little thing like paperwork wouldn’t even make them blink.
Moonstone: Ha! Good to know.
Moonstone: Learn enough from them and maybe you should go into civic service afterwards.
Amber: Pff, fudge no. I’ll be digging until the day I’m dead!
Moonstone: So long?
Moonstone: You don’t want to settle down someday, have a family of your own? I heard Professor Ciruela isn’t going to stay in his tenure forever…might be something to think about?
Amber: Nah. I’d go nuts, stuck in a stuffy old building for days on end. Prof hasn’t seen a dig and gotten his hands dirty in years.
Moonstone: *sighing laugh* Oh, Amber. You never could keep still.
Moonstone: Just…give it some thought, okay? Get your fill of digging while you’re young, then…
Amber: Mama, I’m …what’s wrong? Are you worried about me?
Moonstone: Every mother worries about her babies, honey.
Moonstone: Just…promise you’ll think about it? Settling down, I mean. Live your dreams, but remember there’s more to life than just dreaming.
Amber: Mama…I promise. You’ll get your grandbabies someday. Though, uh, Cal might make ‘em first.
Moonstone: *laugh* That is not where I was going with that! Oh, Amber.
Amber: *laugh* I know.
Amber: Now, I’m gonna go steal the shower.
Moonstone: Good. I wasn’t going to say anything, but…
Amber: But I stink!
Nova: Oh, you should have seen Mom’s face when I came back with that contract…she couldn’t believe it!
Calcite: I’m trying very hard not to say I told you so right now, babe. Just so you know.
Nova: No, no, you can say it. You were right, I’ve got talent.
Calcite: And such humility!
Saffron: Is that Nova? Tell him I say hi.
Pato: This isn’t Golden Era…
Mora: It’s not Feudal, either. When did this come from?
Amber: We’ll have to get it dated somehow.
Jungla: I’m finding more of that style here…do you think this group lived on past the Fall?
Amber: They must have, but…why come all this way? What happened down there?
Jungla: It is strange, though…coming this far north? It’s almost like they were running from something.
Pato: Or someone. But why come here? There had to be closer places to hide.
Mora: Maybe they were too close?
Mora: If the Omiscans were running from someone, they must have wanted to get far enough away to not be found again. You can’t get much further than here.
Coral: Not unless you want to go to Komorebi.
Pato: Ha! Not in a million years.
Prof. Ciruela: Oh, good. You’re…not all here. Did Amber go home for the night?
Jungla: She’s still down in the pit.
Amber: Hm…no gold in the teeth…but the nose bone is broken cleanly…
Prof. Ciruela: Amber!
Amber: Huh–oh, coming!
-
Amber: Hey, Professor. Everything okay?
Prof. Ciruela: Better than fine. Come, sit. I have news.
Amber: Good or bad?
Prof. Ciruela: You’ll hear when the others do. Come!
Jungla: So, what’s the news? Are we being closed down?
Pato: Oi! Don’t tempt fate!
Prof. Ciruela: No, no. The exact opposite, actually. Your finds have the entire community in an uproar!
Amber: Ha! I figured that’d shake the old farts awake.
Mora: I bet. So, are we getting help, oor…
Prof. Ciruela: Neither. You five are going to Wineburg. An archaeology team in the area discovered Omiscan ruins on an island chain near there. You’ve been tasked to age them and then call in the right team.
Coral: Wineburg? What in the world were they doing that far north?
Mora: …we’re gonna find out.
Saffron: Wineburg?! No way. No way any ancient Omiscans got that far north.
Amber: I’ve seen photos, Ma! Those ruins are Omiscan! Don’t ask when or why, but I know what I’m looking at.
Amber: And they’re sending my team–my team–to go figure out why!
Calcite: ….
Amber: This is a once in a lifetime opportunity! How many people get to say they found a whole new era of civilization?
Calcite: …not many.
Saffron: *sigh* Honestly, baby, I thought you’d be home longer than this.
Moonstone: …how long will you be gone?
Amber: No way to know. If they’re an era we’ve already studied I’ll be back in a week. If not…could be a month or two.
Moonstone: And you…feel you have to do this?
Saffron: Moony?
Moonstone: Just. Answer the question. Please?
Amber: I do. It’s not just a feeling, Mama. I know I need to do this.
Calcite: Oh, well, if it’s like that!
The next morning…
Amber: …What were they running from, to go all the way up there?
Amber: Cal?
Calcite: Up here.
-
Amber: Can’t sleep either, huh?
Calcite: Nah. Did you get any sleep, or were you too excited?
Amber: Ha. What do you thnk?
Calcite: I think….well. It doesn’t matter.
Amber: *sigh* You’re mad.
Calcite: Not mad, just…worried.
Amber: Oh, come on. Cal, I can handle myself.
Calcite: Yeah, but things are moving so fast–
Amber: Just the way I like them to! Come on, can’t you be happy for me? You’re living your dream, and I’m living mine. Isn’t that good?
Calcite: It is, I just.
Amber: You just…?
Calcite: Okay, hear me out. The Omiscans that settled here, and the ones that made it all the way to Wineburg, they were running from something, right?
Amber: That’s the going consensus, yeah.
Calcite: What if, and this is just a thought, but what if whatever they were running from followed them north? What if it’s still there?
Amber: It’s been at least a thousand years since then. Anything that old is…well, out of my studies, for sure.
Calcite: That’s what I mean. You’re walking into something you know nothing about. Is that really a good idea?
Amber: Cal…you don’t have to be scared.
Calcite: You’re going into the unknown alone. This isn’t just college, Am…this is a whole other time. Not to mention crumbling ruins!
Amber: I have a team, baby brother. I’ll be fine. I promise.
Calcite: …you promise to come home?
Amber: I promise.
Amber: …this is really worrying you, isn’t it?
Calcite: I don’t like you going where I can’t follow. We’re twins…
Amber: We’re also too old to be each other’s shadows anymore, you know.
Calcite: I know. …Come on. I’ll take you to the station.
Amber: In a minute. Let the sun come out first.
Wineburg Islands…
Mora: Well, if they were running from something, getting over that channel sure would have helped.
Coral: Yes, but what could they have been running from?
Amber: Look at this construction…it is Omiscan!
Mora: With the local supplies, but…wow. I feel like we’re in Selva somehow.
Coral: Too cold for that!
Amber: I’m headed to the top.
Mora: Not alone you’re not!
Amber: Hope you didn’t skip leg day, Mora.
Mora: *groan* I wish I could.
Mora: *groan* How many stairs was that?!
Amber: Couple hundred. And we have to go back down, too!
Mora: Nope. Nope! I’m staying right here.
Amber: Alright, enough standing around Race you!
Mora: Amber!
Mora: I hate you.
Amber: *laugh*
-
Pato: Hey! I found something!
Amber: What?
Pato: Stairs down!
Amber: Down?
-
Amber: Since when did the Omiscans build down?
Pato: Since this place, apparently.
Mora: No. No, no more stairs!
Amber: Come on, Mora! Take one for the team!
Mora: …I hate you.
Mora: ….uh, fine. Fine! But I want a burger when we get back to town.
Amber: Deal.
Mora: No kidding…ugh. What is that smell?
Amber: Metal? …no. Iron.
Amber: They built this place on a hot spring!
Mora: Iron deposit! Oh, thank Watcher…I thought that was blood!
Amber: Mora…you know that’s just a lie.
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