10. Epilogue
Harry grabbed the phone in a panic, a clay brick in his other hand. He straightened his uniform, though his boss obviously couldn’t see him now.
“Sir Colford, we found something. During excavations for the new train rails in Schola we kept running into stones.”
“Stones? You call me for stones in the ground?”
“No, no, sir, not just stones. Clay stones that all have the exact same dimensions: four long, two high, one deep. I’m not an archeologist, sir, but shouldn’t we research what this means. This could be a civilization—”
“I mostly hear that I don’t have to send you a new shipment of stones for the train rails. Use them for your work. Thanks for the good news!”
The call ended.
The Casbrita soldiers shrugged and followed orders. Thousands of excavated stones were simply used to support the metal rails.
Until one day Jasmine entered the terrain, a famous archeologist. She’d made great discoveries about the origin of poison and a mysterious book that the world called “magical”.
She was the only one with the power to lock down the entire area and change their plans. The grumpy soldiers had to undo their last few months of work and reroute the train rails.
Then her team of specialists arrived to properly excavate and study all they could find.
Nobody knew a civilization had been here. That wasn’t too surprising, as the remains were very, very deep under the surface. Initial tests from Jasmine indicated the structures must’ve been built nearly ten thousand years ago. Even the pyramid builders from Floria would have called this super ancient if they’d found it.
The civilization seemed formed around the Indus river and a smaller but equally fruitful river close by, the Heavywater. The more they discovered, the more train rails had to be rerouted, to Casbrita’s annoyance. For the area owned by the Indus was huge.
“This … this has to be the oldest civilization,” Jasmine said with awe. “And the smartest, strongest, biggest, and so forth.”
Thomas looked skeptical. “I’m mostly surprised we haven’t found any weapons. Only some spearheads and sharp stones. And no messages or statues of a king, a leader, a commander, whatever.”
“Could it be?” Jasmine asked with a smile. “A civilization that was truly peaceful and truly equal, for thousands of years?”
Thomas shook his head. “Even if they were, then that was also the reason for their demise. Another army could walk in and conquer them at any time.”
Together they studied the map they had drawn, littered with arrows and symbols to signify events and possible movements of groups.
“Well,” Jasmine said. “If you never meet an attacker, you’re never on alert. You grow too comfortable, refuse to work for anything anymore. No protection without danger.”
“The only serious weapons of destruction we find,” Thomas said, “bear the signature of the Akradi. Everything indicates they stormed the city, hoping to plunder riches but mostly to get revenge. They only found empty homes and unusable earth next to a flooded river.”
Jasmine studied the row of symbols once more, which they’d found on many clay tablets. They called it Indus Script. She had no idea what it meant and certainly no dictionary to help translate.
Her fist slammed the table. “There is so much we don’t know! So much evidence already destroyed by those dimwitted soldiers.”
The desert was unbearably dry and hot. But these archeologists were used to that now. Climate change had transformed all fertile and wet places of ten thousand years ago into inhospitable deserts. The Indus was still around, but not as predictable as before. The other river, the Heavywater, was gone and just a legend at this point.
In the years that followed, their picture of this civilization improved. Most creatures simply moved to the Gangris, the new best river of Garda that already contained some small towns. Some went back to being hunter gatherers, or founded small villages of about twenty to thirty people.
Jasmine was mostly preoccupied with the mix of two different groups. Some DNA led back to Sumiser, the other to the Indus. After the demise they must’ve continued living together, eating the same food, bearing each other’s children, as if they had always been one.
She smiled again. History kept amazing her. “Animals have always been so curious and social, haven’t they? Surely the humans were. Real explorers. That’s probably why we explored the entire world early on.”
Thomas didn’t dare destroy her dreams again. His evidence suggests that exploration was no part of it. Most creatures had crossed oceans and climbed mountains just to flee from monsters like the Akradi. With the demise of Indus, any hope of a truly peaceful civilization seemed lost.
When he stayed silent, Jasmine walked to Biribas’ tent. The best linguist they had. He’d been working on deciphering that magical book for years and always came one step closer.
The Indus Script remained a mystery. But he had cracked the cuneiform script from Sumiser. In ruins of Harap they found a set of clay tablets with stories in that language, suggesting the two civilizations understood each other.
“Any progress?” she asked.
“Hmm. Yes. Hmm.” Biribas moved his glasses. “It’s a story, signed by some Mamotas. But I don’t know if this is really …”
“Tell me.”
“_Prebuha was a heroin, a sloth with three heads and seven arms, who could kill enemies with her glare! She traveled on unicorns and was the smartest animal who ever lived. She could do magic and fly—and was best friends with the gods. Thanks to her, much bloodshed was prevented and many civilizations could flee before the first empire ever: the Akradi Empire. Her life should be an example to all.”
He grabbed a second clay tablet, partially broken. “If that is too daunting, the life of Mamotas is also a fine example.”
Jasmine shrugged. “We found unicorns on their seals. So who says sloths didn’t have three heads and seven arms back then.”
Biribas smiled. “I don’t know if it’s true. I do know I want to read it all.”
And so it was that life continued …