History's ghosts are jumping out at her and Dr. Julia Wilson cannot decide if she should be shocked or excited. There in the place where dust has settled for a millennium, the minutes trickle with tense anticipation. Her brush has long seized clearing particles, limp beside her gloved hand.
The day hasn't quite reached midpoint yet. Slivers of sunshine slip through the glistening, snowy mountain tops and the crisp air carries a calm that blankets the valley. Yet for all the serenity, she cannot stave off the creeping disbelief. The fingers of mystique are gaining on her, transporting her away from the goings on in the bustling chamber. Every scholar and mason is replaced by the swirling dance of green and black. The grit and grind of shovels and hammers are drowned out by a mysterious ethereal hum. The very same that called her attention earlier in the morning.
After a few more moments of paralysis, reality drags her back along the trenches. Fighting back the multitude of emotions she takes a breath and reaches for a clear plastic cover. Securing the surprise amongst broken tiles, she gathers her bearing. Seconds become a full minute. And then two.
"Professor, I think you should see this." She waits with baited breath, her eyes locked onto the object as if it's about to evaporate.
"We don't have time for crafts and random artifacts, Jules. Chop chop." Her boss has the audacity to huff in the face of history. She finds herself zeroing in on her superior. The magnitude; the potential is too big to ignore. She feels the anticipation bubbling up to the surface. Finally she lets it out in a single breath:
"And what of glowing orbs?"
She can almost see the professor's ears grow sharper amidst chatter and hammer blows. Just then a great crash echoes through the room, enveloping it in tension even icier than the snow outside. In the corner of her eyes, she can see a group of masons making their way to an imposing arched mirror inside the great vault. It's another couple of minutes before she fully realizes that it, too, is glowing, humming the same rhythm as the orb.
By then the clipboard her boss has been holding is forgotten. For all the professors' poise, she is starting to see hints of hesitation. Gathering her resolve, she meets his disbelieving gaze with steady ones of her own.
"Professor, isn't that enough to pique your interest? From one archaeologist to another, it's a-"
"A long shot, Dr. Wilson. That is what it is. A thousand-to-one, I daresay!" He remains in denial with a snobbish huff.
"And yet, here we are with an orb and a mirror to match." Before she knows it, Julia's shuffling her feet, her gloved hands cradling the orb. She can't help but fall into its spell once again, with its rhythmic glow growing livelier with each step. Finally she stops by the vault's thick metal door.
"I think they're calling to one another. Fascinating!" With unbridled awe she raises the orb as far as she can reach, mesmerized by the dance the mirror is reflecting. Just like that, the orb and the mirror become the center of the universe and somehow it feels like Christmas morning. All of a sudden, a pain shoots up her arms, burning and stinging and all-consuming.
"Dr. Eris! Geophysics is picking up something! It's escalating quick!" She hears her colleague and focuses on his voice to drown out the searing pain. "I think it's coming from where Julia's standing!"
"Dr. Wilson!" It's her boss now, reaching out to her from behind. "Put down the orb! Now!"
She thought she picked up panic in his voice but it's nothing to the panic that's jolting through her now. "Professor! I-I can't-"
She looks up to see his whitewashed face, his overstretched hands beckoning. By now the entrancing dance has evolved into an angry disturbance. The ground is growing shakier by the second, with people shielding equipment from the ceiling that's coming undone. She looks down to focus on removing the unwilling orb from her hands.
"Jules! You have to let go of it NOW!"
"It won't come off!" She barely recognizes the tears in her voice. For all the calm it has emitted mere minutes ago, it's almost like the orb is coming to a mind of its own. With one last struggle, she collapses in a heap, bracing for the white-hot impact coming her way.