Soren Zayal would always be an archaeologist first, no matter what the Vidyans called him. Even before he was labeled a heretic, he and others like him had been outsiders - curiosities in a culture that had long forsaken the past in favor of the future. To most Vidyans, archaeology was an indulgence, an irrelevance. No surprise, then, that more than ten of them had joined the team that landed. For many, embracing the past had been as much a reason for leaving as rejecting Vidyan society itself. And then there was Mahavir - its ruins stretching endlessly around them, untouched, waiting. Not just the great city but smaller ones across the continents. Even the most pious Vidyans could not deny its significance. Well, perhaps they could. But Soren and the others knew they couldn’t waste this opportunity. So they pleaded. Three days. That was all they asked. The Heretics running the operation begrudgingly agreed. Soren and his team scattered across continents, moving quickly, documenting...