Ashmar was exhausted. His hands ached, his fingernails were chipped, and his arms felt like they might fall off at any moment. He had been digging into the mountain under the scorching sun for 85 days. It was grueling, relentless work.
It all began with his teacher. Ashmar loved and respected the man deeply, but lately, he couldn't help cursing him under his breath. Five months ago, his teacher had discovered a dead Kisha near the spring. The creature had died after drinking a strange black goo. Intrigued, his teacher took the body and began studying it. He concluded that the Kisha had ingested the substance, which led to its death—but only because it consumed a large amount. In smaller doses, the goo wasn't poisonous.
The research continued. Though the sample was small, his teacher tested it carefully and eventually discovered that the black goo was extremely flammable. It could be a powerful energy source. That's when Ashmar's part began.
He traced the Kisha's path. Since Kishas were scavenging mammals that lived in groups and fed on the remains of other animals, it wasn't hard to follow. Eventually, he found the source of the substance—it was seeping from the mountain itself. When he informed his teacher, the old man wanted to dig it out himself, but age had caught up with him. So Ashmar volunteered.
Now, after weeks of digging, Ashmar had collected only a small amount of the substance. He was ashamed of it—he had boasted that he would bring back two or three barrels. Driven by pride and frustration, he kept digging.
Then he hit something solid.
Changing direction, he dug around it and discovered that the object was perfectly spherical. He was stunned—nothing in nature should be shaped so flawlessly. Suspicious but curious, he kept digging. The surrounding dirt was rich with the black substance, far more than he had found before. Ashmar felt a surge of hope and began collecting the dirt to separate it later.
Then he stopped.
His hand had touched something warm. He looked closer and saw a shiny, raven-black surface. It matched the color of the substance. Intrigued, he fetched water and a broom to clean it.
That was when Ashmar discovered the Black Orb.