The Sage Desert was a wasteland. It was scorching hot during the day and freezing cold at night. Scraggly sagebrush and colorful rocks were the only features for miles, and even they were sparse. It was also the site of a great mystery: somehow, despite the hostility of the environment, a civilization lost to history had thrived there long ago. For untold centuries, the Grand Temple in the Sage Desert was forgotten in the shifting sands- until the Chosen Ones remembered it.

And so it was that Miss Planner and her secretary Milly found themselves at the Grand Temple. A giant structure made of black stone, the Grand Temple was the spiritual heart of the Chosen Ones as well as the home of the revived Ancient Race.

The dry, hot wind of the desert was merciless. Sand scoured Miss Planner's face. She sat on the Temple's steps with an experimental Rampage cigarette burning away in her delicate fingers, enjoying a well-deserved smoke break. The tiny woman was dressed in a black business suit, with the skirt cut unusually high. Her blonde hair was tied into a neat ponytail.

"Miss Planner, when are we going home?" Milly asked timidly.

Milly was wearing a white mini dress with a bright yellow floral print. She felt terribly out of place in the desolate desert. Miss Planner calmly took her cigarette out of her mouth and exhaled a lungful of harsh chemical smoke that intermingled with a swirling column of dust.

"We're going home soon," Miss Planner replied. "Or rather, we're going right back to the office. But before we go, I have to check out what they're doing with the Ancient Race and see where the hell all of our money is going. I'm afraid you'll get lost if I leave you by yourself, so you're coming with me."

"I don't like it here, Miss Planner! It's hot, my throat hurts from all the stupid sand, and the Elders scare me!"
"Stop complaining."

Miss Planner crushed her cigarette on the Temple's stone steps and rose to her feet.
"Come on. Let's go see the Ancient Race."

Milly followed Miss Planner as she went back inside the Grand Temple. She immediately felt a wave of coolness that made her shiver. The Temple's entrance was magnificent. The ceiling was over forty feet high. Ornate sand-colored pillars held up the Temple's massive roof. Strange patterns and designs were carved into the carefully laid stone floor.

Miss Planner ran her tiny hands over an enormous stone tablet with indecipherable symbols and shapes carved into it. She drew her index finger along a groove, activating a hidden mechanism. The tablet popped out of its indentation, revealing a secret stairway made out of metal hidden behind it. Miss Planner smiled and dug a big flashlight out of her purse.

"Watch your step, Milly. It looks like the stairs go down quite a bit."
"Yes, ma'am..."

The spiral staircase was enclosed like a cage. The two women descended the steps slowly and quietly. The air grew cooler as they continued downward. The stairs ended at a large door. Miss Planner turned the knob and pushed. A heavy sound reverberated throughout the stairwell, echoing off of the curved walls. Dust swirled through the air. An enormous cave stretched out beyond the doorway.

The cave was so vast and open, it was hard to tell how tall or wide the space within it actually was. To make matters worse, it was pitch black. Even though Miss Planner had brought a small hand torch, it was barely strong enough to illuminate anything. Miss Planner and her secretary stepped forward gingerly, their footsteps ringing out in the dark.

"Miss Planner, where's the Ancient Race?"
"I notified them that we'd be coming... hm? That must be them."

A faint glow was visible deep within the cavern. Milly and Miss Planner hurried toward the source of the light. They could see the silhouette of several people standing together. Milly squinted in the darkness. She saw a group of five people draped in animal skins. As she got closer, she could see that the people were strangely short and had chalky-white skin like Elder Mirror.

The Ancient Race was revived through the combined efforts of all seven Elders in an attempt to reclaim humanity's lost spiritual heritage. They worked tirelessly for decades, studying the origins of human civilization, uncovering ancient wisdom that was thought to be lost to time, and ultimately even going so far as to develop techniques to manipulate human bodies and souls. The result of these efforts was the Ancient Race: an artificially created subspecies of human born with immense psychic power. These strange beings were taught by the Sages and given special training in the hope that they would one day serve as humanity's protectors and teachers.

Unfortunately, the plan was a failure. The Ancient Race proved incapable of functioning in modern society without constant supervision. It quickly became clear to everyone involved that the project was nothing more than a huge waste of resources and an embarrassment. Although a few of the Elders still had faith that their creations might yet prove a useful purpose, the rest decided it was better to simply abandon their failed experiment and move on.

To their credit, the Elders did not destroy the Ancient Race outright. Instead, they kept them locked away in the Grand Temple where they were allowed to live as they pleased as long as they never attempted to escape or contact the outside world. The Ancient Race's existence was a burden that weighed heavily upon the shoulders of the Elders. There was no guarantee that the powerful Ancient Race would remain obedient forever. In fact, a few members of the Ancient Race had already defied the will of their creators and escaped into the wilderness of the Sage Desert never to be seen again.

Through a strange twist of fate, the future of the pitiful Ancient Race now rested entirely in the tiny hands of the cruelest, most ruthless of the Chosen One's managers.

"Greetings, noble people of the Ancient Race. I am Planner, a humble servant of the Elders. And this lovely lady here is my secretary, Milly."

Miss Planner waved her hand at the Ancient Race as she spoke. The small, pale figures draped in animal skins shuffled forward and bowed respectfully.

"I am Aremath," said a white-skinned man who looked like he was made out of clay. He held a blazing torch in his hand. "We thank the Elders for bringing us back from the dead."

Miss Planner nodded in response.

"The Elders have entrusted me with the task of learning from you wise ones. I wish to see how you wise ones live. Can you take me to the rest of your kind?"
"We will take you to them."

Aremath and his group guided Miss Planner and Milly in silence until they came across another source of light: a roaring bonfire, close to a large gathering of crudely constructed tents filled with tiny chalky-faced people. As the group approached the encampment, Aremath raised his torch high in the air and called out to the others.

"Hey, everyone! A servant of the Elders came down from the Grand Temple! The Sages foretold this!"

The chalky-white faces turned towards Miss Planner and Milly in unison. Several of the smaller Ancient Ones ran over to greet the newcomers while the rest stood back and watched with undisguised curiosity.

Milly was dumbstruck as she stared at the approaching crowd of strange little people with cold black eyes and bony arms poking out of animal skins. The two women were greeted by a chorus of excited voices.

"Her name is Planner. She's here to learn from us!"
"Wow! She's tall like the Sages!"
"The Elders chose her!"

Milly felt a wave of unease wash over her. Her chest tightened and her heart began to beat faster. The tiny creatures surrounded her, their blank stares boring into her as if trying to look inside her mind. She tried desperately not to let the fear show on her face. The small, pale beings seemed as stupid as children.

Miss Planner stepped forward confidently, her sharp gaze sweeping the crowd.
"Wise ones, what do you think of the Elders' decision to send me here to learn from you?"

The tiny people looked at each other. There was a brief pause before the crowd responded.

"We're happy here, so you can learn a lot from us."
"The Sages told us we should use our lives to help others."
"I will teach you everything I know."

Miss Planner smiled and bowed her head deeply.
"Thank you for your kindness, Ancient Ones."

As Miss Planner and Milly learned over the course of their visit, the Ancient Ones lived very simple lives. They were a deeply spiritual people who spent almost all of their time in solemn meditation. All of their needs were provided for them by their teachers, the Sages. The Ancient Race was comprised of thirty individuals, each one completely devoted to the happiness and well-being of the others. Perhaps due to their incredible psychic awareness, they lived in blissful harmony and never fought or quarreled among themselves.

It was immediately obvious to Miss Planner why the Elders had abandoned the Ancient Race. They were good-natured and kind, but they were also incredibly dimwitted and easily distracted. She tried to figure out how she could turn them into a proper workforce capable of serving the Chosen Ones, but it quickly became apparent that this would be an impossible task. Their minds were like mush. If the best efforts of the Sages couldn't produce even a single intelligent Ancient One, there was no hope whatsoever for their pathetic species.

Miss Planner was forced to admit defeat. The Elders had failed so thoroughly that even the perfect Miss Planner had no idea how to salvage the situation. It looked like the Ancient Race was destined to remain locked away in the Grand Temple forever.