Elias Zandi was a wealthy archaeologist whose area of expertise and interest was the Southwestern United States. He was well known in archaeological circles, having visited a number of sites around the world to purchase valuable historical artifacts. He commonly paid top dollar, and was thought to be highly eccentric. He claimed that there was some kind of connection between himself and the objects he bought. After awhile, he began to focus on Southwest artifacts exclusively, claiming that some of them had a “special mystery”. It was during this time that Elias became closely associated with John "Fighting Branch" Loftin, commonly known as "Branch". Branch had a knack for finding things that Elias was particularly interested in.

While searching for archeological sites in New Mexico on June 29, 1987, Branch stumbled upon the cave Anna and her father had discovered in 1715, and discovered the same D'ni digging machines she mentioned having seen when she first discovered D'ni. He immediately reported his find to Elias, and to describe him as elated does not even come close to the truth. "Possessed" might be a better word. Elias became single-minded in his pursuit of the source of those machines.

On March 19th, 1988, Branch and Elias made their first trip into the caverns, which Elias documented in a journal. It was a short one: through the entrance, through a small crack, suddenly into D’ni-made tunnels, past the long-abandoned diggers, and eventually to the top of the Great Shaft. They returned from that first trip as changed men. Elias wrote in his journal, “I have come to a place that I could have never have imagined, and yet it seems I have come home.”

It was in 1989, on their third major expedition that they reached the D’ni cavern and saw the ruined city. In his journal, Elias’ journal describes what they saw clinically, but word has it that he was so overwhelmed that he collapsed to his knees and wept. He realized then that the size of this discovery required him to seek assistance, and he decided it was time to call an old friend. Elias had met Dr. Richard A. Watson years before, and seen him while on many expeditions. They had both began to focus on the southwestern U.S. around the same time, although for different reasons, and had worked together on several projects. By 1989, they were fairly close.

After Watson was contacted by Elias, it took a time for them to plan a lengthy expedition. Watson was initially skeptical about Elias' claims, but he trusted him enough to set aside his own projects because of their friendship. At the same time, Elias began purchasing thousands of acres of land surrounding the area where the tunnels had been found. It was also at this time that Elias first contacted the brothers of Rod Miller, a friend of his son Jeff. He wanted to spread the word of his discovery in a very subtle way to others he thought might feel “the call”, and had a unique idea about how that might be done.

By the time everything was in place in 1990, Branch, Elias, and Watson were ready for their first major expedition to D’ni. Watson soon lost his skepticism. He later wrote, "I must admit, with every new thing I saw; with every step I took; the further I got from the surface; the closer I felt to home." The journey ended up lasting more than three weeks, and they got all the way to Ae’gura Island. It was there we discovered a number of artifacts, including, most importantly, the journals of Catherine, wife of Atrus, which must have been forgotten there when they gave up their own attempt to restore D'ni.

In 1991, the trio went on another expedition to D'ni, but this time only two returned from it. John Loftin lost his life to an unknown accident while down in the cavern. The events of that trip would forever effect how Dr. Watson approached the restoration of D'ni, although he never told the details to anyone. Watson simply said that he broke rules and permitted things to happen that he regretted ever afterward. It was a very trying experience for both Elias and Watson, but neither could help but continue pushing forward with their vision, although they both took care with safety procedures from then on. In that same year, they were able to begin translating some of Catherine’s journals and other documents that had been found from D'ni into English. Elias passed the information to the Millers on the surface, and they shifted their project from a story about the discovery of the cavern to the stories told in Catherine’s journals.

By 1992, Watson formed an expeditionary group with some of his former colleagues, looking to perform a much more detailed and lengthy examination of the cavern. This group became the D'ni Restoration Foundation, or DRF. Elias did not accompany them on the trip down, but he caught up in the city later. During that expedtion, Elias and Watson got into an argument about what the future of D’ni should be. Elias had a rather extreme view, and wanted to restore the city to its original glory, repopulating it with people who called themselves D’ni. He said things like, “We feel the call, for many of us have the blood of D’ni within us, and it calls us home.” While Watson understood his desire to a certain extent, he felt Elias was taking it to a radical extreme. In the end, however, both were still committed to the restoration. Watson wrote, "D’ni was calling me, maybe not in exactly the way it was calling Elias, but it was calling." That was the only disagreement they had, so Elias and Watson continued to work together and Elias continued to fund the DRF.

As Elias became more consumed with the restoration, his health began to deteriorate from overwork. In 1993, he underwent open-heart surgery, and his doctors warned him to slow down. But by then, his life was tied to the restoration of D’ni, and nothing could convince him to ease up, something that would be his downfall.

In 1995, small groups of people came to the desert looking for a path to D’ni. Invariably, they claimed they were “called”. Elias was thrilled. Many of those who came were accepted as volunteers on the restoration project.

In November of 1995, Elias escorted Rand and Robyn Miller back to the city, and Elias’ son Jeff was with them. Jeff had been down several times before, but this trip was memorable. Jeff and Elias had a rather large philosophical disagreement over the restoration of the city. Jeff had some strong opinions regarding the path his father was taking and was very vocal. He rather strongly stated that he felt that the restoration was never supposed to be purely physical, but that it was primarily a spiritual renewal. Elias didn’t understand that position at all, and the arguments grew heated at many points. The two parted ways, and its suspected that they never saw each other again.

In 1996, Elias died of a massive heart attack. He left his fortune to the D’ni Restoration Foundation, the nonprofit organization he had established, and of which Watson was the chairman. Watson was also executor of Elias' estate. He left no money to his son, but strangely, he left him the land around the Cleft in New Mexico. This gave Jeff control of one of the entrances into the D'ni tunnel system.

Watson, feeling a bit overwhelmed by the responsibility that was thrust on him so suddenly, reformed the foundation and renamed it the D’ni Restoration Council in January of 1997. Partly, the reorganization was intended to create a supervisory group to help him oversee the restoration. In his own way, Watson was nearly as obsessed with the restoration project as Elias was, but he never forgot their mistakes and believed that the work had to be carried out with a focus on caution and safety.

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