High up in the bright blue sky, the sun shone above a vast expanse of sand dunes stretching in all directions as far as Reno's eyes could see. Droplets of sweat made his thin linen shirt and trousers stick to his body.

Already used to this annoying circumstance, he drank a big gulp from his water bottle to quell his parched throat. He had to make sure to hold it in a tight grip, or the shaking from the vehicle he was seated in would spill the warm liquid all over him.

The driver next to him, a local from the desert, his head wrapped in a simple turban, gave him a wide grin as if amused by his struggle. Reno ignored him and focused on the task at hand.

After he finally succeeded, his gaze studied the column of vehicles in front of him. At least a dozen jeeps and a few trucks were making their way through the rough terrain. Together, they made up most of the excavation team, with only a few more vehicles tracing behind the off-road buggy he was in.

A moment later, his gaze wandered down and landed on the screen of a GPS built into the car's dashboard. A red dot marked his current position, and the GPS was slowly following a predetermined route. After a week of travel, they would finally reach their destination today.

In his head, he recollected the experience of how he had gotten himself into this situation.

A month ago, when Reno was seated in a famous cafe near the university he had graduated from and catching up with his adoptive brother, a man named James Schneeberg, they had somehow landed on the topic of archeology.

Nobody of the two had studied archeology. In fact, Reno had graduated in the medical department and James in business and finance. Those two were not even slightly related to that topic. Archeology and ancient history were more of a long-term interest the two of them had shared together since childhood and had bonded over.

Reno wasn't really well off as a child. He had lost his mother when he was only three and never got to meet his father. From there on, he was adopted into an orphanage, where he spent his time until he turned eight.

Fortunately, Reno was well-behaved and very quiet due to his introversion, which made a good impression on families looking to adopt someone. This is how he had somehow found his way into the spacious and luxurious halls of the Schneeberg family.

James's parents, who quickly became Reno's parents as well, were... well off. That was even a little bit understated, though. They were indeed wealthy.

His father owned several large—to medium-sized companies, and his mom was a successful plastic surgeon. It was quite easy to see from where Reno had gotten his motivation to become a surgeon and why James had studied finance.

Archeology was a big thing for the Schneebergs, not only because they had their own privately sponsored museums but also because their ancestors seemed to have been quite the adventures as well, digging up old temples and ruins across the world. It was ingrained into the family's history.

Reno was a curious child who wanted to fit in, so he did his best while under their care.

When they were young, they would traverse the halls of the family manor, read through the old books, and explore the strange objects stationed behind glass panels.

Ancient bones which put together resembled a dinosaur, old scriptures, and other artifacts of different shapes and sizes were scattered along the hallways. It was really fascinating and still was till this day onward.

Back at the cafe, they had reminisced about this past when James suddenly told him about something very interesting. Their father seemed to have sponsored an excavation mission somewhere in the east. It seemed as though he had felt the need to uphold the family tradition because Reno had not heard of him actually sponsoring an operation like this in the past few years. He had been at the beginning of his medical endeavors when their father had done the last official one. James also seemed pretty excited about it.

To his delight, James promptly asked him to join in this advent. Of course, Reno had agreed. A chance like this didn't appear often, so he had to take it … and James was really convincing.

Fast forward he found himself in the middle of nowhere, his clothes sticking to his body like a second skin and his throat longing for water every few minutes as if he had just run a marathon. Truely his imagination had expected something different.

But Reno didn't complain; his excitement outweighed the physical inconveniences.

Time passed, and he spent hours talking to his driver, occasionally in broken English, but it still worked. He told him about local folktales - about desert spirits from long-forgotten times and other pieces of religious or cultural history.

You might be reading a pirated copy. Look for the official release to support the author.

This helped him pass the time, and the evening came sooner than expected. The sun was bathing the endless dunes in a beautiful orange light.

He was looking outside the window as the vehicles in the front suddenly came to a halt in front of a massive dune. The rest of the carries soon followed suit, Reno's jeep as well.

He stretched his arms and legs. They had finally arrived.

Stepping out of the vehicle a gust of wind played with his hair and made his body feel a little refreshed.

His gaze wandered over the many now stationary vehicles as his eyes spotted a man in beige linen clothes similar to his own. A pair of round glasses were sitting on his nose bridge and threatened to fall off each time the man moved his body with somewhat hectic motions.

That was, without a doubt, Dr. Dieb, the man responsible for the excavation works and a renowned archeologist. A few years back he and his team had found the traces of immense non-natural structures beneath the sand, and he had been waiting here for the arrival of the workers for a few days already. He was a real expert with decades of experience under his belt.

With a relaxed pace, he made his way toward him and waved a hand to greet him.

Dr Dieb furrowed his brows as if trying to figure out who he was, but after a moment, his face suddenly lit up.

Reno was surprised that he seemed to recollect his appearance from somewhere because they had never met before today.

"You must be Mr. Schneeberg's son! James, it's a pleasure to meet you!"

'So he didn't. He just assumed I'm my brother.'

As Reno came to a halt in front of the man who had already stretched out a hand to greet him, he grimaced slightly. Even so, he returned the handshake.

"Almost, Dr. Dieb. I'm Reno Schneeberg, the younger one of us two. We arrived simultaneously, but he had some business to attend to in the nearest town, as it seemed. So, I fear he will only join us in a few days at the earliest. But even so - nice to meet you as well."

The archeologist froze for a second, but soon, a smile appeared on his face once more.

"Oh! Of course! I'm sorry! It's nice to make your acquaintance. Your father has mentioned you as well. But from what he told me, you probably wouldn't show up here because you seem to be focusing on your career at the moment. And speaking of your father, do you know if he will join us as well?"

Reno gave him a slight smile.

"I only graduated from medical school a few months ago, and I intended to start my residency training in a few weeks. But, well … my brother can be pretty convincing. And now I'm here. I will start at my mother's clinic after this little adventure is over. This also gives me a little more time to relax … and about my father – I'm not really sure. I only heard about this excavation project from James. So maybe he will join, maybe he won't."

The old man nodded his head in understanding and almost made his glasses topple once more.

"I see, I see. I'm sure you will do great! And I can promise you that your time here will definitely not be boring. My research promises fascinating results in the near future!"

They talked from time to time while Dr. Dieb gave different instructions to the workers around him. Soon, though, they found themselves climbing up the slope of the massive dune.

"I have heard of the structures you have found underground from my brother Dr. Dieb, but I have never really seen the scans or any pictures. Can you help my imagination a little?"

A light laugh could be heard in the dim illumination from the last remaining sun rays.

"Sure, sure. While flying over this area of the desert and searching for structures under the sand, my team and I actually found something. In the beginning, we couldn't quite believe it because the net of symmetrical structures was so vast, and we were literally in the middle of nowhere, but after flying over it once again, we were convinced. We were fortunate to find it."

He made a slight pause as they reached the top of the massive dune.

"If you look down, you can see the area where we found it and started early excavations. Of course, now there is not enough light to properly see anything, but in the morning, you will. But that's beside the point. To answer your question, I suspect there is a ruined city under the sand, with walls and many different buildings. We even found a massive subsurface cavern under the sand, situated under the city itself. And when I say massive, I mean truly immense. But until now, we have only done minor excavations and have only laid some walls and other structures bare. We haven't found a way into the cavern yet, as well. But it does not seem like a good idea to venture there either way - yet. Only a lunatic would do so right now without proper preparation and planning."

He laughed again and then turned away from the dark valley.

"Tomorrow, we will start with the real excavation process, of course! And all of that, thanks to your family's generosity! The secrets of the past shouldn't be sealed away and left to rot, no, no. They need to be studied!"

Reno smirked at the last remark while his thoughts revolved around what he had told him.

A massive cave under the city remains? That was interesting. Was that the reason why his father had sponsored this excavation mission?

After all it had been long since he had done so in the past, and his father was a businessman first, an archeology enthusiast second. A few sandy wall remains in the middle of nowhere didn't seem grandiose enough to explain all these workers and vehicles. He would never spend so much money while only being driven by the allegedly renowned adventurous spirit of the Schneeberg family either. Even his ancestors didn't do so if they didn't get any profit out of it.

That much he had at least learned while living with him.

He remained standing on the dune for a few moments looking at the darkness beneath and contemplating while a wave of repressed excitement gripped his heart.

For some reason, though, as he stared at the dark shadow of the valley below him, an inkling of another feeling took root in his heart - a strange feeling he couldn't really describe - one that was definitely not excitement. It was ... dark?

He felt a little uneasy but then slowly shook his head.

'I must be tired. Right.'

Reno remained standing for one more moment. Then he turned around and followed the archeologist back into the camp.