𝐈𝐧 𝐘𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐖𝐢𝐥𝐝𝐞𝐬𝐭 𝐃𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐦𝐬 (English)

Chapter 56

It wasn't hard to figure out he was in Vacuo. The rolling desert more than gave it away, but even if that hadn't then the headscarf he was wearing wrapped around his head and lower mouth would have cinched it. There were others wearing the same, waiting outside a camp on the dunes. Despite the rolling heat, everyone was wrapped up in loose cloth, all of it designed to protect against the coarse sand whipped up into their bodies.

With everyone's fades covered, there was no telling who might be the dreamer. In total, there were some twenty people, varying in height – from about five feet tall to six – but all rather similar in shape. Thin. Jaune considered himself a lithe person, hard to put fat on with their level of exercise, but he was much bulkier than even the biggest person here.

Some noise from the largest tent in the camp drew his eye, and a well-dressed man came stomping out a moment later, flanked by two other men who looked to have some huntsman training. Or, at least, huntsman weapons. Bodyguards of a sort. The man in the centre reminded him of Oobleck, except far wealthier if the golden bangles were anything to go by. He was of Vacuan descent with tan skin and numerous golden piercings on both the left side of his nose, but also his cheek reaching up to his ear. A large gemstone flashed from a single earring.

"Is this all of you that are brave enough to take up my offer?" he called out to the twenty or so people. "I should complain. No matter, you are the brave ones. And soon to be the rich ones, eh?" He laughed. "We shall all be rich once we unearth the great treasures of the mad king, Malik."

Malik. The name was vaguely familiar, but only in the sense of some ancient conqueror who ruled a kingdom hundreds or thousands of years ago. It was ancient history, the kinds of which were consigned to documentaries voiced by hushed men in daytime hours when the more popular shows didn't air.

The man's bodyguards stepped out and called for everyone to step in line. One by one, the people were given some money. Jaune waited until last to receive his, which totalled about five hundred lien. That kind of money was nice, but not special. It wouldn't cover a week's rent in Vale, but then Vale was a big city. Back home in Ansel, he'd have been able to buy a new and highly priced computer game from the store, or maybe three or four meals at a cheap place.

It was an average amount of money for what Jaune suspected would be an above average amount of risk. They were outside the city of Vacuo, in the desert, and this man had two huntsmen with him. Plus, this was to be a nightmare. Jaune could read between the lines easily enough.

But the people here desperately accepted the money.

Which meant they must have needed it.

"You've all also been fed on my money today," said the rich man. "And we have supplies aplenty. You will have full bellies while you work for me! In return, I expect your best effort. Now, let us begin. The sunken temple lays close and you have much sand to shift."

The dream morphed, then, wiping away what was probably hours of travel and allocation of tasks, skipping ahead to the next important bit like an impatient viewer skipping through an online video.

They were on the sunny side of a huge cliff, with wooden poles holding up cloth to shade them so people wouldn't die of heatstroke. The many people had their shirts and robes off now, though they kept their scarves on given the sand being tossed about. Jaune could see gaunt bodies, thin and skeletal, and small enough that he knew many of them were children and young teenagers.

That didn't stop them digging at the sand, tearing up huge chunks of it and tossing it into wooden wheelbarrows that were dragged away by others to be dumped where it wouldn't blow back. The roof and arches of a structure were beginning to show themselves, a building of some sort that had been buried by the sand, likely because the cliff it was built into acted as a wind barrier, collecting sand kicked up in storms and allowing it to pile up rather than be blown further away.