In her dreams, Caitlin could see the accident clearly. Her mind replayed the car going through the restaurant over and over again. The first few times it felt like a sick joke. After a while, she became numb to the scene.

Each time the scene restarted itself Caitlin tried to find her sister, but she couldn't move. She watched the car come through, the fire started, and she heard the people inside screaming. No matter how hard she tried there was nothing she could do.

Corpses littered the floor around the restaurant. Caitlin's heart raced each time the scene replayed itself. Eventually, she woke up to the sound of shambling. It sounded like someone was shaking a bag of rice.

Caitlin slowly opened her eyes and watched the ceiling move around above her. She couldn't feel the floor anymore. Her eyes stung as they were met with light.

-

"Hello?" Caitlin croaked as she tried to move her arms. Her shoulders were on fire. I must have been more hurt than I thought. She blinked a bit before soaking in the heat. After a moment of relaxing it occurred to her that she was moving.

"Don't move around too much." Caitlin heard a man say. She tilted her head up slowly, pain shot through her neck and into her fingers. "Who are you?" Caitlin asked as her eyes began to feel heavy again.

-

"Good. You're finally awake." Caitlin heard the man speak from across the room. "How long was I asleep?" Caitlin asked as she sat up. Her body wasn't aching nearly as bad as it was before.

"You slept for about two days. I'm not surprised, you were hurt badly. I'm surprised you're still alive." The older man said as he handed Caitlin a small wooden bowl. "Drink that it's going to help you get some of your strength back."

Caitlin was skeptical about the mystery soup. She slowly brought the bowl to her lips and tasted the soup. Okay that's kind of good. She thought as she drank the whole bowl. She could feel the warmth settling in her chest. For a moment it seemed to travel to her toes.

Once she was finished with the bowl she looked up at the mystery man. His beard was long and braided, and his face was slightly dirty. She focused on his dark blue eyes. How long has he been here? Caitlin wondered.

-

"Where are we?" She asked when she finally got the courage to speak.

"You're in what's called a Dungeon of Beginnings. I am surprised you're here with the bare minimum equipment. You don't even have a guide book." The man said. As he spoke Caitlin couldn't believe what she was hearing.

"So is this like a sex thing?" Caitlin asked seriously.

The man gave her a long blink before bursting into laughter. His laugh echoed around the room. Caitlin blushed deeply. "It's an honest question!" She exclaimed. Caitlin could feel her face slowly heating up.

"You have no idea what happened to you?" The man asked. When his laughing stopped so suddenly it sent a chill up Caitlins spine.

"There was an accident at my family's restaurant. I was assuming I was hurt at first, now I'm not so sure? My experience so far has been extremely weird. At one point I assumed this was a dream." Caitlin said honestly. The look on the man's face made her heart twitch.

"You woke up here?" The man asked just to make sure.

"Yes. I woke up here." Caitlin said.

"I'm sorry to tell you this but you must've died. The only way to come here is death." The man said as he stood up and shut the door.

Caitlin shook her head. "Yeah right. That's not very funny, at all." She moved the blanket and slowly rose from the bed. There's no way.

"I'm leaving now." Caitlin said with a shaky breath.

"You're going to die out there." The man said as he stepped away from the door. "But you're free to go if that's what you choose."

Caitlin quickly grabbed the doorknob and tightened her hand around it. I can't be dead. She closed her eyes as tightly as possible.

"If you stay here I can help you. I can explain everything." The man offered. "You barely made it past the starting area."

Caitlin bit her bottom lip. A few tears slid down her cheek.

"Normally people don't have their memories when they get here. You're an exception and I want to know why." The man continued. "Let me help you."

Caitlin let more tears fall before she finally broke down. The weight of the whole incident finally got to her. She put her forehead on the wooden door. "Okay." She coughed out. "Okay."

-

After about an hour of trying to calm down Caitlin was ready to have a coherent conversation. "My name is Caitlin, by the way." She finally introduced herself. "Sorry it took me so long to tell you my name." She mumbled.

"My name is Ethan." Ethan said as he walked over to the fire, he moved his hand over the flame to gather the smoke. "We don't want the smoke to fill the room. Dinner will be ready soon." He said as he added a few ingredients into the pot.

"How exactly are you going to help me anyway? Also, what are you making?" Caitlin asked as she moved the blanket up to check her leg. She want used to seeing bruises on her body, not like this. Although she was feeling better her body was still sore.

"I'm going to get you proper equipment. I'll teach you how to use it, and we will exit the dungeon." Ethan said as he added some seasoning to the pot.

"Why help me anyway?" Caitlin asked. "We don't know each other and I haven't done anything for you." She pointed out.

"Typically, it's my job to help heroes. That's why I'm here in the first place." Ethan said before shaking his head. "I'll explain all of that after we have dinner. I know none of this makes sense now but it wil." He said as he poured more soup into two wooden bowls.

-

Caitlin ate in silence. She went over her options many times. At first she thought she went crazy after the accident. After, she went over the possibility of this whole ordeal being a dream. Once her mind stopped racing she decided she should listen to Ethan.