"Just water?" The woman asked me, amused. She placed her hands on the countertop and looked at me.

"Ah, yeah. That will be perfect," I replied, stuttering a bit. Her penetrating gaze left me feeling like a middle schooler, getting tongue-tied in front of his crush. "I've some work to do, so no drinks for me."

She shrugged. "Suit yourself," then looked beneath the counter and got hold of a bottle filled with water. Taking a glass, she filled it with the liquid and pushed it towards me. "Here you go."

I grasped the glass, thanked her then took a sip, allowing the cold water to quench my thirst.

"So what is this job that brought you here?" She asked.

"I was looking for something," I took another sip of the water. "And not to mention the rain outside. This place seemed like the only one to have someone in it, so here I am. What about you?" I glanced back at the empty chairs and tables. "Slow business day?"

"Yeah, something like that," she replied, placing her elbows on the counter, her face very much close to mine. "So what is this thing you're looking for? I might be of some help if you tell me."

"I.." was a loss for words. Seeing her face so close to my own, caused my brain to come to a stuttering halt.

I noticed every contour of her pretty features, her full red lips, bright blue eyes and rosy coloured cheeks. Her skin was lightly tanned, with gentle heat emanating from her body and I felt her soft breaths caress my nose and cheek. They smelt like the pleasant mixture of mint and orange.

I wanted to kiss her, the urge was sudden and all-consuming. Nearly forcing me to move in close and capture her lips, but I stopped myself, took a sip of the water and moved my head backwards. Only a bit though, because even if I was wary of who she was, the woman had already sunk her hooks so deep inside of me that I couldn't get out, no matter what I wanted.

"I'm looking for something very important to me," I said. "A friend of mine told me I could find it here." The kid was the younger version of myself, so I could consider him my friend, right?

"I see," she too pushed herself back and instantly I felt the loss of her warmth. I wanted it back. "So is this thing too much of a secret that you couldn't share with me?"

"I…" was confused. Was this talk of me finding my Core really that much of a secret that I couldn't share it with someone. When this someone could very well be a figment of my imagination. A result of the cookie I ate. So there should be no problem if I share my thoughts with her. And who knows, maybe she would help me find it?

"I'm looking for my Dungeon Core," so I said to the woman. "A kid told me I would find it here. Well, not here particularly, but somewhere in this place. Before, I passed by several of the abandoned buildings, but all of them gave me a vibe that the Core wasn't there, but here." I brought the glass closer to my lips and took another sip. "I have a strange feeling that I'll find something here."

The smile the woman gave me then was blinding, making my heart thunder loudly beneath my chest. I felt lighthearted and pleased, but most of all, I felt I knew this woman better than my own being. "Then I can say, the kid is right. You have come to the right place."

"So you know where my Core is?" I failed to keep the excitement from my voice. "Then why didn't you tell me before?"

"Because that is not how it happens here. If you want something, you have the ask. There's no other way," she returned the water bottle underneath the counter. "Now as for more information on the Core, it will cost you something."

"Cost me?" I asked. "What will it cost me? I don't have anything other than the clothes on my back. You can take it, they might fit you, but other than that I don't have anything with me."

"Are you sure about that?" But the woman prodded, amused. "I'm certain you can find something in those pockets of yours that might be of value."

"Pocket of mine?" I was confused. "What do you mean by— oh," I blinked, understanding her words. I pushed myself back off the counter and reached for my pants to retrieve the penny I had kept in my pocket. Upon retrieving it, I placed the coin and counter, but before I gave it to the woman, I stopped and asked. "Is this enough?" It shouldn't be. Even giving someone this, no matter the price or cheapness of information, was downright rude and demeaning to me.

But the woman didn't seem to mind, as she took the coin, carefully looked at it in the dim lights of the bar, then smiled and slipped it inside the pocket of her shirt. "It will do just fine," she told me.

"If you say so," I wasn't pleased, but I took her words for it.

"I am. Now come with me." She waited until I drank the entire glass of water, and then hopped over the counter like some nimble rabbit. In a blink of an eye, she was standing beside me. Mirth in her eyes and a twitch on her lips, she watched me stare slack-jawed at her apparent expert manoeuvrability.

"Come with me," she said, then turned around and began walking towards the other end of the bar.

Hurriedly, I followed. "Is my Core really here? Why didn't you tell me before?"

"Your Dungeon Core is here," she admitted, glancing backwards. "As for why didn't I tell you? Because you never asked."

There was a lot more I wanted to ask her, more things I wanted to know. But I simply decided to follow her and see where it led. If what she was telling me was the truth, then I would find my Core. After that, I could ask myself what all of this even means? The kid, his room, this apparent ghost town with a bar with one single human managing it. What is all of this supposed to say? A part of me wanted to ask her.

But I didn't. I simply followed her as the woman took me to the other side of the bar, in front of a closed wooden door.

But before she opened it, she suddenly stopped. Turned around and looked at me, her eyes once filled with amusement, now stained with grim seriousness. Red lips frowning. The sudden change in her facial features, stopped me in my tracks, eyes wide, mouth hanging open.

But before I could ask her what happened, she spoke. "Behind that door is your Dungeon Core."

"Okay." I understood that.

"And I'll tell you now what you may find on the other side might not be what you imagine. Remember, a Dungeon Core isn't necessarily a piece of rock or jewellery. It is something very important to the Dungeon itself. Something that meant more than anything in its life. So I need to ask before we enter," she took in a deep breath. "Are you sure you want to see this?"

"I am," I replied instantly, without pause. If my Core was something so important to me before I died, then surely I would want to have it again with me and then protect it with everything I had. But how would I even do that if I don't know what on earth it is?

So I said it again, this time my voice was firmer. "Yes, I want to see it."

The woman looked at me for a second, blue eyes looking into my brown ones, till she nodded and smiled. "Very well, come in." She pushed the door open and entered with me following close behind.

What was beyond the door, confused and horrified me in equal measures. The woman led me to a white-washed room filled with instruments and devices of different kinds and two bodies with white bed sheets covering them, lying still on separate beds. It seemed I had somehow found myself in a hospital ward.

Oh, my thoughts had gone quiet but my heart was hammering beneath my chest. As if something inside of me just knew what I was seeing, but my conscience remained frustratingly in denial. Refusing to admit what I was looking at with my own eyes.

I glanced at the woman who too was staring at me. Her face once brightened by a smile was now plagued with sorrow and understanding. She didn't enter the room, just stayed on the threshold. "This entire place is your Core's shell, and that," she pointed at the two bodies lying on the separate beds, "is your Core. The most important thing in your life. If anyone wants to destroy you entirely, they would have to destroy them first."

Her words brought bile up my throat. I prayed that what I was afraid of didn't turn out to be true. But deep down I knew what I was seeing.

So with heavy steps and a rapidly beating heart, I advanced toward the two bodies. Eyes glued but my mind far away, until I saw who those two were and my whole world came crashing down.

Lying on the bed nearest to me was the bruised, battered, bloodied body of a boy. Raven hair, pale skin but there was no question as to who it was. The boy I meet before the white door then lied on his bed inside the kid's room. I was afraid to move any closer.

As for the other bed, there lay a woman. Her face was much worse than the boy. So much blood was smeared on it that I felt I would die just by looking at her. But I recognised who she was her shoulder-length auburn hair was unmistakable.

I turned around and looked at the woman who had brought me here but was somehow, lying on the bed as well. "How?" I couldn't help but ask. My brain was not working at all, my throat meanwhile was dry as a desert.

The smile the woman gave me was filled with so much sorrow that it broke my heart, tears pricking my eyes. She shrugged. "Trucks, I tell you? You never see until they are running over you."

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