Wakefulness slowly returns to Xiaolian, but she struggles against it, burying herself deeper into the comforting weight that is surrounding her. It takes her brain a moment or two to register the abnormality of the situation. Slowly opening her eyes, she gazed around the room that was definitely not the abandoned building that she normally sleeps in.

  Indeed there was none of the rotten floor boards that she sleeps on, nor the creaking door that slams open and closes at the slightest bit of wind, not even the room with the multiple holes that let the rain in. Instead what greets her is a room like what she imagined would be available to someone sleeping in one of those fancy hotels, albeit a bit bare. The bed was as large as an ox and soft as the finest silks with the covers of pure white, the walls were clean and whole as if waiting for someone to hang something on them, the entrance had a door that was not banging open and close do to the wind, there was even a small blue crystal on the celling providing the room with a soft glow. As she looked around what could only be a fantastical dream, her gaze was slowly to a pair of glowing green eyes.

  Noticing her attention, the eyes’ owner suddenly speaks up “Hi!! You feeling better?” the voice is surprisingly young, sounding no older than she is. In fact, the eye’s owner looks just as old as she is.

  “Uh yes?” is her shaky response back.

  “That's good! You were out like a rock when dad brought you here.”

  “Um where, if you don’t mind me asking, is here exactly?”

  “Your room of course silly!”

  Before she can formulate a response to that statement, the door to the room opens and a heavily cloaked person steps in with a tray of food and a steaming mug of some liquid. “Rachel! No overloading people with information!” The now named Rachel slumps down slightly at the chastisement, “Sorry dad.”

  “You’ll have to excuse her, she doesn't get to see many kids her age around here.”

  Taking a moment to quicky recenter herself, Xiaolian asks, “C-could you explain by what she means exactly?”

  “Of course but first introductions,” the cloaked person says as they place the tray into her lap. “I am Murray and the little bundle of energy and creativity is Rachel my daughter. Now to answer your question, what was the last thing you remember?”

  “Um, I was bleeding?”

  “Well yes you were, but more specifically you were dying.”

  “Oh”

  “Now before you start worrying about if you’re actually dead, you did something.” At that revelation, Xiaolian looks to Murray with anxiety filled eyes. Slowly, to not frighten her, Murray sits next to her and explains her situation.

  “What you did was ask for help, had you done so in any other location that cry for help would have most likely not been answered. However the reason why it was answered is because your cry was done in a Dungeon.”

  “W-What’s a Dungeon?”

  “A Dungeon is a place that the world puts bad things in time out!” Rachel’s suddenly interjected with jumping into Xiaolian’s unoccupied side of the bed.

  “While my daughter’s explanation is vastly simplified, she isn't wrong. To put it in another way, when something truly catastrophic happens in such a way that would completely alter reality as you know it were to happen, the world creates a Dungeon in order to contain it. Now in order to make sure that said cataclysm doesn't escape, the Dungeon itself is technically alive and able to grow stronger to better contain what it holds. Unfortunately the only way for it to grow is by having those outside it interact with it, claiming resources that spawn within it, fighting the defenders that protect it, or just wandering about seeing the sites.”

  Love what you're reading? Discover and support the author on the platform they originally published on.

  “W-why is that a bad thing exactly?

  “Well sure, the simple matter of every now and again you've got the random idiot that thinks it’s a great idea to destroy the dungeon out of some misguided belief that doing so will rid the world of some great and terrible evil,” was Murray’s exasperated response. “And that’s not counting any random cults that might pop up. But anyway this actually leads into your new job!”

  Xiaolian could only just stare like Murray was suddenly sprouting tentacles at this sudden revelation. It takes Rachel waving her hand in front of her face to jolt her out of her shock. “What do you mean I have a job?!”

  “It actually ties back into your cry for help. Because your cry was done in a Dungeon, it was able to be answered. However there are some things that cannot be avoided, one of them being death herself. Considering you were on her doorstep, the only way the Dungeon could feasibly save you was to bind your soul to itself. Now normally this would just result in your wounds being healed and after a 24 hour wait, your soul would be unbound and you would be free to go.”

  “What do you mean normally.”

  Before Murray can respond, Rachel cheerfully interjects, “Well whatever your attacker did to your heart had a side effect: when the Dungeon was healing you. Specifically you’re no longer fully alive, but you’re also not dead, you’re in the middle, so technically, you are an undead.”

  “Ug... Rachel information overload,” Murray says with a hand massaging his eyes.

  “Sorry dad.”

  “Before you panic about your new status, you’re only half undead, specifically half willow-wisp. And as such, the Dungeon can’t unbind your soul because we don’t know what that could do to you, so instead you are now one of us in protecting the Dungeon from idiots,” Murray calmly explains to help Xiaolian avoid panicking. “We can explain more, but I think the soup has cooled down enough and we’ve delayed your breakfast long enough. We will be outside your door when you’re done.”

  And with that Murray picks up Rachel and leaves Xiaolian to her breakfast of fruit and soup.

  Dressed in simple but clean clothes, Xiaolian slowly opens the door to see it opens on to a balcony that over looks an empty but large square room. With a quick look around, Xiaolian finds that Murray and Rachel are just a few feet to her right. Noticing her, Murray beckons her over before pulling out a metal hoop with multiple strange keys attached to it. “Before we actually give you a tour of the Dungeon, there is something you should be warned about.”

  “Oh uh what should I watch out for?”

  “Well the truth is that the Dungeon doesn’t have a solid layout which can be attributed to what it is actually containing.”

  “What exactly is it containing?” Xiaolian asks after a blink of confusion.

  “The exact nature is a bit hard to describe, but the easiest explanation is a hole in reality that is allowing the lands of living to mix with the lands of the dead,” Murray explains while looking for a specific key. “Now normally a Dungeon would have a strict layout where once ‘room’ is defined it will not be able to change neither the structure nor the location it is in.”

  “But this one can?”

  “Exactly!” Rachel answers Xiaolian’s guess. “Dad says that it prefers to only move the ‘rooms’ around and leaves how they look and act up to us!”

  “Well most rooms, the entrance room, the one we are currently in, it keeps to itself on how it looks.” Murray adds while holding up a key that looks to be a mixture of glowing bronze and flowing honey. “Ah here we go, now due to the rooms constantly shifting, the only quick way to get to your destination is with these keys. Otherwise you'll have to walk through the area, which can take quite awhile depending on where you are trying to go.”

  “So where are we going?” Xiaolian asks as Murray uses the selected key on a closed door.

  “Why, we have to introduce you to your new co-workers of course.” With a gentle push, the door opens to reveal a scene beyond Xiaolian’s wildest imagination. Bronze pots and pans tower over her, multiple cauldrons of immense size boils with soups and broths that she could not even begin to describe the aroma of that gently wafted towards her, fires that roared under unknown animal carcasses that threaten to set her mouth watering from how the meat sizzles and pops, and even simple bowls of fruit look to have come from the heavens themselves. As distracted as she was by these mouthwatering sights, she wasn't distracted enough to not notice the small humanoids crafting the tempting delights. “... Are they?” she hesitantly asked.

  “Oh no, those are not your co-workers, they are just denizens. Basically people who live in the dungeon but are not bound to it like we are,” Murray explains while Rachel gives the dirty dishes to a passing scaly denizen.

  “Uh no, what are they?” Xiaolian tries to explain her actual question which causes Murray to stop and stare at her.

  “...They are kobolds...don’t you recognize them?”

  “Uh no should I have?”