I woke up, it was peaceful. No bad nightmares, or good dreams. No sand beneath me that gets in the… never mind that. And no water in my lungs. Speaking of lungs, I don't feel the pain anymore. I did notice that something was laid on my chest, a stone. Small, green glowing, round stone. Huh? I picked it up and put it on the small wooden table beside me, which still had waterskin on it. I pick it up and satisfied my thirst, however I'm still hungry. Can I ask the nice doctor lady for some food? I wonder if I'll see her again, she is a doctor so probably. I took a look around the room and found no one else. Where did the two men go?
I got up on my feet and finally looked at the other half of the room. There was a door and it seems that there were only 4 beds in this room. The door has a little rectangular hatch, small enough for peeking. Or so I presume. it seemed to be closed. I approached the door and tried to leave. I tried the door handle, but it wouldn't move. What? I tried pushing and pulling the door, but it still didn't open. Is something wrong with it. I knocked. "Hello?" There was no response. "Anyone? Hello? Can someone open the door?" Just then the small window door slid and a pair of eyes peeked through. I fell on my back.
"Hey sorry about the noise, but uh… could you let me out."
"Well lookie here, I think he looks recovered enough! I wanna talk to him, now. Can you unlock the door?" New voice spoke. It was a man's, but not like the two men who were here before, or the guy from the beach. I would say much louder and more… energetic?
"Fine." A woman's voice grunted.
The door opened and there stood a man, wearing simple white long sleeved shirt, and black pants tied up by a string. He had a purple scarf that he had placed on his shoulders like a towel. Lastly brown eyes and medium length brown hair, along with a medium length beard. He stared me down, then turned to the left of him, where stood the nice doctor lady.
"This is the guy?" He asked, I could feel his voice lose its excitement.
"Yep. That's him." The nice doctor lady sighed.
"Great!" He turned to me. "Pleasure to meet you. My name is Ren, or as other call me Reckless Ren, or Ren the Reckless, or Ren the Romantic, as ladies prefer it. What would your name be?" He spoke so fast. The excitement I felt dwindling, returned.
"Uhhh… I don't… remember."
He grabbed and shook my hand. "Pleasure to meet you Mr. I-Don't-Know-My-Name. I've met many like you. You must have a big family. Haha." That's… not what I said…
"Tell me Mr. I-Don't-Know-My-Name." He placed the other hand on my shoulder. "Are you feeling any better?"
"Better?"
"Well surely there isn't a human being in the world our masterful Angel cannot heal?" Angel sighed and facepalmed.
"Y-yeah. I guess I am feeling better."
"Good. Great. Awesome. Mind if I ask you a few questions?"
"Uhh… sure, if… I-I can do the same."
"Why of course you can! Here why don't you take a seat back at your bed."
He guided me back to my bed. He tried looking for a place for him to sit on and settled for the small wooden table that was next to me. He took the stuff that was on it and tossed it to another bed, then proceeded to sit down.
"Now talk to me. Would you like to go first? Surely your questions are of equal importance as mine, surely so."
"What?"
"Ah so you are going first. 'What?' isn't much a question I could easily answer, so if you could, it would nice for you to elaborate."
"Wha- n-no I wasn't asking, I-"
"I see, I guess that means you would want me to ask you the first questions very well then. First question I have for you, what year is it?"
"Year? Uhh… I… ahh… ?"
"Uh-Ai-ah! Of course. I see. Interesting! Second question! Do you know how you got here?"
"Here? You mean this place? I don't even know what this place is, let alone how I got here!"
"Oh. Very troubling indeed. Let's not waste time. Next question! When you got here, light was probably blinding to you, yes?"
'Y-yeah, light was not pleasant to see, but it felt right."
"Right? That's good." He grinned. "And how long would you say you yourself went without light?"
"I don't understand."
"Never mind. Next question! We found you in a pretty... bad condition. Could you tell me what happened?"
I told him. From the start to the end. How I woke up in a river, the beast chasing me, my brothers, the old tower falling, and the corpse crab eating the vultures. I doubt that was important, but it was creepy. I did left out a lot of stuff. But I answered a lot of his other questions he had piling up. Ren was paying so much attention, he was drooling. Seconds after I finished he picked himself up and smiled.
"Unbelievable! What you have gone through is truly marvelous indeed. I can only imagine the pain you have suffered. You my friend are a martyr. A martyr to the greatness of human capabilities!" He began tearing, but quickly wiped his tears away. "Forgive me. You mentioned two brothers, yes? Would you have any clue or idea about what happened to them?"
"I don't." I lower my gaze.
"Mhh. Very well. Those were all the questions I had for you, or at least could ask you. Any questions you have for me? Ask away!"
At last. "Where am I?"
"Could you explain? Where as in City? Country? World?"
What? "A-all of them, please."
"Very well. You are in the Dungeon, a different world than the one you are probably familiar with. You are on the Human's Side of the continent. And lastly you are in the Calm of Condemned, Special district to be precise."
"What?"
"Want me to repeat it?"
"Yes!"
"Once again, Dungeon another world than the one you came from. Human's Side of the continent. Calm of Condemned, Special district."
"So, this isn't Earth?"
"No."
"How did I get here?"
"Can't tell you that."
"Can't as in you don't know? Or won't say?"
"I'll leave it to interpretation."
"…" This guy. "Calm of Condemned?"
"A city yes."
"Special district ?"
"The city is divided into hierarchical levels. Some people just can't enter some places. Or where you come from it's unfamiliar?"
"Are… you from Earth?"
"No. I was born in the Dungeon."
"Why do you call it Dungeon?"
"Why don't we go for a walk, this is truly a long story and we could go on for hours?"
"B-but I haven't eaten yet."
"Why worry about that? It'll be my treat!"
If it's another world, would their food be good? I mean they are humans so… whatever they eat, maybe I could too. "O-okay."
The whole time we were having the conversation he was smiling wide, and somehow he was able to smile even more after I agreed. He got up and extended his arm for me. I didn't grab it and got up on my own. Then we proceeded towards the door.
"Where are you going?" Thenicedoctorlady,orAngel,interrogated.
"Me? Or him? Or us?" Renasked.
"Both." Shesounded angry, but why is she even asking. Did she not hear our conversation?
"Why we're going to eat! My treat!"
"The patient can have food here." She was going to actually get me food? She really is an Angel!
"Ahh, don't be such a bore! What you serve here doesn't even deserve to be called food! Also, he agreed to it himself, isn't that right?" He turned back to me and furrowed his brows. What? Does he want me to say yes?
"Ah, yeah, I did." His expression brightened. Sorry Angel, your food probably tastes good and you put effort into it. Oh well, next time.
"See?"
"Ugh. Fine you may go, but remember he can't eat any solid food yet, he needs to walk less, and if anything happens return immediately."
"All is noted!" We proceeded to walk into the hallways. I waved at the nice doctor lady, and continued with Ren.
This whole place was lit up, yes I found no source of the light. How is this possible? The floors in this place were made from wood and somehow were in top condition, I mean they were squeaky clean. Along the way I saw multiple other rooms, but all of their doors were locked. Peeking hatches, however, were present. I decided to take a little peek into one of the rooms, not for malicious purposes, just simple curiosity. The door I chose had number on it, I mean all of them did, this one's was thirteen, I should've looked at mine.
I slid the hatch and looked inside. It was a pretty dark room. There was only one bed, placed in the middle. Dim lights coming from a curtained window. On the bed sat a figure, it was staring off into the window. I'm not sure whether it was a man or a woman. They had long hair, also wore gown, I couldn't see much details. Suddenly it snapped back and looked directly at me. I jumped back and quickly closed the hatch. I think I'll just get going.
I caught up to Ren, who was a little ahead of me, and asked him a question.
"Is this a hospital or an asylum?"
"Both!" That was ominously cheerful.
"And you just keep them all together?"
"No we have separate rooms."
"I meant as in sections."
"What sections?"
"I see. Anyways about my question earlier-"
"The reason we call it dungeon is because that's what our predecessors called it. The first of people, and we just follow along as tradition."
"First of people?"
"Yes. People who arrived here just like you."
"How did they arrive?"
"…"
So our questions don't hold the same value then, huh? We've reached the registry. There was a young lady sitting at the desk and an old guy sitting next to her. When they saw us walk past they both stood up straight.
"Uhh Sir! Where are you taking the patient?" The girls spoke up.
"Worry not. He and I will just circle around."
"Bu-"
I couldn't hear her finish as me and Ren exited through the doors, not slowing down for a moment.
I was finally outside and a multitude of colours hit my eyes. Buildings of stone, stores outside, a rocky road where people walked and horses galloped. Carriages with cargo left and right. One thing I noticed was that everyone had scarves. Different colours, and worn differently. Most were white, some were bright yellow, few were green and darker.
"This here is the Special district. Stores, the one hospital, registries and food."
They only have one hospital? Then this city must be pretty small. "How many people are here?"
"About two thousand condemned."
"Condemned?"
"Calm of Condemned."
"Ah, right."
Small. But then again, this could be a big amount in this world. As we walked away from the hospital I decided to look back and see what it looks like. To my surprise it was an astonishingly large building. Inside made of wood and outside of stone. Though in terms of structure it was just a large brick. No extravagant details, aside from a big white poster with a red cross on it, placed on top of the entrance. After I finished gazing I ran back to Ren. We continued down the street.
"So, will I get proper clothing? And what's up with everyone wearing scarves?"
"Don't worry, we will assign you clothing. The scarves? Well, that's the person's rank. Like I said we have a hierarchical system. People at the bottom wear white scarves. People at the top, like me, wear purple, silver, gold, and this one might be a rumour, but I heard that the big boss wears a black one. No one has seen him though."
"So what are the rest?"
"In a second. Come here, this place is wonderful."
He went towards a store that was selling cooked mea-… kebab?! There was a large… grill, on it meat on metal skewers. Definitely kebab. The smell was nice too! I could my mouth drooling.
"Hey old friend." He spoke to the man who was covering his face, and wore a tank top.
"Oi there, fat man. Here for your usual?" The guy had a robust voice. It really stood out.
"Alright there Mr. Patient, this here is the world's greatest cook I know, Roma. He is also a great salesman, not an offer he proposes that you could reject."
"Ah, your flattery would be admirable, if you weren't such a suck-up!"
"Suck-up?! But my friend, I merely state that which is true! There are no malicious intents behind my words! No if you can we will take two sticks."
"Ten gold."
"TEN GOLD!? This is outrageous! What has gone to your head? Corruption? Greed? Gluttony? Roka this is not who you are!"
"Fifteen gold."
"Ten silver."
"Deal."
"No. I refuse."
"… What?"
"I have changed my mind. Make it five silver."
"That is outrageous! Deal."
"No. No deal."
"… You can go then."
"So five silver right?"
"No its ten now."
"…"
"…"
"Bu-"
"You can leave."
"Ugh. You are lucky I'm with someone, had I been alone this would not go your way." I don't think Roka, is the persistent one. Ren reached for the small pouch that was hidden inside his sleeve. How did he hide that? Then he mumbled. "Persistent fool." He paid him and we got two sticks of kebab. He gave one to me and I began eating right away. God I haven't had food for so long! Finally, a fresh, tasty and juicy feeling on my tongue, and a satisfaction in my stomach. At least I thought so at first.