As he woke from his daze, Dean felt something cold and smooth against his cheek. He opened his eyes, he realised that he was face down on the floor.

Dean sat up, he pulled his face away from the cold embrace of the floor. His eyes turned bleak at the realisation of where he is.

"Shit, are we in the Gate?"

"You've royally screwed us over."

Crescent pulled out her book and hit it across the back of Dean's head, with enough power to of woke the dead.

"Ow! What the hell?!? This is not my fault, it's yours!" Dean yelled, he stroked the back of his head as if it would of nurtured the wound left behind by the thump.

"If you didn't come in with me I would have been fine. I would have snuck in and out before the Hunters even noticed."

Crescent's cheeks had flushed bright red, her lips squeezed together and puckered to form a pout. It's easy to forget that even though she's a Hunter, she was still a child, and not far off the age of his younger sister.

Bang!

She swung her book at the same spot she had hit earlier, Dean winced.

"Wait! Wait! Stop hitting me."

"You idiot! You've killed us both! I hate you!"

Dean blocked the spot on the back of his head that Crescent ruthlessly kept targeting.

"You'll leave a mark!"

Crescent put her arms down to her side, she lett out a short breath through her pouted lips.

She opened her book, reassuring herself as she flicked through the pages.

"You can do this" she said more to herself than anyone else, then she turned to Dean.

"We just need to find the cores and we'll be out. Destroy the cores and we're free."

"Idiot, do you want to live?" She asked Dean. She snapped the book shut with her left hand, her lips still formed a pout.

"Of course I want to live."

"Then listen and follow everything I tell you."

"You're-"

Bang!

Before he got to continue, she hit him on the same spot with her book again.

"Alright, alright! I'll listen to what you have to say!"

"And follow?" She asked, she raised her book in a threatening manner.

"Yes! Yes! I'll do what you say" Dean whined, fear that the repeated hits might give him brain damage. He stroked the sore spot on his head, like a child that's scraped their knee.

He got up to his feet, Dean surveyed the surrounding area. The cavern they're in was spacious, with only one narrow tunnel leading out.

The ground was made of cold, black rock. A light shined through the fogged crystals that covered the walls and ceiling.

"FWEET!" He whistled at the beauty of the cavern.

The tale has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation.

As he took his phone out of his pocket, he noticed the screen only came up with static.

The buttons were unresponsive.

He sighed, now it was nothing but an expensive paper weight.

For some odd reason, most electric and modern technology would not work near or inside the Gates, something about the magic of the Gate, interfered with technology.

Dean would have remembered better if he wasn't sleepy from staying up to guard the Gate because of some Hunters who arrived very late.

It's why the Gate’s guards all wore old analog watches and had walkie talkies as they watched over the gates.

Some of the few technologies that they wouldn't have trouble with.

However, it's a different story inside the gate. The analog watch's hands rapidly spun on their axis and the walkie talkie screamed when Dean turned it on.

"I hope these don't break, I can't afford to fix my phone and replace damaged work equipment." He whined.

"They won't. The effects should clear up after we get out of here. Put your phone away, I need you to focus, life or death remember. The gates aren't a playground."

Dean pocketed his phone, he realised he missed something important.

"Where are the two other Hunters?" He looked around the wide empty cavern, he finding himself alone with the small witch.

"…They must have been placed in a different part of the gate." Crescent said, disgruntled. She placed her hand over her mouth as if it she was thinking of something.

"We better hurry along, or we'll die of starvation before we get out of here."

Crescent removed her hand from her face and pushed Dean towards the tunnel that lead out of the cavern.

A slightly green opaque windows appeared in front of each of them as soon as they set foot in the tunnel.

[Safe zone left]

[Disabling safe zone]

[F ranked Gate Mission: The Rats cellar.]

Difficulty: E

Clear conditions:

Wipe out the F ranked Rats: Incomplete (0/2500)

Defeat the F ranked Gate boss: Incomplete (0/1)

Or

Destroy the Gate's cores: Incomplete (0/5)

Time limit: 1 hour

Rewards: Calculated on Contribution to clear conditions.

Failure: Death

Dean's eyes lit up at the appearance of the window.

"I've only heard of the Gate's voice in my lectures. I never thought I'd be able to hear it in person this early."

He remembered the fact that he might not get out of the Gate alive, he loses his child-like wonder, "We have to kill that many rats?" He grimaced.

Crescent pushed the windows to the side, "No. We just need to destroy the Gate's cores and we'll be able to get out of here. Follow my orders and we'll live."

She assured Dean and guided him further into the tunnel.

…

"Squeak, squeak"

A voice echoed from further down the tunnel. Dean and Crescent had been walking through the tunnel for quite some time now and haven't met rats that the Gate was supposed to have thousands of.

Crescent had put her hand out, it blocked Dean from going any further. She put a finger over her lips, the expression she made was an indication for Dean to keep quiet.

"Slow and steady now" she said in a hushed tone. They slowly moved towards the sound.

"Wait."

Crescent stopped Dean, she looked further down the tunnel where the sound came from.

"Look."

Crescent pointed towards a hunched over figure in the center of the tunnel.

Dean's eyes focused on a large black rat, about two foot on all-fours and five foot if it were to stand up on its hind legs. It had a pink tail that was long and wiry.

The rat chewed on something, evident by the sound it made between squeaks.

"Oh god, is that a human?"

Dean thrown up in his mouth a little, queasy as the beady eyed rat chewed on a young lady's intestines. It pulled the intestines out from her torn body.

"She must have been sucked in when the Gate was formed." She explained to Dean.

Crescent hardly battered an eye as the rat devoured the corpse, their face unrecognisable from the wounds caused by the large rat.

Dean nearly vomited his lunch as he hyperventilated at the sight of the rat and dead woman.

"I need you to focus now. You want to live right?"

"Yes… Yes, I want to live."

Dean replied hunched over. He tried to gain control of his body from the shivering and dry heaving.

"Here."

She pulled an axe out from a pouch that was much smaller in size.

The weight of the axe put a strain on her as she handed it to Dean; He took the axe from her with ease.

"I will distract the rat, you hit it in the head with that axe. One clean hit-"

"You want me to fight that thing? I'll die!"

Dean panicked as he gripped onto the axe, his eyes were peeled wide from the horror ahead.

"Mr, you'll die if you don't. We wouldn't have been in this predicament if you didn't come with me. I can't use any of my spells because my magic is all out of whack because of you. Now, stop being such a coward!"

Crescent slapped Dean on the back and ran toward the Rat.

"Hey, why don't you eat something fresher than that stale meal!" She shouted.

"Oh god, oh god, oh god!"

Dean sprinted towards the rat. The rat paid him no mind. It’s beady eyes were focused only on Crescent as she ran around waving her arms high in the air.