I was in pain. There were blisters, burns, and cuts all over my body. From what, exactly, I don't remember. I couldn't remember anything but the suffering I was in. I have been in this deserted land for… what? Three hours? Ten years? I can't remember. I only remember pain. Nothing but pain.

Doors. I'm looking for… Doors, right? The Doors of… Hades? No… Death. The Doors of Death. I need to close the doors. That's why I'm here. The Prophecy. I shook my head, trying to clear it out. I needed to think. Which way was I walking? I was following… something… A… cyclops, or… a telkhine… I don't remember. Whatever it was, It's gone now. I lost it when I was climbing/falling off the cliff. I looked over and walked closer to the river before following the current. I didn't know which river it was, and I was afraid to find out.

I walked for I don't know how long then tripped over something. I looked over and saw a war helmet of some kind. It looked like something from centuries ago. I wondered what it was doing here. I shook my head and stood up. It doesn't matter. I wiped my hands on my pants, thankful I always wore jackets and jeans so I wouldn't get too hurt from the broken glass beach, but my hands probably had a million shards in them.

After what felt like a thousand years I heard something. Not a monster call but… what sounded human. That couldn't be right, I should be the only mortal down here. I decided against my better judgement to leave the river and follow the voice. It sounded female, and very familiar, but I couldn't remember who it was. I followed the voice until I saw a group of monsters. I hid behind a conveniently placed boulder. I looked over the top and saw a girl, about my age. She looked so familiar, but I couldn't figure out why. Then she looked up and it hit me like a ton of bricks to the face.

It was Kayla. My Kayla.

I almost screamed. She looked directly at me and bit her lip. I stood up and reached my arm over to her. She closed her eyes and looked down. The monsters surrounding her took that as a sign of weakness and mobbed over her. I growled and reached for my sword, but it was gone. I left it in the Underworld when I went looking around. I looked up and the scene was gone. There were no monsters, no boulder, and no Kayla.

I shook my head. Kayla was gone. She died in the Titan War. I let her go into that horde of monsters without help. She's not here. She's probably in Elysium right now. Or she chose rebirth. She's not here.

I turned around and almost ran into something. I looked up and, again, saw Kayla. I was about to scream but she covered my mouth. She pointed to herself, then to me and the marks all over me, then to the river. I looked confused. She sighed.

"The River. The Phlegethon. It will cause pain, but it will heal you." I nodded. I tried to pull her closer, to hug her, touch her, anything. But when I blinked she was gone. The only thing I heard was her voice carrying through the wind, which appeared out of nowhere. "Promise..."

I walked over to the river and dipped my hand in. I felt like it was on fire. I held back a scream and drank it. I held the urge to spit it back out and swallowed it. I felt like I swallowed fire, which is technically what I did. The river of fire, I forgot about that. After a few minutes I felt my head clearing and my blisters and burns were going away. I looked around and stood up. I wiped the rest of the water onto my pants and sighed thankfully when they didn't burn off. I looked at the river, looked around the barren wasteland, and started following the current again.