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The last thing that Olivia remembered was being cold. So cold that she couldn't move or open her eyes. Before that she has vague memories of being in an ambulance, responding to a medical emergencies a couple miles away from the hospital. It was raining and it was dark when they were plummeting down a turning road. Without any warning or feelings, the vehicle had flipped and crashed. They skidded across the pavement and tumbled into a thirty foot ditch. Olivia was the only survivor, and though she was dubbed the lucky one the doctors at the hospital weren't sure if she would ever wake up.

But she did wake up. It just wasn't where she expected.

The cold of her memory that was running through her body soon turned into the ebb and flow of icy water. The air was balmy and the light was pale. No one could be quite sure what time of the day it was, though Olivia would have guessed early morning. Her body was loose and floating, and her head was face down in the water. Slowly realizing her surroundings, Olivia also realized that she was drowning. Panicked, she tried to connect her brain to her muscles and swim. Her head spun with images of water filling up lungs and of some of her patients who had nearly drowned. She imagined her own face turning blue; becoming the ocean that was succumbing her. Olivia felt paralyzed, but knew deep down somewhere that she just had to think hard enough and she would be free to move as she pleased.

The young doctor could feel the cold water filling up her lungs, and her stomach lurched in anxiety. Olivia struggled to stay afloat, but soon with the will power that she possessed, she could feel herself coming back to life. Her nerves connected and parts of her could control her body. Looking for some kind of haven she saw a shore not too far off. Still feeling the burn of water in her system she coughed as she pathetically moved herself toward safety.

Many minutes passed by before her frozen body touched land. Olivia coughed up water as she crawled out of the water. Sand stuck to her wet body as she tried to escape the whirlwind of waves and power that was the ocean. Spitting up more salt water in pain her eyes rolled into the back of her head as a wave of weakness flooded over her. Though she had never been the praying type, she prayed that someone would be on this beach.

Fighting against the force that she presumed wanted to send her into eternal sleep, Olivia tried to take in her surroundings. The sand beneath her was not like anything she had seen, though it was subtle and organic looking the colors of the sand were abstract. Still on her hands and knees she looked around a bit more. Perhaps it was her deluded mind or the shock that came with such a physical experience, but everything looked a little out of place, a little too surreal.

Tired, she gave up and rested on her side, knowing that if she were to rest on her back she would surely drown. Her feet were just a couple of inches from the tide. It was then that Olivia realized that she had no idea where she was, or how on earth could have possibly gotten there.

It had been quite a while since Thomas had been to a beach. Most of his time nowadays was either spent with a book on the outskirts of Blanket City or at the end of a bar drinking and telling tales while they were still in his head. In between both these activities was teaching the odd Wanderer a trick or two, but it had been too long since Thomas sneaked away from the city and found a quiet place to lay his head for a few hours. The ebb and flow of the ocean and the feel of the shifting sand under his body was an odd comfort to say the least. This calm however was broken by a coughing and gargling noise coming from further down the beach.

Thomas' eyes darted open as he lifted his body from it's supine position, looking over to the source of the noise. There he saw a woman soaking wet and hunched over, coughing up a storm as if she was dying. Thomas put two and two together and figured that she must have washed up on shore from the waking world. 'A hell of a way to get here.' Thomas thought to himself, returning his head to the sand as he closed his eyes to sleep. But the woman's hacking just seemed to get louder and louder, making it harder for Thomas to ignore until finally, his conscious prevailed as he got up and dusted himself off, walking over to the shivering girl. As she looked up at him, still shivering quite a bit, Thomas took off his coat and placed it over her, ruling up his collared shirt's sleeves immediately after. "First things first. What's your name?" Thomas asked as he placed his hand out of her field of view and waved his hand, bringing a nondescript water bottle into existence and handing to her to drink. While this trick was common practice for Thomas, it still was difficult to create any object as he rubbed his eyes to regain focus of the situation happening in front of him.

As every moment passed by, Olivia could feel herself regaining herself. She wasn't going to drown today. Her soaking wet hair dripped in front of her as her coughs settled and she attempted to sit upright. Perplexed, Olivia mused on the fact that there was no way she could recover to quickly and simply with so much water in her lungs. Most people had to have the water be manual taken out of them. Yet, here she was just a couple minutes later, shivering and breathing almost normally.

Then, almost out of nowhere, a man appeared. Calmly he approached her as if this were some kind of normal affair. For a spilt second Olivia thought she was hallucinating. After all, all of her surroundings didn't look quite right. She had no idea where she was or what she was doing here, anything was possible at this point. But the closer he walked toward her the most real he became. Olivia closed her eyes as she coughed again. She looked like a perfect mess settled unevenly on her knees. Her coffee brown hair was nearly black from the water and she was wearing scrubs with tennis shoes. Soaked to the bone, she was nowhere near the composed woman that she usually appeared to be.

This man, who looked remarkably like a man in a history book, then placed his coat around her shoulders. Olivia didn't say anything, she just laughed a little. What a story this was beginning. Here she was sitting on a beach in the middle of nowhere and a handsome man with very little words places his coat on her shoulders like a gentleman. Oh her sisters' would swoon at this situation. Another chuckle escaped Olivia's lips before she looked up at him and answered his question. "Olivia. My name is Olivia Hudson." She wanted to stand, but while making an attempt lost her balance and was force to stay on her knees.

Olivia didn't remember the man carrying a water bottle, so when he offered it to her she was a little take aback. There was no way that she would want to drink water right now. Her entire body had been taking in water for the past 15 minutes. Olivia wouldn't want a drink of water for several days. Olivia shook her head at the offer, "What makes you think I want a drink of water right now?" She didn't mean to be rude, but she could help but be defensive. "I nearly just drowned!" She threw her arm behind her, motioning toward the ocean behind her as she said this.

Olivia looked behind him. She couldn't see any buildings or signs of civilization. How did she get here? Had she been drugged? There was no way this was real life. She was in a car accident and last time she checked, they were nowhere near an ocean. Taking a wringing out her mop of hair she looked back up at the man and asked, "Who are you?" He seemed to relaxed and confident. She obviously wasn't the first to wash up on this shore.

"Where am I?"

The woman who washed up moments ago understandably had a lot of questions. She was in a strange and very surreal place, how could she not? Thomas was a little hurt by her snappy remark about the water and the drowning, but it probably made sense in her mind. She didn't know how the Dreamscape worked. Not yet, anyway.

"Well, you still need to get warm. So, while I prepare, let me explain." Thomas stated as he sat across from her in the sand, legs criss-crossed as he dug small hole in the beach with his hands. "You most likely aren't dead. Most ones who are don't come into this place so violently." Thomas said, wiping his hands on his sides to get rid of the sand. He hated the feel of sand being stuck to his hand and also needed them clean for the next few minutes. "As for my name, it's Thomas. Thomas Price. Nice to meet you, Ms. Hudson." he wasn't even looking at her at this point. He was more focused on the trick at hand as he grabbed the water bottle from nearby, unscrewed the cap and drank a gulp or two from the bottle, making sure she was watching. "And as for where you are, that is simple. You are dreaming. But you may be asking yourself, Thomas, you crazy bastard, how could I be in a dream? I feel the cold and wetness from the water and the warmth of your coat. This all seems very real. That's true. It all seems very, very real. In that case, let me ask you one question. If we're not dreaming..."

Thomas dumped the remainder of the bottles contents into the hole as he spoke, it forming a murky puddle in front of the pair. He then grabbed a small shell from the sandy shore and after turning it in his hand for a moment, dropped it into the puddle, the subsequent small ripples growing higher and higher with each moment as well as changing color from a murky brown to a burgundy and eventually a burning orange and red mix. Where once was a puddle of mud was now a small, flickering fire confined to a hole in the sand.

"...then how did I just do that?" he looked into her eyes as he spoke these words, wanting to make sure she didn't think this was all for show. She needed to believe, otherwise the next few days would be very difficult for her. Regardless, these next few days would be difficult, but because he had gotten himself involved, Thomas would help Olivia, for the time being, anyway.

Olivia wanted to stand, she wanted not to be looked down at by this stranger and told about this wild place. Though everything was bizarre and whimsical, everything felt as real as the day she received her white doctors coat. Slowly recovering at a remarkably fast speed, Olivia's head buzzed and ached in a way she had never known before. She rarely had headaches but she knew that this wasn't ordinary. Letting out an exasperated sigh as she massaged her temples she listened to him as he spoke.

When he uttered the words dead she looked back up at him. Dead? Of course she wasn't dead, Olivia was right in front of him, breathing, living. The word brought a faint smile of ridiculousness on Olivia's face, along with a petrifying fear that this wasn't right. Olivia licked the edges of her lips, she tasted like salt but smelled like lavender. Ms. Hudson wasn't quite sure how this was possible, but she would ignore it for now. Olivia listened, trying to find some kind of fault in his voice. There was no way that this was all real. This had to be some kind of trick. Maybe her sisters had decided it was time for little Olivia to be on a reality TV show. Well, Olivia would not be made a fool. She was far too professional and sophisticated for this.

Olivia tried to interrupt this nice monologue that this man was giving to her, but he was so certain on getting his words out that she had no time to intervene. However, the more he spoke the more entranced that Olivia became. Her hazel eyes followed his hands as they began to play a little game in the sand. First he dug a hole and then started a little ritual. When he first approached her he looked perfectly sane, he was dressed nicely, but now she was doubting everything in front of her.

At the sight of the flame that erupted in front of her, Olivia gasped and brought her hand up to her dirty face. Olivia then shook her head. Her mind was analyzing the situation, and going over everything it ever learned about lucid dreaming. Images of articles about dreams filled her mind. Nothing mentioned this sort of experience.

"I'm sorry Mr.- Uhm... Mr. Price, but there is no way that I'm dreaming. If this were a dream I wouldn't be feeling this." She said, taking the wad of sand that he had dug up and spreading it across her arm. "Also, if I were dreaming I would just accept all of this without question." There was the Dr. Hudson that most people knew her as, questioning everything and trying to solve her problems rationally and with logic.

"Yes. If you were dreaming. If this was your dream, but this isn't your dream. It's the very basis of dream itself. That's how I like to see it anyway." Thomas said, noting the skepticism coming his way from Olivia. "The way I like to think about it is that each person's dreams are like the stars at night and this place is the darkness in between them. The thing that came before the stars and made sure their light was possible." even hearing it out loud didn't make much sense, so he decided to try something else as he viewed the dark haired woman in front of him, trying to get a read on her. He already knew she was smart and logical, questioning the everything around her and not believing a man making fire out of mud right in front of her eyes. It's then he realized the perfect way to convince the still drenched woman of her current situation. "You're feeling a bit odd, aren't you? Surprisingly vocal for someone who almost just drowned a few moments ago. Most people would still be chattering like a wind chime at this point." Thomas could tell by the look on Olivia's face that she was at least thinking what he was saying over.

"And that whole thing with what I'm assuming is waking up in the middle of the sea. A bit odd that there isn't any fish in the water, isn't it? Speaking of which, have you heard a single bird of any kind while you've been here?" Thomas said as he looked over to the calm back and forth of the water near him and then to the barren, bleak looking sky. "They say in dreams, you don't exactly remember how you start off. You kind of wake up in the middle of it all, unsure of most things and where you were before. So tell me; Where were you before this, Olivia?"

Olivia wiped the sand that she had just spread across her arm as her spoke. His argument was valid, and when he spoke made the metaphor between this place and the darkness between the stars Olivia completely understood. Part of her wanted to be exhilarated by these words, but she was far too logical, skeptical, and afraid to accept this odd fact just yet. She tried to rid herself of the sand that was sticking to her, but it really made no difference right now. To become clean she would need to be completely dry. Settled on the idea that she couldn't compose herself anymore than her current state she looked back up at the man.

Now he was talking about the strangeness of her recovery, and that she could agree with. He continued to speak, and everything was slowly making connections. Thomas asked many questions, making her realize her surroundings and how truly strange they actually were. Yes, there were no fish or birds or any kind of animal noises. It was dreary, and unusually silent. Two things she wouldn't put with a beach shore.

Olivia was squeezing out her hair when Thomas asked the last question. She stopped for a moment and tried hard to remember. "I was... I was in an ambulance. But not injured I was the responding doctor." She said quietly. That memory, however, was at least 5 or 10 minutes before the crash and probably close to 15 minutes before she went unconscious.

Then suddenly, like walking into a brick wall, everything made sense.

"Oh God." Olivia muttered. Olivia was not one to panic, obviously since she was a trauma surgeon, but it was all building up. "Oh no, no, no." The man had said that she wasn't dead, so there was really only one other solution.

"I'm in a coma."

As Thomas listened to Olivia's explanation of where she was, he had to dive into his mind to figure out what exactly she was talking about. He remembered hearing that word before. Ambulance. The other Wanderers had filled him in on some of the more "modern" aspects of the waking world, but with everything that was going on in his head as of late, he wasn't sure what exactly an ambulance was, but remembered the general idea.

"That seems plausible enough. It most certainly wouldn't be the first time it's happened." Thomas said as he hovered his hands over the fire for warmth as Olivia seemed to begin to panic as she realized what had happened to her. Thomas couldn't help feel a tinge of empathy for her as he and every Wanderer he knew had gone through something similar. It was always a terrifying experience for everyone, but Thomas was determined to help Olivia through the ordeal. "Well, we should probably head back to Blanket City. It'll be easier to explain everything there." as he spoke he lifted himself off the ground and looked to the hills that lead to the beach. He then offered Olivia his hand to help her up. "Are you ready to go?"

This was all so unrealistic, yet Olivia couldn't bring herself to question it anymore. It only made sense. There was possible way that she could have gotten here without remembering how unless she was drugged, I she could swear on her life that nothing like that could have happened in the ambulance. After all it was just the driver, herself, and a couple of paramedics, Carla and Jake. She knew each and everyone of them personally, there was no possible way that she could have been chemically put into a stupor and dropped into the ocean. If that were to happen, the odds of her actually living were close to zero and there was was sitting on the beach. There was no other option than to believe what this man was saying to her.

Trying to take it all in she nodded her head, more for herself than anything. Terribly cold she moved herself a bit closer to the little fire. She was remarkably calm, but her eyes showed the true terror and confusion that she felt. When Thomas spoke again Olivia looked at him closely, taking in ever word. She also took notice of the way he spoke and held himself, he had either been there a very long time or acclimated quickly to new situations.

Just going along with what was coming at her in the moment, she nodded her head again at his question. She was so focused on trying to calm down and realize her surroundings that she didn't realize he had said the Blanket City until after. Olivia took his hand, and clumsily stabled herself into a solid standing position before starting to walk. It was like she was learning to walk all over again in about the span of five seconds.

"The Blanket City?" She said under her breath. Thinking in the way that dreams worked, and disliking what she came up with Olivia couldn't help herself from commenting. "Please tell me that this city is just a big blanket fort." Olivia really wasn't one for using her imagination or becoming childlike. The girl could practically raise herself by the time she was seven.

Oh, this was going to be quite the adventure for Dr. Hudson.

After what seemed like only a few minutes to Thomas, the pair had finally arrived at the sprawling metropolis that was Blanket City. As they walked deeper and deeper into the city streets, the more surreal the surroundings became. While there were plenty of buildings that were made from your usual concrete and glass, there were also buildings that seemed to have been plucked from various places and times. Thomas couldn't help but enjoy the looks Olivia was getting from taking in the scenery of the city. Thomas had to admit, it was nice experiencing the Dreamscape again for it's inherent beauty. He had gotten so use to everything around him and had taken it all for granted, but he knew a part of him would miss it deep down when he was gone.

"A lot less blanket forts then you were expecting, I know, but it's home for most of us." Thomas said as he stretched his arms outwards as to show the city and the people around him moving through the streets. "What do you think?"

Once Olivia started walking she could feel herself getting better. And by the time that they reached the city she felt fully recovered and just like herself again, aside from the fact that she was still dripping. The two walked in silence, and though Olivia had many questions she kept her mouth shut. Her hazel eyes took in the environment around her and she wondered about many things. Though they walked a couple of minutes without a word exchanged between the two of them Olivia felt no awkwardness or uncomfortableness. There was something very familiar about Thomas Price, and even though he by no means put her at ease, she felt content enough.

This city was nothing like she had expected. They walked through a narrow street, much like the kissing streets of Spain, then turned down a broad modern stretch. On each side of her were buildings of every age and every culture. Olivia gapped at the sight of a glass building several stories high sitting casually next to victorian style home, and next to that a medieval castle. The way that everything meshed together so perfectly was unsettling, but one couldn't help but like it. Somehow, everything was proportionate and everything fit together like an odd puzzle.

The streets were of the same variety, a little bit here made of cobble stone and the larger streets and walkways being made of concrete and glass. What was more interesting than the architecture was the people. The people that bustled through the street seemed perfectly normal, but dressed a little more exotically than what Olivia was used to. After all, she assumed anything could happen in a dream and therefore anyone could dress exactly the way they imagined.

A hand tried to comb through her drying hair as Thomas stopped to show her the city. Olivia laughed a little bit, lost in the strange feeling that came with such a brilliantly diverse and enchanting class. "It's..." Olivia was lost for words, "Wow."

"It's definitely not a bad place to live. Better then the alternative." Thomas said, his thoughts shifting to the dangerous beasts the roamed the Dreamscape. Luckily, they hadn't run into any of them on the trek to Blanket City. The Insomniacs were the worst however. Sure, snarling nightmares with four rows of teeth and the ability to breath fog were terrifying, but Insomniacs looked human. For all intensive purposes, they were human. It's only when they open their mouths do you realize that their humanity had been lost the minute they stepped into the dreaming.

"You never really get used to this place. I've been here over two hundred years and I know for a fact I haven't seen everything this city has to offer. It always seems to have something new." Thomas let his words drift for a moment, only realizing after that he let slipped how long he had been in the Dreamscape. He was an old man, even by the standards of Wanderers. He didn't know how to feel about this fact, but let it fade away before he got into one of his infamous moods. Thomas was more worried of how she would react. Sure, two hundred years was a bit of an approximation at this point as the teacher couldn't remember the exact year of his departure, but it was still a long time nonetheless. A lot longer then the average person lived, that was for sure.

Olivia nodded her head at his words as her eyes continued to scan her surroundings. Everything was so absurd, yet it was all so real and convincing. This place wasn't like any kind of dream. She wondered why people were placed here, and then became even more confused when Thomas spoke about being over two hundred years old. How was that possible?

Was this some sort of mixture of a limbo and purgatory? After all, if he was over two hundred years old there was no way that he could return to his body even if he wanted to. She then wondered how Thomas had gotten here. Was everyone in a coma or some kind of medicine induced sleep? Or where some dead and some ended up here by accident? Olivia had too many questions to ask, but she didn't want to bombard him. She shoved her hands into the pockets of her scrubs and turned to face him.

"Over two hundred years old?" She mused on the thought, trying to find a a good way to discuss this. "Why have you been here this long? Isn't it temporary?" Now Olivia was making assumptions, but the optimistic side of her believed that she would wake up from her coma and continue living her life saving other lives. After all, if Olivia couldn't be a doctor in this dream land she really felt like she had no purpose.

"Yes, but I think I've aged well enough." Thomas expected the confusion over his age. What floored him however was the question of why he had been there for so long. He dreaded this question with every Wanderer he had ever met who had not learned of the workings of the Dreamscape. "That's a hard question. I've been here for a very long time and I've only ever heard of one way out, but it's a death sentence to pursue it." Thomas thought out loud, trying to figure out the best way to pull words from his mind in the right order to ease Olivia's no doubt worried mind. But, he knew she'd want to hear any possible way to return home. All Wanderers always did at first, but eventually, they all grew to enjoy their new home and the ones who didn't died in pursuit of something that was a fool's dream in Thomas' eyes.

"Like any place, there are people who control it; the Lords of Dream. The story says that if you gain favor with all three, then you will be released from the Dreamscape. The problem is that with all the madness out there, you either get eaten alive or turn into the things that do the eating. Look, I know this sounds harsh, but trust me, you're better off in the city for the time being at least." he said in a comforting tone, placing his hand on her shoulder.