Dalton Blake, junior at Engleton Secondary School, yawned and tried to pay attention to his teacher. He failed miserably. It wasn’t his fault. Dante just seemed to have that effect on him.

It also didn’t help that he had stayed up all-night playing the new VRMMO, Evelon. He already hit level 16 and was well into developing the playstyle that he always did: a glass cannon type of build. He was a dps carry, through and through. When he got home, he needed to start farming for…

“Dalton Blake!” Mrs. Wurth snapped. “Care to contribute to the conversation at hand?”

Dalton blinked and stared at Mrs. Wurth, who glowered at him with crossed arms. The snickering of the other students made his face flush.

“What… What was the question again?” he stammered.

“That's it,” Mrs. Wurth said angrily. “Stick around after class, and we’re going to have a chat about your performance this year.” The old lady huffed and returned to her discussion of the Divine Comedy.

Dalton sank down further in his seat, embarrassed. He glanced to his right, where his childhood best friend Kelsey was covertly watching a video on her phone. Behind her thick glasses her eyes were wide in disbelief.

He frowned and leaned over to see. It looked like some kind of news broadcast. She had the video muted with the captions on, but it was some sort of live footage depicting… well, he couldn’t really understand what he was seeing. A building rising out of the Earth?

“The hell is that, Kels?” he muttered under his breath.

She ignored him, continuing to stare wide-eyed at the video. Her breath came in short, quick gasps, as if… as if she was frightened.

“Kelsey?” he said, a little worried now.

“Dalton Blake!” Mrs. Wurst snapped again, whipping around. “I have half a mind to send you to the—”

The floor shook, cutting off Mrs. Wurst in the middle of her tirade. Some students screamed as the shaking intensified, causing desks to shift and chairs to topple over; Dalton yelped as the clock on the wall fell off and nearly hit him on the head. Mrs. Wurst shrieked and gripped the lip of the blackboard for dear life.

“Dalton!” Kelsey said, finally looking up from her phone. “Something bad is about to happen.”

“Something bad is already happening!” he yelled as the shaking intensified. Students fell over left-and-right, and Dalton swung Kelsey out of the way as six-foot-two Jackson Lee tripped and nearly barrelled over her. Copies of Divine Comedy went flying across the floor, and screams rose from all the other classrooms nearby.

“Children!” Mrs. Wurst shrieked over the noise. “Children, everything’s going to be okay! This is just an earthquake! Hide under your—”

For the second time, the old English teacher was interrupted. This time, however, by the blackboard as it detached from the wall and fell directly on top of her, pinning her to the ground with a sickening thud.

“Oh my god!” Annie Turner screamed.

But then, as abruptly as the shaking came, it ceased.

And then came the messages.

[System Notification]

After six thousand long years, the Dungeon Seed that fell on Earth millenia ago has finally blossomed. The first Dungeon has spawned, and more is coming. The world as you know it has forever changed.

[System Notification]

Universal Quest Unlocked: Clear the Dungeons

Rewards: the continuation of Humanity

Dalton only had a moment to read the words before an ear-deafening roar came from below. The entire school shook and split in two, and something from above struck Dalton on the head.

The last thing he heard was Kelsey scream his name before everything went black.