I put the car in park and blew out a long exhale, resting my head against the steering wheel. Even after months of knowing this was coming, I didn’t feel ready. How could I? How could anyone?
Grandma Marks’s house waited just outside, hollow and lifeless without a dozen grandkids playing games in the front yard. It’d actually been years since those summer days, but they were some of my favorite childhood memories.
The oak tree out front still had the rope swing hanging from it, and decorative lights lined the walkway up to the front door, nearly overrun by the flower bushes. They were finally in bloom, unlike how they’d been two months prior when I was here for the funeral.
“Come on, Madi. You can do this. It’s just walking inside, facing all the cousins, collecting a few trinkets, and going back home,” I said to myself in hopes of igniting some kind of motivation to get out of the car.
Taking one more deep breath, I mustered my strength and opened the car door. A gentle late spring breeze blew past, helping to calm my emotions.
I walked up the cracked sidewalk leading to the porch. The welcome mat was worn to the point of being unreadable, and the cushions on the patio chairs looked like they’d been through a lawn mower a few times, but that’s how it had always been at Grandma’s house.
My hand hovered above the doorknob as I braced myself to step back into a memory. Finally twisting it open, I walked into the living room I knew like the back of my hand. One long couch under the main window, and a TV positioned directly across from it with a large collection of DVDs and VHS tapes along a bookshelf next to it. Two armchairs were nestled along the far wall while a lamp with a colorful shade lit the entirety of the space.
The only problem was that it wasn''t the room I walked into.
In fact, I wouldn’t call it a room at all. More of a cave-cabin thingy.
The walls were stone, roughly hewn, but cobbled together in what was obviously man-made while the floor was straight dirt. A few glowing orbs provided light, but the ceiling above me was pitch black, a seemingly endless void. Whatever door I used to enter was gone, leaving me stranded in the middle of the cavern.
I immediately panicked.
This couldn’t be…
It wasn’t possible!
There was no way that this was… a Dungeon?!
Dungeons, those crazy monster-infested mazes that started spawning on Earth fifteen years ago… What on earth was one doing in Montana? In my late-grandmother’s house???
More importantly–last I checked, at least–Dungeons only accepted Users, not grieving college kids, so why was I here? That couldn’t be right.
As if in response to that very thought, a blue screen popped up right before me with clear white text.
[You have been chosen as a potential System-Integrated-User.]
[Based on your current attributes, a temporary class is being assigned to you.]
The words disappeared and were replaced by a loading wheel that gave zero indication of how long it was going to take.
A “potential” User? And a “temporary” class? What did that mean? Was I going to have to earn full status? Was this some kind of test?
I took a calming breath and massaged my temples. This was fine. It would all be fine. I could handle tests. I’d done plenty of them while at Stanford, but this one was maybe a little more stressful than a final in Calculus given I hadn’t even gotten the chance to prepare for it.
After another few seconds of staring at the loading wheel on the screen in front of me, I turned to my favorite anxious habit and popped each of my fingers, one by one.
Enjoying this book? Seek out the original to ensure the author gets credit.
Once all ten had been cracked, I was left to study the bland scenery, waiting for that cursed loading wheel to finish. How long was this going to take?
I went to check the time on my smartwatch only to realize it wasn’t there.
“Oh, no. No, no, no.” I patted my pockets and discovered them empty. No car keys, no wallet, and, most importantly, no phone.
Now I was really ready to panic. I wouldn’t be able to contact anyone, I had no flashlight, and without my watch, these steps wouldn’t even be counted towards my daily goal! It was the absolute worst case scenario.
The only thing that pulled me from spiraling into a void of despair was a ding sounding from the screen in front of me. I glanced at it and discovered that the loading wheel of death was through, replaced by another set of words.
[Temporary Class:]
[Kinetic Mage, Level 1]
[MP: 10/10]
[XP: 0/25]
[Attributes:]
[Strength: 1] [+]
[Agility: 2] [+]
[Speed: 1] [+]
[Intelligence: 5] [+]
[Charisma: 2] [+]
[Luck: 1] [+]
[Attribute Points Available: 1]
“[Kinetic mage]? I’ve never heard of that kind of [class],” I said to myself. I looked around the cavern, wishing someone else was here with me to help me decide what to do with that extra stat point I needed to spend.
“Huh, well, regardless of how strong my magic is, I’ll still need to outrun the monsters, right? So I’ll put it in [Speed].” Reaching my hand out, I pressed the [+] next to [Speed]. The number inside went up by one, while the [Points Available:] went to zero and all the [+]''s disappeared.
The weird thing was that I didn’t feel any different. Shouldn’t increasing my [Speed] result in some kind of physical change? Increased lung capacity or strong calf muscles or something?
But no. I was still just me, a college sophomore stuck in the Dungeon that mysteriously spawned in her dead grandma’s house.
“What now?” I asked aloud.
The screen responded to my question, and shifted to a new page.
[Skills:]
[Push: Level 1] [+]
[Pull: Level 1] [+]
[Skill Points Available: 1]
“How am I supposed to decide if I don’t even know what these [skills] do?” I crossed my arms, hoping the System would understand.
It didn’t. At least, the screen didn’t magically change to present the exact information I wanted, so I assumed it didn’t.
Okay, fine. I’ll figure it out myself.
I reached out to the screen and carefully tapped the word [Push], avoiding the little [+] next to it. Just as I suspected, that did the trick, and a new mini screen popped up with a full description of the [Skill].
[Push:]
[Pushes a single object or enemy within view up to 5 feet away.]
[Cost: 2 MP]
Huh. I guess that might be useful for running away.
I tapped the little exit icon in the corner and returned to the original [Skill] screen. I then reached out and selected the second [Skill].
[Pull:]
[Pulls a single object or enemy within view up to 5 feet closer.]
[Cost: 2 MP]
“Wow. So original.” I rolled my eyes and closed out of the mini screen.
Truthfully, neither of the [Skills] seemed all that useful for fighting monsters, but [Push] would at least give a chance to escape from them. Why would I ever want to [Pull] a creature who wants to kill me closer to myself?
I used the single [Skill Point] on [Push], but once again there was no magical feeling inside to signify it really did anything.
The text on the screen remained the same, showing me my two pitiful [Skills] and nothing else. Checking my upgraded [Push], I learned that it could shove opponents as far as 12 feet away now.
“Alright, System. What’s next?” I asked out loud.
A notification box appeared on the screen.
[Ready to proceed to the tutorial?]
[Yes] [No]
“I wonder if I can just hit ‘No’ and go back to the real world?” I tapped the [No] box, and the notification disappeared. The screen was still there, and I was still in the weird cave by myself.
I sighed. Too much to hope for I guess.
“Bring it back up. I’m ready.”
The notification reappeared, and this time I hit [Yes]. The entire screen disappeared, and a grating sound filled the cavern. I turned to the right and discovered part of the wall slowly collapsing into a doorway, leading into what seemed to be nice, grassy meadow.
Time to get this over with. Whether I liked it or not, I was trapped in this stupid Dungeon until I found a way out. I walked towards the newly formed door, but my feet came to a sudden stop as I read the glowing banner hanging high in the sky just outside.
[Welcome to Gram-Gram’s Dungeon!]