36 hours before the dungeons appeared on Earth.
Andrew crouched slightly, aiming at the human dummy head. His finger gently moved to the trigger, aiming for a headshot.
Dalton, on the side, did the same thing with his dummy.
With a smile, Dalton said, "Let's make a bet. Who gets the most headshots wins."
"Win what?" Andrew asked, his eyes not moving away from the dummy.
"Free drinks?"
"I see," Andrew sighed, knowing where Dalton was going with this.
"Okay. Three, two, one."
---
The head of the dummy in front of Andrew was riddled with bullets between the eyebrows, no more than an inch away from each other.
Dalton's mouth was agape. "Damn…"
He sighed, resigned, but with a smirk on his face. All his shots had either missed the dummy or hit its peripherals.
"Alright, drinks on me then. Let's go."
"Man, have you been sneaking out of work early lately to practice?"
"Hah." Andrew released a little laugh.
"Anyway, all the others are going to Joe's for beers.," Dalton said.
"I have things to take care of at home," Andrew replied apologetically.
Dalton pushed back. "Come on, don't be like that. You don't do anything at home. It's going to be fun, I promise."
Andrew sighed. "Sure."
"Hell yeah!"
Although Andrew wasn't particularly fond of drinking, but a time with Dalton was always a good time. They were best friends since high school after all.
---
The following day, Andrew entered his workplace with an upright posture and a resolute expression. His colleagues greeted him with the usual awkwardness, and he responded with a smile. As he approached the elevator, another person joined him, both heading to the same destination.
"What's up, Andrew," Henry asked robotic.
"The usual," Andrew responded dryly.
Ding.
As they walked into the elevator, Henry acted as if Andrew had reciprocated the question. "Same for me. Life is… pretty good." Similar to Andrew, his voice was extremely even.
"Good to hear."
Ding.
The elevator smoothly came to a halt at the sixth floor before its doors slid open with a soft hum. Henry took a moment to adjust and straighten his black jacket, ensuring it looked impeccable. He then cast a brief, assessing glance at Andrew's blazer, noting the differences or similarities between them.
"Your right sleeve is all rolled up," He said before walking off.
Hm…
Andrew took a look at his well-ironed black suit before directing his eyes onto his sleeve. He struggled to see what Henry had pointed out, but when he did, he was baffled by the fact it was only rolled up by a centimeter.
How did he even notice?
Andrew fixed it before moving towards his cubicle too. As he walked, the other employers greeted him.
"Andrew, how was your morning?" A woman with long brown hair waved at him.
Ah, Paris.
"Good. And you?" He replied the same as usual.
"What's up, man?" asked another guy.
"Good. You?"
"Good morning. How was your breakfast?"
"Good. And you?"
He finally reached his workspace. After entering, he closed the door and immediately got to work.
Let's see… what tagline would work best for farmers? The last advertisement we ran did poorly. Maybe we should add testimonies when we choose to run this one.
---
Andrew's fingers flew across the keyboard. However, the moment the clock struck 12:00, his phone alarm sounded, halting him instantly.
Lunchtime already? It came faster than I expected.
Andrew got up and stretched a bit before heading to the cafeteria.
Andrew held his plate of just beans and chicken. He was near Dalton, who was promptly waiting for him.
The server asked Dalton with a slightly uncertain tone, "You want two scoops of rice, vegetables, and chicken?"
"Yes."
"Okay… you sure you don't want to try something else? I imagine eating the exact same lunch every day must get boring."
Hm… I imagine that too.
Dalton shook his head. "Don't worry about it."
"Whatever you say."
After getting their food, the two headed towards a table where five other people were already seated.
"Ah… I forgot my drink. I'll be right back." Dalton went rushing back to the cafeteria, leaving Andrew.
Oh well.
Andrew shrugged and went over and took a seat.
"A plate of just beans and chicken?" Serena, the only woman at the table, pointed at Andrew's plate. "What's with that change?"
Andrew responded, "Just felt like it."
Do I really need a reason?
"Odd."
Thompson said, "He always does that."
He then directed his attention towards Andrew. "Anyway… I honestly thought you drank too much to be able to make it to work. What kind of black magic did you pull off?"
Andrew thought for a second, wondering how to answer that question.
"Uh… Natural resistance? Steel liver, maybe? Who knows."
"Heh. I wish that would help me as much. I still have a nasty hangover," Dalton groaned, holding his head between his hands. "But our division's numbers are looking great."
Rashid said, "You guys were kind of dumb to drink so much knowing there would be work the next day."
He does have a fair point. If it wasn't for Thompson and Dalton's nagging, I wouldn't have even touched a single beer.
"So, what will you be doing after work today? Thompson asked.
"A lot of home stuff," Andrew replied as he ate.
"Oh yeah? I swear, you are always doing work at your apartment," he smirked. "You got a secret girlfriend or something?"
Andrew stopped eating to look at Thompson.
"Having a secret girlfriend at my age... that would be something."
"I mean I wouldn't be surprised." Thompson laughed.
"Don't worry. I'm an open book," he said before focusing on the plate before him.
---
Dalton came back and took a seat near Andrew. "Oh wow. I expected more talking. Yo, Serena, new hairstyle?"
"Absolutely! You like it?"
I swear, this guy can always save a conversion.
After lunch and finishing off with work, he went drinking again with Dalton, and like always, drove back home and immediately fell asleep on his couch.
Ding.
Ah… I have a better idea for that advertisement.
Andrew had a consistent routine. Each day, he would return home and, as usual, collapse onto his couch in exhaustion. The next morning, at 6:30 a.m., he would spring out of bed, and follow his daily regimen of showering, eating breakfast, and dressing in his suit before heading to work. After a long day at the office, he had one constant destination: the bar. It was a simple and repetitive cycle for him: wake up, work, unwind with a drink, and then sleep, only to repeat it all over again.
However, this morning was different. Andrew stirred, sitting upright on the bed. Instead of darting straight to the shower, he paused in contemplation, sitting on the edge.
Is this going to be my life forever? It seems so. I guess that's okay. Life is good. I earn a comfortable living, I sleep soundly, and things are in order.
Andrew took his phone from under the bed to check to see if he got a message from anyone. He did, from Dalton.
'Apparently, there was some structural accident in Riverside. So the bridge is having an emergency repair. So, no work today.'
Oh. That's… different.
Andrew scratched his head as he walked into the living room.
What am I supposed to do then? Just… stay at home? It's not like I can go to the firing range since the same bridge that leads there is being worked on.
He just kept walking back, and forth, right, left, and in circles.
What am I supposed to do?
He looked at the clock.
6:35.
I guess I'll just stay home.
He just sat on a chair, reviewing some work from his own laptop.
Many hours passed as he did nothing else than look at work and re-organizing things. But, his peace came to an end as someone knocked on the door.
"Who is it?" Andrew asked.
"Batman. I am in urgent need of your help, civilian—"
Oh. It's just him.
Andrew cut him off and simply said, "You can come in, Dalton. The door is unlocked."
Dalton opened the door with disappointment. "That was a tiny bit funny, you have to admit."
"Sure."
Dalton noticed Andrew's blank and quite frankly bored expression and chose to inquire about it.
"No office in the morning is really disruptive to the routine, isn't it?"
Andrew stared at Dalton. He wasn't even sure why his morning felt ruined. He figured it was related to work, but there had to be something more. He just wasn't exactly sure what it was.
"Yeah."
"That's not really convincing, but..."
Dalton placed a bag on the table and then took a chess board along with chess pieces from it.
"Since we got nothing to do, we might as well play something that I am better at you at."
Andrew sighed and thought, whatever.
He got up and took a seat at the table. "What color will I be playing?"
"Black. I want to go first. I've been studying some openings."
"I am still going to win either way, but okay," Andrew smirked.
Dalton smiled. "Sure buddy."
The two spent their time like this, chatting, mostly done by Dalton.
While Andrew waited for Dalton to make his next move, he started a new conversation. "Dalton."
"Yeah? Don't tell me that you got bored? I'm two wins from a draw."
"No. I was going to ask, do you think there is more to life?" Andrew asked as he moved his eyes onto Dalton's bishop.
"Uhhh… in what way? In a religious way? Or in general?"
"Oh. Let me rephrase that. Do you ever wish there was more to life?"
Dalton was slightly confused by his question.
Before Dalton could even give an answer, Andrew added more.
"Maybe… something different. A life with more variety? Like… one where you… I don't know, actually."
Dalton hummed.
But, no matter how hard Dalton seemed to think about it, he couldn't find anything interesting to say.
So he gave a simple response, "I guess I'm good."
"Why?"
"The routine is a good, no? This morning has no routine and it kind of sucks, right?"
"This is… nice," Andrew tentatively pointed at the chessboard.
"Yeah," Dalton smiled warmly.
"But what are we going to do, always play chess? Maybe when we are two old men at the park and we don't want to hear it from our wives. Look, when there is change, life can become unpredictable. You can try to guess and prepare for whatever, but things always get tangled up. Your life can be turned upside down by one simple thing. However… if things stay the same, we will never have to fear anything, don't you agree?"
Hm…
Dalton made his move, capturing Andrew's queen.
"Trust me, Andrew, it takes very little to ruin a life. We are good, man. College and now this great job. What's more to wish for?"
Andrew didn't say anything. Instead, he made his move, about to declare a checkmate—or that was what he meant to do anyway.
Suddenly, space bent, stretched, and thinned around them. Light changed their trajectory as they warped around them, encapsulating the duo in darkness.
Wha–
Then suddenly there was light again. But the two were now floating atop a volcano, with magma flowing around them.
"Andrew… are you seeing what I–" Before Dalton could finish, the scenery changed again. This time, they were surrounded by rough waters.
"Shit!" Andrew screamed out as a wave hit him, pulling him unde—
Thud.
He fell on red vines.
Just… what the hell is going on…?
That wasn't the end of it. The environments began changing so fast that they could no longer keep up. It was just blurs of different colors and temperatures.
Then, the same chess pieces they had been playing with, were magnified at a thousand times their natural size and fell into a bottomless void around them.
Andrew felt sick. But the same way this change had occurred, it went away.
Both Andrew and Dalton were on the floor, their heads spinning.
Yet, before their faces, two luminous cards floated in the air.
[FIRST STEP OF THE SYSTEM INITIATION: COMPLETE]
[EARTH HAS BEEN CONNECTED TO THE ETERNAL–DUNGEONS]