"Alright, class, if we take a look at—"
The world cracked.
It wasn't a sound, not really. More like reality itself split at the seams, sending a shockwave through the air. It hit like a punch to the chest—sharp, sudden, and wrong.
Ethan barely had time to process it before a chime echoed in his head.
[Welcome to the Multiverse! Select your class…]
"What the—"
A glowing screen materialized in front of him, hovering in midair like some kind of sci-fi projection. Three words stood out in bold, almost mocking their sudden intrusion into reality.
[Warrior] – Strength and endurance. Smash through obstacles.
[Arcanist] – Master of the elements. Bend reality to your will.
[Rogue] – Speed and precision. Strike from the shadows.
Ethan blinked. His hands curled into fists on instinct, the cold sweat on his palms making them clammy.
"What the hell is this?" someone muttered.
"Is this… a joke?" Another voice, sharper, more panicked.
Around him, his classmates were frozen in place, their eyes locked on their own glowing interfaces. Some flinched when they touched the air in front of them, others just stared like deer in headlights.
"Okay—okay, what the fuck is happening?" That was Brandon, the loudmouth in the back row. His chair scraped against the floor as he shot to his feet, eyes darting around wildly.
Ethan turned to his right. Maria sat next to him, normally cool and composed, but now her lips were slightly parted, her breath shallow. She glanced at him, then back at the glowing menu.
"...Are we hallucinating?" she asked, voice barely above a whisper.
"No way," Ethan said, shaking his head. "We're all seeing this, right?"
A tense silence answered him. No one had an explanation.
Then another message blinked into existence.
[Random Passive Talent Awakening…]
[You have received: ??? (Grade: ???)]
"What the hell does that mean?" Ethan muttered under his breath.
"Mine says the same thing!" A girl in the front row—Ashley—looked at everyone around her, eyes wide. "Does anyone know what this means?"
Professor Lambert, the guy who was supposed to be in charge of this room, had gone pale as a ghost. His glasses slipped down his nose, but he made no effort to fix them.
"This... this isn't normal," he said shakily. "Stay calm, class, we—"
The world twisted.
The walls of the classroom warped like melting wax, the floor beneath their feet shifting and stretching in impossible ways. Desks and chairs groaned, distorting, like the entire building was being remade by an unseen force.
Someone screamed. A flash of light blinded them all.
Ethan barely had time to react before the ground disappeared beneath him.
His stomach lurched. He was falling—falling through nothing, through darkness, through a rift that hadn't existed a second ago.
And then—
He landed.
Hard.
A ringing filled his ears. His vision spun. His head throbbed. When he finally forced himself to look up, his blood ran cold.
The classroom was gone. The familiar walls, the desks, the projector—gone.
In their place stood something ancient. A cavernous space, dimly lit by eerie blue torches lining the jagged walls. The ground beneath him was cracked stone, dust swirling in the air like old whispers.
The others were here, too. Scattered, groaning, disoriented.
A single, massive door loomed ahead of them, its surface marked with glowing red symbols. Symbols that pulsed, almost like a heartbeat.
And then, as if the universe itself had been waiting for them to notice—
The door began to open.
Ethan took a deep breath, steadying himself. His hands trembled as he pushed himself up, his legs unsteady beneath him. Around him, his classmates groaned, disoriented from the fall. The cavern's air was thick with dust, the flickering blue torches casting unsettling shadows on the stone walls.
Then—
Ding!
The chime echoed in his head again, cutting through the haze. More glowing text appeared in his vision, and this time, he didn't even flinch.
[Class Autoselected based on aptitude… Warrior!]
Ethan blinked. "Wait, what?"
[Pulling for Talent…]
[Talent: God of Speed — SS Grade!]
His breath hitched. SS Grade? What did that even mean? His heart pounded in his chest, his pulse hammering in his ears.
"Anyone else getting spammed with system messages?" Maria's voice cut through his thoughts. She was still sitting on the stone floor, rubbing her temples.
"Yeah, yeah," Brandon muttered, running a hand through his hair. "This is some sick joke, right? We're dreaming. We gotta be dreaming."
Ethan barely heard them. His eyes were locked on the glowing words in front of him. God of Speed. The words felt... unreal. Like something out of a game.
"Wait, did anyone actually get to pick their class?" Ashley asked, standing up shakily. "Mine just auto-selected Mage."
"Same," Maria said. "Got Rogue."
Ethan clenched his fists. So it wasn't just him. Whatever this system was, it was assigning classes for them. But why? And what did his talent actually do?
Before he could dwell on it—
RUMBLE.
The cavern trembled, a low, guttural sound reverberating through the air. The massive stone door ahead of them creaked open another inch, the glowing red symbols pulsing like a heartbeat. A heavy, suffocating presence leaked from the darkness beyond.
Something was in there.
Something big.
"Shit," Brandon whispered, taking a step back. "Tell me no one else felt that."
"Yeah, we all felt that," Maria muttered.
A new message flashed before Ethan's eyes.
[Incursion Detected: Boss Room]
[Survive.]
His throat went dry. Boss Room.
This wasn't just some messed-up prank or a lucid dream. This was real.
And they were right in the middle of it.
Ethan quickly read the description for his Talent, searching for anything that might help him.
[God of Speed - SS Grade]
You are an embodiment of momentum itself. Your speed, reaction time, and agility transcend human limits.
Passive: Movement speed increases exponentially the longer you stay in motion.
Active: Acceleration Burst – Instantly doubles your speed for five seconds. Cooldown: 30 seconds.
Enhanced Reflexes: Your perception speeds up, allowing you to react faster than normal.
His breath caught in his throat. Holy shit. This wasn't just some small stat boost—this was outright supernatural.
A hand gripped his shoulder. He turned to see Maria, her expression tense. "What'd you get?"
"Uh—uh, some kind of speed buff," Ethan muttered, still processing the implications. His pulse was racing—not just from fear, but from excitement.
Maria frowned. "Speed? How's that gonna help if that thing in there is, I don't know… a giant murder monster?"
"Better than nothing," Ethan shot back. "What about you?"
"Shadowstep. Lets me move faster in the dark, but—" she gestured to the dimly lit cavern around them, "—I don't think I'll be much use here."
Brandon swore under his breath. "I got something called Titan's Endurance. Says I take less damage. Guess I'm tanking, huh?"
"Well, at least you won't die as fast," Maria muttered.
Another low rumble shook the cavern, the massive door now halfway open. A thick, oppressive aura seeped through, pressing down on them like a weight on their chests. The air smelled of something wrong—like rust and decay.
And then—
A deep, guttural growl rolled out from the darkness.
Ethan's fingers clenched into fists. His legs tensed. He could feel it—something in his body responding to his talent. The energy thrummed beneath his skin, coiling in his muscles like a loaded spring.
Move.
The thought hit him like a command, instinctual and absolute.
He didn't know what was waiting beyond that door.
But he sure as hell wasn't planning on standing still to find out.
Ethan then noticed a blinking notification in the corner of his vision—a small icon pulsing urgently. He hesitated for half a second before reaching out and poking it with his finger.
A new screen popped up.
[Incursion Grade: B (Recommended Level: 60)]
[Warning! Dungeon above players' current level!]
His stomach dropped.
Sixty?! What level were they even at? He glanced around at the others, their faces illuminated by their own glowing menus. No one looked reassured.
Maria let out a nervous laugh. "Cool. We're all level zero in a dungeon meant for level sixty monsters. Great. Love that for us."
Brandon was pale. "Dude. We're dead. We are so dead."
Ashley swallowed hard, her voice small. "Maybe… maybe the system made a mistake? Maybe it's just warning us and it's not actually that bad?"
A heavy thud from beyond the door shattered that thought.
The kind of sound that only something massive, something impossibly big, could make.
The air grew colder. The torches lining the cavern flickered as a wave of something wrong seeped through the cracks in the opening door.
And then—
A voice.
Low. Rasping. Ancient.
"Ah… more prey."
Ethan's breath hitched.
Maria's hand shot to her belt, even though she didn't have a weapon. Brandon took a half-step back, his hands shaking.
Ethan could feel his legs vibrating—no, not from fear. From something else. His talent.
It was responding. Like his body knew it was time to run, to move, to fight.
He exhaled sharply. No choice now.
The door was almost open.
Whatever was inside was coming out.
In that moment, Ethan made a choice. Not a brave one. Not a noble one.
But one that might let him live.
He ran.
His gut twisted as he turned his back on his classmates, on whatever was behind that door. Coward. The word clawed at his mind, but he ignored it. Survival came first.
[Acceleration Burst Activated.]
A sudden surge of power coursed through his body. His muscles coiled, his heartbeat roared in his ears, and then—
The world went still.
No—not still. Slower.
The flickering torchlight stretched, the dust in the air hung like frozen specks of gold. Every detail sharpened, yet everything dragged, like time itself had been throttled down to a crawl.
His feet hit the stone floor in rapid succession, each step propelling him faster than the last. His body barely felt real, like he was weightless, like he was pure motion.
Then, just as he passed the threshold of the cavern—
A monstrous presence flooded the space behind him.
Something stepped through the now fully opened door.
Ethan didn't turn. He couldn't.
Because some primal part of his brain told him that if he looked… if he even glanced at it…
He wouldn't survive.
Ethan sprinted. Faster than he ever had in his life. His breath came in sharp, burning gasps, but he didn't stop. Couldn't stop. His talent carried him forward, his legs a blur, every step pushing him further from whatever horror had just emerged from that door.
Then—a scream.
Not one. Many.
Maria. Brandon. Ashley. Others he hadn't even spoken to.
A chorus of terror that clawed at his spine.
Something inside him begged—Don't look. Just run.
But against every instinct screaming at him, against the cold logic of survival, his head turned.
And he saw.
The monster.
It wasn't a beast. It wasn't a man. It was something else.
A towering, shifting mass of darkness, its form barely real, as if existence itself struggled to contain it. Countless eyes opened across its body, unfocused, hollow pits that swallowed the light. Its mouth—if it could be called that— stretched open, revealing a void that didn't end.
And in that instant, Ethan understood.
It wasn't attacking. It wasn't fighting.
It was simply undoing.
His classmates, their bodies—their very existence—unraveled in its presence.
One second they were there.
The next—gone.
No blood. No bodies. No screams anymore.
Just nothing.
A chime echoed in his head, cold and detached.
[All party members have been eliminated.]
Ethan's breath hitched, his legs faltering—
THUD.
The massive stone doors slammed shut behind him, sealing the horror inside.
Silence.
Cold, absolute silence.
Ethan stood there, gasping, shaking, staring at the spot where his classmates had been.
Gone.
All of them.
And he had run.
He staggered, his back hitting the cold stone wall. His hands trembled, his mind screaming at him to process what had just happened—what he had just witnessed.
He had survived.
Alone.