Once the light cleared away, Shane found himself somewhere else altogether. Surrounded by grey stone on all sides, he appeared to be in some type of cave.

Looking at the walls, it seems like it's natural. Not that I'm any kind of expert though.

Two tunnels directly opposite each other snaked off into the distance. There was enough light in the cave to see his surroundings clearly, but once again no discernable source for that light. Shane was trying to keep his mind on that paradox rather than the more obvious observation.

People.

Sharing the room with him were eleven others, all seemingly from the same age group.

It's not that I hate people you know. They just have a bad habit of freaking out and I'd rather not be anywhere near them when that happens. Why am I not freaking out? Well, the fact that I'm studying the walls of this cave like some kind of cave-ologist, not to mention talking to myself should answer that.

Luckily a flashing blue box chose that moment to interrupt Shane from his musings on his questionable mental health. It also provided an excellent opportunity to put off dealing with the other people in the room.

Congratulations! You have entered the Dungeon of Potential! All actions taken will be judged and awarded with Character Points accordingly.

Well then. That doesn't really help, does it? Don't play dumb Shane, you've read enough of those lit-rpg stories to know what this is. You could just let me have my delusions for a little bit, you know. Also, I really need to stop talking to myself, even if it's just in my head.

Shane sighed heavily. Even he couldn't tell if it was at his bad habit born from spending far too much time alone, or at the situation in general. Either way, it was time to face the elephant in the room.

Probably shouldn't refer to other people as elephants. That's rude. Besides, I'm clearly the biggest one here. You do know you're just wasting time to put off talking to them, right? Yeah yeah. No peace, even from myself.

Leaving aside the comedy routine in his head, he turned his attention to the others in the room. So far everyone had kept quiet. They were probably trying to make sense of their situation internally just as he had been. It was obvious that no one in room knew each other before coming here. The people had still somehow formed cliques before anyone spoke a word though.

Calling them cliques may be a bit harsh though. It's natural for people to seek comfort in confusing and difficult situations.

Including Shane himself, there were six boys and six girls in the room. Based on proximity with each other there was five distinct groups. Group A consisted of three of the girls. Group B was mixed, with three of the guys and two girls. Group C was a two-man group, literally. Finally, there came the loners. Shane himself, and the last girl in the room. Both stood slightly away from the other groups.

Shane studied his fellow loner a bit more closely, a bit curious as to why she wasn't huddling up. She was on the shorter side, maybe 5'5". She was wearing an oversized hoodie with the hood up, so he couldn't get a good look at her face. Her hands were tucked into the front pocket of the hoodie and she seemed to be hunched over slightly, making her look smaller yet.

While Shane had been observing his fellow loner, the other groups had begun talking amongst themselves. Despite clearly speaking different languages everyone seemed to be able to understand each other. Shane could overhear a few snippets from each conversation, and while he could tell that they weren't speaking English it somehow translated in his head.

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Okay, that's highly disconcerting. Hearing two languages superimposed on each other like that . . . I'm going to get a headache, aren't I?

Looking at the others it was clear the same thing was happening to them as well.

So, we can all talk to each other. That's probably a good thing. This is already confusing enough without a language barrier. Now that we know we can converse I think it's about time for one of those leader types to step up.

As if on cue one of the guys from the mixed group did just that. He was tall, probably around 6'2". He looked to be one of the older guys, relatively. Maybe around twenty or so? It was hard to tell exactly with everyone so close to the same age. He had black hair, green eyes, and an olive skin tone. Mediterranean through and through, he oozed a sort of smug confidence. Shane disliked him on sight. He moved slightly so he could see everyone, then spoke up.

"If I could have your attention people. Standing around like this isn't going to get us anywhere, so I think we should start with introducing ourselves. I'll go first. My name is Nicholas Andino. I'm twenty years old. I was attending college when this happened."

He looked to one of the other guys in his group to pass the torch.

I may not like that smug vibe he's got, but I can't deny he's effective.

The normalcy of self-introductions had a visible calming effect on some of the more freaked out people in the room. As the others introduced themselves Shane found his attention wandering. He had never been very good with remembering people and over time had stopped trying. Instead of paying attention he felt there was a much more pressing question.

That last message said we're in some kind of dungeon, right? Plus, it said something about Character Points. That should mean there should be some kind of status. Let's see if I can pull something like that up. Status!

Error! Status is unavailable until subject has gone through Character Creation

Hmm. That's unexpected. It proves that there is a status though. So that means . . . What's that noise?

"Excuse me?! Would you like to introduce yourself?"

When Shane looked up, he noticed everyone staring at him. Nicholas was the one who had been calling out to him, and he looked like he was trying very hard to cover his annoyance. Looking around, Shane saw the expressions among the rest varied from amusement to outright disdain.

That seems a little excessive for just zoning out, don't you think? You should probably quit stalling; they look like they're getting angrier. It is a little funny though.

"I'm Shane. Sixteen, high school student. American."

Boom. Nailed it. Who said I was socially awkward?

While he was internally congratulating himself, the group turned to the last person, his fellow loner. She shuffled her feet a bit, hunching even more in on herself then before. After a second she cleared her throat to hype herself up.

"Sadie. Sixteen, high school student. American."

She spoke softly but her voice was melodic, like she was born to sing. She glanced up right at the end of her introduction and her face could briefly be seen in the depths of her hoodie. Soft red hair, cut at about the level of her jawline, framed a pixie like face. Bright emerald eyes darted about in nervousness. Freckles lightly dotted her cheeks. As she lowered her head once more a bright red blush could be seen coloring her cheeks.

Shane was a little taken aback by her apparent crippling shyness. He couldn't deny it was ridiculously cute though. Before his mind could take him too far down that rabbit hole the self-assigned group leader Nicholas gathered everyone's attention again.

"Alright! Now that everyone knows each other," he sent a pointed glance at Shane, "we should discuss what we should do with this crazy situation we've found ourselves in."

He took a deep breath, drew himself up to his full height and pasted the most politian-like face Shane had ever seen. Clearly preparing to explain what he thought should be done. Shane's eye twitched a little at the sight, annoyance rising instantly within.

I don't know what it is with this guy. He hasn't even done or said anything that bad. Just something about him really rubs me wrong.

Just as Nicholas opened his mouth he was interrupted. A bestial roar tore through the tunnel on the right side of the room. Chocked full of rage and oddly humanoid in nature, the roar silenced Nicholas before he could even speak. Everyone stiffened, some primal instinct warning them. They turned to the tunnel the sound had echoed out of.

A moment later Shane pointed to the opposite tunnel.

"Let's go that way."