The morning started like any other, the sunlight spilling gently through the tall windows of our classroom. I cleared my throat and addressed my classmates.
"Everyone… today we'll have a session of self-study. Please organize your materials and settle in quietly," I said, my voice calm but carrying the weight of responsibility I always felt as class president.
There was a shuffle of chairs, the soft scratching of pencils against paper. Everything felt normal—until the light around us began to flicker.
It started subtly, a faint glimmer along the edges of the desks. Then it grew, pooling like liquid silver across the room.
"—What is—?!" someone screamed. Panic echoed in the room as the glow intensified.
I stepped forward instinctively, my hands raised. "Everyone, stay calm! Don't panic—"
But the words caught in my throat as the floor vanished beneath us. A sudden, searing brilliance blinded us, and the air seemed to hum with an unnatural energy.
And then—nothing but darkness.
When the light faded, I blinked rapidly, adjusting to the harsh shadows of stone walls and the faint scent of damp earth. The classroom was gone. Desks, chairs, and all familiar things had been replaced with jagged rocks and cold air.
We were standing… in the middle of a dungeon.
The realization hit immediately, slicing through any lingering panic.
"We've been… transported," I whispered, my voice trembling, though I forced calm over it. "This… this is another world. We've been isekai'd."
Around me, my classmates froze, eyes wide, hearts pounding. The glow that had surrounded us lingered faintly in the air, dissipating in faint sparks, as if the universe itself had just rewritten our reality.
I took a steadying breath, pushing back the fear curling in my chest. My role was clear: I had to guide them.
"Listen," I said, voice firmer now. "We don't know what's waiting here, but we need to stay together. No one wanders off alone. Let's move cautiously and observe everything—this dungeon may be dangerous, but we're together. That's what matters."
Even as I spoke, I felt a strange awareness stirring within me—an echo of a power I hadn't yet fully understood. A fleeting sense that, somehow, this new world could be… interacted with differently.
The dungeon stretched before us, dark corridors winding into shadow, and the first faint sounds of movement reached our ears—scuttling, wet, and strangely alive.
I swallowed hard. This was no ordinary self-study session. And somehow, I had the feeling that everything, even our skills, our knowledge, and perhaps… even parts of ourselves, would be tested in ways we could not yet imagine.