“It looks like I’m strong,” Axel said.

I didn’t want his pity, but I smiled nonetheless.

~Dungeon 5 entered for the first time. Player Sung Jin-woo rewarded title of First Contact~

We let silence settle in between us for a moment, trying to absorb the full repercussion of the most recent mentally projected notification. First Contact? That referred to aliens, didn’t it? And then there was that word again. Dungeon. It was like everything was connected to it. Within my chest, I felt something sprout. A foreign desire taking root, so clearly removed from my own that I could almost identify exactly where it began inside me.

I voiced this newfound desire.

“I guess we’re supposed to go into these Dungeons? Like dungeon diving?”

“Yeah. I guess.”

Neither of us moved.

~Dungeon 13 entered for the first time. Player Kim Dokja rewarded title of Dreamer~

Briefly, I wondered why both the first players to enter a Dungeon were Korean, but quickly ignored the thought. It was probably just coincidence. I wondered what about Dungeon 13 qualified the first player to enter the title of Dreamer. Were the Dungeons different? Were the Dungeons more like game dungeons or like real dungeons? Would there be loot? Boss fights?

In the silence that fell between us, Axel asked, “Do you think the Dungeons are the black holes?”

I pulled my mind from the current train of thought it was on and replied, “They appeared just before all this started happening. That can’t just be a coincidence. There were at least a dozen reported, right?”

~Dungeon 10 entered for the first time. Player Fahd bin Khan rewarded title of Trendsetter~

~Dungeon 1 entered for the first time. Player Kerstin Berg rewarded title of Hotspot~

~Dungeon 6 entered for the first time. Player Jibari Kimachu rewarded title of Alter Ego~

~Dungeon 9 entered for the first time. Player Riku Nakamura rewarded title of Eagle Eye~

It was unnerving hearing all these notifications almost simultaneously. It was like worldwide everyone was coming to the same conclusion. Everyone was thinking the same thing. The Dungeons. Clear as day, I could taste the invading compulsion, blossoming in my chest.

We needed to enter the Dungeons. I didn’t doubt a single other person the world over wasn’t feeling the same thing. A hand grasping my heart, slowly starting to squeeze.

“Where’s the closest Dungeon?”

“When I was scrolling through the tag, the closest one was in central Brisbane. There’s no way we’ll get to it first. Neither of us has a car.”

I chewed on the inside of my cheek. “Well, we don’t need to be one of the first to enter, do we?”

“Those title notifications sound important.”

I didn’t want to bring up that he had a title and lied to me about it, and instead just said, “In games, you can sometimes buy titles or achieve them. Besides, it’s not like they ever have that much bearing on anything. Like max, they’ll unlock some sort of cosmetic skin. My guess is that sooner or later, we’ll probably end up getting them anyway. Shouldn’t we try to figure out what the Dungeons are all about first?”

Immediately, he laughed. For a second I felt my ears grow hot with embarrassment. I had gotten used to Axel being brutally honest with me—it was part of who he was—but he rarely outright mocked my ideas. He must’ve caught my expression because he stopped laughing.

“No, think about it, man. If titles weren’t important, why would it be one of the first things to appear after your own name when the Dungeons ‘activated’?”

The embarrassment faded away, but anger remained, a sting in my cheeks. “Why didn’t you just say that first?”

“I… Yeah, you’re right. I’m sorry.”

Yeah, that pretty much cinched it. Surely the world was truly ending. Axel apologising? Axel admitting he was wrong? He’d die before doing either of those things. I eyed him in suspicion. His eyes were closed in thought, and his face was pressed into his hands.

But he was sitting up straight. The permanent stoop he existed with since he’d shot up to telephone pole height was missing. It was strange to be forced to look up at him, even slightly. I swallowed back my doubts, though it was getting harder and harder to ignore all the subtle differences I was noticing.

There was something fundamentally wrong with Axel. And I didn’t know what it was.

Maybe he’d seen something on Twitter that had shocked him to his core? It was Axel sitting there, that was unmistakable, but if you put a gun to my head and demanded to know what was sitting in the seat opposite me, I couldn’t tell you with full confidence that it was the same Axel I had known all my life.

He was hiding something. And it wasn’t something small either. Did it have to do with the title he wouldn’t share with me? Or his stats? What wasn’t he telling me? Why wasn’t he telling me? I stared at him a while longer, trying to weigh up the pros and cons of confronting him.

There was something in his current stature that made me hesitate. Besides, this was Axel I was talking about. Dude could be as stubborn as a mule when he was forced to do something.

He’d share his mind with me when he was ready.

~Dungeon 11 entered for the first time. Player Adrien Galbraith rewarded title of Boy Wonder~

Clearing my throat, I said, “It’s all good, man. So, what? You’re saying we should… find another Dungeon that hasn’t been found yet? They stand out a lot, so I don’t think that’s gonna be possible.”

~Dungeon 8 entered for the first time. Player Bonnie O’ Brolchain rewarded title of Scorned~

Axel removed his hands from his face. “When I was scrolling, it looked like there were around thirteen of the black holes globally. But there was nothing from China on there, so let’s hazard a guess for one more from them. So fourteen. That’s not a lot for a population of eight billion people, is it?”

I rubbed at my chin in thought. “If being the first person to enter a Dungeon is really as important as just you think it is, then the rarity of a Dungeon should be pretty high. You can’t just be handing out titles like you’re Oprah. But with only fourteen for the entirety of humanity… That’s— I can’t even do the maths.” Plugging the numbers into the calculator app on my phone, my eyes widened at the results. “That’s a probability of receiving a first entering title less than 0.000000002%.”

“Right, so astronomically low odds. Those titles are special, for sure, but they can’t possibly be that rare. That’d be kind of unfair. So…”

Understanding formed in my mind. “You think there’s gonna be more Dungeons. We need to wait for new ones?”

“Pretty much. But we can’t just stay here like this. People are gonna be going into those Dungeons, regardless of titles. It’s like an itch… Since everything else has been like a game, the Dungeons have gotta be some sort of boss fight, or a challenge. And what do you do before a boss fight?” Axel asked.

He played more MMORPGs than me, but I knew what he was suggesting.

“Gather a party?”

Axel laughed again and this time I knew he wasn’t mocking me. I had no clue what he found so hilarious, but I just smiled back. I never understood Axel and despite whatever changes he’d gone through today, that wasn’t about to change. That was comforting. But…

~Dungeon 4 entered for the first time. Player Althea Santos rewarded title of Infinite~

It was weird, actually. What was happening was absolutely insane. Black holes didn’t just appear out of nowhere. Weird game-like notifications didn’t just materialise into our individual minds. This was not normal. So, why did I feel so calm? Was it simply because I wasn’t alone in this? That Axel was here with me?

I should’ve been losing my goddamn mind. But I wasn’t. Then again, I wasn’t entirely sure I hadn’t already.