Chapter 1: Discovery

If it hadn't been for Mrs. Martin's fourth period science class, I never would have made the discovery. I would have remained an ordinary teenager in an ordinary life. I would have continued going to school, working my ass off to get good grades. I would have kept coming home everyday to play computer games, or read comics or fantasy and science-fiction books. I would probably have graduated near the top of my class and gone off to college.

But the discovery I made changed my entire life.

It all started with that stupid test in Mrs. Martin's science class. I had not done very well on it, and so I asked Mrs. Martin if there was anything I could do to earn some extra credit to try and take some of the sting the mark on that test was going to leave on my overall grade for the semester.

"Well, Lucas," Mrs. Martin said thoughtfully, "there is something you could do. We're going to be studying geology starting Monday. Why don't you find me some rock samples that I can use? I'll give you a list of rocks you should be able to find fairly easy around here."

"Sure," I said, grateful for the easy extra credit. Finding rocks should be a snap. There was pretty rocky terrain just a mile or so behind my house, all sorts of hills and stones and overgrowth. The only thing I'd have to be careful about were snakes, which I was scared to death of. I could really identify with Indiana Jones and his ophidiophobia (I had to look that word up for a report I did about our greatest fear).

When school let out for the day, I started the walk home. It was Friday, so I had no rush to get home so I could do my homework and still leave time to do my personal hobbies before I needed to get to bed. And my guild in World of Quest, the online role-playing game, wasn't meeting for a raid until later tonight, so I had some free time. I figured I would take a casual stroll home, maybe watch along the road for any of the rocks for my extra credit assignment.

Another reason I didn't hurry home was because my mom and dad both worked long hours and usually didn't get home until later in the evening, sometimes long after I'd gone to bed. It was kind of lonely, especially since I really didn't have any friends, at least, outside of World of Quest. They both worked high-paying jobs that required them to work long hours. I understood that and never hated them for it. I just sometimes wished that we could spend more time together as a family. Though there were some perks from being left alone by the parents a lot. I was sort of spoiled, for one. Pretty much anything I wanted, within reason, I could have. I knew that they bought me almost anything I wanted to make up for the guilt they felt at not being home very much. And the independence was pretty nice too. I had whatever I wanted for dinner (pizza or hamburgers were my usual dinner of choice), I got to stay up late without being told to go to bed (which was nice when I was in the middle of doing something on World of Quest, or when I had an extra large stack of new comic books to read). My parents knew I was smart, responsible, and trustworthy, so they haven't had a babysitter over to watch me since before I was in my teens.

Still, it would have been nice to have some friends from around here to sometimes do things with. Or, better yet, to have a girlfriend. I was fifteen, no girlfriend, and still a virgin, while most guys my age had steady girlfriends and steady sex.

As I walked home, I picked up the occasional rock, studying them to see if any of them were what Mrs. Martin was looking for. Only one of the rocks fit the bill, so I stuffed it in my backpack and continued on. I decided that I would go home, have a quick bite to eat, then head out to the hilly areas way back behind my house for rock finding.

When I got home, I saw a message on the answering machine. It was my mom, calling to let me know that one of my mom and dad's friends had died in a car accident. They were going to be flying out to the funeral (since their friend lived a thousand miles away or so) and would be back late Sunday night, so I had the weekend to myself. She told me that there was extra cash on the debit card they had gotten for me (since I was by myself most of the time, it came in handy sometimes), to have a good weekend, and not to have any parties while they were gone. I chuckled at that. I didn't have any friends to invite over, let alone enough to invite over to have a party.

I ordered myself a pepperoni pizza for dinner. It arrived thirty minutes later, and I sat down to eat, flipping through the channels as I had dinner. After I was done, I shut the TV off, grabbed my backpack, emptied out my school supplies, then started the mile-long hike to where I wanted to go to try and find the rocks I needed.

I walked straight out across my back lawn, then into some light woods that lined the property. A few minutes later, I came out into some hills. The area started getting rockier as I progressed. I found two samples on my way that were what I needed. I only needed seven more and I would be all set.

The hills started getting larger and more rockier. There was a large hill in particular that looked like it would be fun to climb and to look for rocks on, so I started heading that way. This entire area of land wasn't owned by anyone and there was really no reason for anyone to come all the way out here. I'd wouldn't be at all surprised if I was the first person to come through here in a year or more.

I got to the foot of the hill and was about to start hiking up it when something caught my eye. I had only looked at it just right, or else I would have missed it. It was partially concealed by a few larger rocks (almost boulders) and by some tall overgrowth. It looked like a big hole. I wanted to get a closer look.

I moved through the overgrowth and peeked around the edge of the large rocks. It wasn't just a hole. It was a tunnel leading into the hill. It was at least five and a half feet in diameter, though I thought it was closer to six feet. It was dark and cool inside. I wondered how far back into the hill it went. I yelled into it and listened to my voice echo back.

I wanted to climb inside it and explore it, but not right now. I wanted to be better prepared. It didn't seem like any animals lived in it (I didn't see any tracks or any other signs of wild animals, at least), but I would need light and maybe some rope, just in case. I decided that I would try and gather the rest of the rocks I needed, then come back here early tomorrow morning.

I found all but one of the rocks I needed. On my way back home, I found the last one, so my extra credit assignment was officially done. I whistled and sang to myself on the hike back home, wishing I had thought to bring my mp3 player. I added that to my mental list of supplies for my tunnel exploration for tomorrow morning.

I got back home and logged on to World of Quest. I ate the rest of my pizza as I went on a raid with the friends I only knew in this ethereal, online world. It was a good, successful raid, and by the time it was over a few hours later, I was exhausted. I bid my guildmates goodbye, and I went to bed.