Professor Benning glanced up from his notes. He thought perhaps one of the fluorescent lights overhead had burned out in a brilliant last gasp. Most of the students were staring out the lecture hall windows. He cleared his throat, trying to draw their attention back to his planned material. Their class time was short enough as it was.

The windows trembled visibly, and a deep vibration trembled beneath Benning’s feet. He raised his hands in resignation. Even the Earth’s tectonic plates were conspiring against him. "All right, people, let’s calm down and – "

The windows shattered, exploding into the lecture hall with startling force. Several of the students fell to the floor, screaming as they clutched their faces.

He ran from the podium to help, but the rising cloud that dominated the sky outside caught his eye. In the final seconds of Professor Benning’s life, he saw cars lifted from the parking lot and hurled into the air by the shockwave, and thought, I never really lived.