The year is 2022, the world was now beginning to be embroiled in conflict. Across the pond, the United States was internally collapsing due to unpopular laws passing though, more locally; war was beginning to heat up between Ukraine and Russia, and in the UK proper... Life seemed to continue with uncertainty. The future was not bright, nor was it bleak. However, who knew so much could change in a single day.
In London, while there were not any mining operation nor archeological excavations, there was a major network of rails and transports underneath the ground. And recently, plans were made for a seemingly simple expansion. Just bore through the ground a bit more, dig through earth and soil. Go deeper, and deeper, until the path was clear and the tunnel was connected. How could that possibly go wrong?
"Uhm... Oi, could you look at this? Our excavation suddenly ran into an unexpected issue, we have apparently hit some kind of geological anomaly here. Maybe its worth looking into?", "Sir, we can risk it a bit. We're on a schedule here, and it's just a bunch of earth, what harm could it be?", "...Fair enough,"
Above ground, life continued in London. From people relaxing within restaurants of all kinds, to others watching classic and new plays based off of old works and fantastic books. Others were hard at work, constructing towers and repairing roads, driving trucks and busses, organizing the Underground's paths and the Trains aboveground that lead people throughout the country back to here, typing on their computers and managing the news. Some were at school, educating or being educated on all sorts of matters; from Maths to the Arts and Sciences. Everyone, everywhere in the city, being completely unaware of what is to come.
Soon enough though, this 'geological anomaly' revealed its true colors as the machine tore through the stone walls of the vault and shattered its singular content. The Londoners nearby had no time to comment as suddenly they froze up at the sheer arcane energy, indescribably old, shooting out and filling them with the long-dead species of a magical past.