Chapter 1

The glistening light of the twilight sky shone down onto the busy streets of Delhi. The traffic on the roads was high as always and the crowd of people on the side-walks didn't seem like it was diminishing any time soon.

The various shops of the sides of the road were more than just lively. All kinds of lighting and music was used to attract customers, making the environment seem like it had been taken out of a movie.

And among the crowds of people that walked about the sidewalks and went about the shops, a few people stood in front of a television shop, looking at the display TVs through the glass with interest.

All these people had made a small group and were cheering occasionally.

If one took a better look, one would be able to see a cricket match being broadcasted on the television.

Of course. Cricket was obviously very popular in India and hence, some people that were not patient enough to wait would generally do this. Especially when the IPL matches were being held.

Among the small group that stood in front of the shop, there was one who was not cheering in fact.

He stood monotonously in front of the screen without so much as a smile on his face. It was like he was not interested in the match at all.

Suddenly, he was lightly hit on the shoulder by another man beside him.

"Aryan, what's wrong? Enjoy a little! Our team's winning!" The man beside him said.

"Yeah yeah." Aryan said while giving out a forceful smile, one that was painfully obvious to notice. Seeing his friend give out such a forced smile, the man just shook his head and sighed.

"Try not to have too much fun..."

"Got it."

With that, the man again turned his attention to the screen.

On the other hand, Aryan looked at the far end of the window, on which a history session was being broadcasted, about the making of the pyramids.

"...The history was more interesting than the present day." Aryan said and then called out to his friend. After getting his attention, Aryan pointed behind himself, signifying that he wanted to leave.

The friend was obviously dissatisfied but he nodded.

With that, they both detached from the group and went about their way.

"You should at least try to enjoy yourself you know." The man said.

"I already am. It's just that my life's too boring." Aryan replied.

"Yeah... I've been there at some point."

"Hmm?"

"I'm saying that I know what you mean. Everybody's experienced that phase at some point in their life." He said

"...It's not a phase." Aryan flatly denied his claim.

"Right. Of course it's not."

Aryan clicked his tongue in annoyance and defeat. He obviously could not win against him in an argument. He had tried many times in fact.

Speaking of, even he wasn't sure if what he was going through was a phase or not. It was just that... he found his life to be too boring.

Every single day was just a repetition of the previous day. Wake up, freshen up, go to work, come back home, eat and then go to sleep.

His life was repeated in an endless cycle, where all enjoyment and differentiation between events seemed to meld into a monotonous blur. If anyone asked him where he had pictured himself to be at this point in his life, he, without a doubt, would have replied with 'Not here.'

This was not what he had been excepting from his life. Repeating the same day over and over again was not something that seemed bearable to him. He wanted something more from his life. Something more... adventurous? Exciting? Exhilarating?

Anything would have been fine, but not his current life.

Sigh*

A sigh escaped his lips as he walked along with his friend.

"Oi Deepak."

"Yeah?"

"...Nothing."

Aryan wanted to ask him if he had ever wished to leave his life behind. But knowing his friend, not only would he say something cringy but also make some comments about getting reincarnated or something.

Sigh*

He sighed once again. And then, he looked towards the sky.

'I wish I could go on an exhilarating adventure like no other.' He thought.

***

Creack*

The door to Aryan's house opened with a strange sound and he walked inside.

The interior of the house was dark and currently, there was no electricity in his neighborhood. Courtesy of a recent storm that had hit Delhi just yesterday. Some parts of the city were given more importance and were repaired quickly, while the 'less' important areas like theirs would take another day to be fixed.

"Just great." He said and walked inside.

After about 15 minutes, he had gotten himself into some comfortable clothes and was now laying down on the bed. He had already eaten outside so he was not hungry currently. Even if he was, cooking in complete darkness was surely going to be a challenge.

He opened up his mobile phone to check any important emails or messages that he might have gotten.

Just then, a very peculiar email from an even more peculiar sender got his attention.

[Sender: Yesnth

Subject: An opportunity to leave your life behind and go on an adventure]

'...What in the actual hell.'

Aryan looked at the email in suspicion. Never before in his life had he ever seen or met such a person with a name like that. Neither had he ever thought that someone would pull such a childish prank on him.

A chance to leave his life behind? What kind of bullshit is this?

At first Aryan thought that someone was making fun of him for leading such a boring life. It would not be too far-fetched to assume that.

But then, just as he was about to delete the email, he stopped.

A small burning ember of hope ignited in his heart.

'Maybe... just maybe...' He thought

His finger slowly went towards the email and he clicked.

'I swear to god, if I get rickrolled over this-'

Just then, the email opened and on the screen appeared a set of words.

It was a series of questions and options.

[1. Are you willing to leave everything in your life to have an adventure? (Yes/No)]

Yes.

[2. Do you have anyone that might be sad about you leaving? (Yes/No)

'Okay, that's suspicious as heck.'

No.

[3. What type of adventure do you want to have?]

Aryan paused at this and contemplated. If it was asking him what kind of adventure he wanted to have, he would say... he didn't know.

He had been so sure that he wouldn't be able to leave his current lifestyle that now when someone asked him about the kind of adventure he would like to have, he had no idea how to answer.

He thought and thought.

But then, it hit him. He remembered the short history video he had seen when he was standing in front of the television shop.

'That's it!' Aryan thought and smirked.

An adventure that involves going through the various historical events and looking at them with my very own eyes...

[4. If you were asked to choose 5 talents, what would you choose?]

'Talents?' Aryan was confused. A talent could have many different meanings and he wasn't sure what this was referring to.

He contemplated for a bit but then shrugged his shoulders.

'Eh, it's not like I need to put too much thought into it.'

1. Omni-linguist - Ability to understand any and all languages

2. Good Physique - Have a strong and agile body, akin to the top athletes and body builders. Also a fast healing power

3. Hypercompetence: Be absolutely competent at any and all arts/techniques/work that I decided to do.

4. Martial Affinity - Learn martial arts and all types of fighting abilities very quickly

5. Tenacious - Have unreal resilience and willpower. Boosts Stamina and cellular activity

And with that, Aryan was done with the questions.

With little to no expectations, Aryan pressed the little 'submit' button in the bottom right corner.

When he finally pressed the thing, his phone suddenly shut down.

"..."

"Fuck! My phone just got hacked!" Aryan screamed, completely freaking out about his phone shutting down, as he should. But then again, he should've known better than to press random suspicious emails and filling out unknown surveys...

"What the hell do I do now?! Who the fuck sent me this em-" He continued his rant for another 5 minutes until he eventually got tired.

"Sigh* I shouldn't have clicked on the email." He said as he laid back down onto the bed.

But just when he did, he suddenly felt extremely drowsy and his eyes became heavy.

"w-wha-at is happening?" He said as he passed out.

***

An unknown light flashed and a scorching heat suddenly made itself known. Heat in every single direction, each with its own different characteristic.

On his front side, it was like he was being blasted by the sun. On his back side, it felt like he was being stuffed into some sort of burning and soft and malleable... stuff. And on his lateral sides, it felt like someone had left the Air conditioner on at 50 degree Celsius or something.

Aryan was confused, he couldn't move, nor could he open his eyes. He could feel his body but he was physically incapable of doing anything else.

The heat was unbearable and he felt that if he didn't do anything soon, he would be roasted alive.

He remained as is for a few minutes. A few minutes that felt like an eternity for him. And during this time, not for a second did he relent putting in an effort to move.

But then, suddenly an without prior notice, something clicked.

Huff* Huff*

Aryan's eyes flew open and his body was pushed upwards into a sitting position. He felt the strength return to his body and was invigorated. Fresh air flew into his lungs, giving him a sense of satisfaction.

But then, as he looked around himself, the sense of satisfaction turned into despair.

Gasp~!

Aryan gasped. He quickly stood up and looked around himself.

He could not believe his own eyes.

Why?

All around him, for interminable miles was nothing but yellow sands and the winds of death. Abive him was nothing but the blue sky without clouds and the scorching yellow sun that seemed to throw all of its rage and wrath onto the surface of this endless desert.

He twisted and turned in every direction. Looking for a change in the scenery, but found nothing, only the desert, and himself stranded in it.

"...fuck..." His voice came out as something barely above a whisper.

"wher... Where the hell am I!?!?!" And then he screamed at the top of his lungs.

Something that he will soon find to be an extremely bad decision on his part.

Huff* huff*

He huffed and again settled down onto the sand in despair. he knew it was all real. No hallucination or drug or whatever could replicate this scorching feeling of extreme heat he was feeling at the moment.

Sweat trickled down his face and his clothes quickly became wet through excess sweating.

'Shit. Shit shit shit shit shit shit shit shit shit shit shit SHIT!' He inwardly screamed in his mind.

But before he could freak out even more, something appeared before him.

A transparent black screen with incricately carved, ancient looking, borders.

[Welcome to History]

[You are during the era of Ancient Egypt, the making of the Pyramids!]

"What?"