"Hmm... I still can't believe I ended up in the worst time of my life, anything but a 2-year lockdown... Seriously?"
Varun was not much surprised anymore as to what's going on, but he still found it very odd.
He had many questions.
"Why? Why here? Why not further back? Why in a time where no one could do anything?"
It was a turmoil of thousands of thoughts, but the greatest question was "How?"
How did he end up here in the first place? Weren't his soul and body both destroyed?
It was like something, no, someone, had revived the very fragment of his soul.
"I need answers, this is not normal. I really came back in the worst time of my life. What's the use of being here when I am stuck for 1 whole year in my house doing nothing?... I need... I need anything that could explain what's going on."
He had his face buried in his palms and wanted to know the meaning of this, the meaning of his revival after death.
"I don't want to spend another year of high school... Argh... Can't believe I have to spend 4 more years in that f–king school... They don't even have anything that we can call good for a high school, even coaching centers teach better than they teach at school."
A year later, he and his family got shifted to the new house and his brother went to a different state to study, just as he remembered.
He and his parents were the only ones in this new but old-to-him house, a rented apartment.
It was a magenta-colored house from the outside and, with two floors and a terrace, the apartment belonged to an old lady who lived in another house next to them.
The house was near a different school called "The Blue Thorns."
Since the lockdown was over, he went to school.
The school wasn't too big, but it was a good size to fit 3000 students.
The front wall was yellow-colored with the name "Heritance United."
It had a ground, but the grass was too tall.
The paved ground was almost the same area as a basketball court and badminton court.
It was still very difficult for him, not because he was mature for his age.
But because no one thought he was mature, even now.
In his life since birth, people called him intelligent but immature, saying that he had life but no goal, which he thought was true, but it still hurt to think about it.
He was in his P.E. uniform, which was a blue T-shirt with the school logo on the front pocket on the left side of the chest, blue tracksuit bottoms, and a tracksuit jacket.
All students had a variety of colors in their T-shirts from the four houses: yellow, blue, red, and green.
As he reached the school and his class, he was met with his best friend, "Sudhanshu," the friend he had since play-center time at school.
Sudhanshu: "You dude! Been 2 years since we met."
Sudhanshu was a slight inch taller than him and also thinner in body structure, but still quite good-looking, with long hair that reached his eyebrows even after being set, and a lean face with a perfect jawline.
He was also in his tracksuit with a blue T-shirt inside it.
Varun: "Yeah, the lockdown messed up our face-to-face meetings... But we did play a lot of games."
Varun had to keep his talk according to the time, so that it didn't change too much.
But he couldn't shake the feeling.
A feeling that Sudhanshu wasn't acting the way he did in the past that Varun remembered.
He was talking maturely, like he was the one who time-traveled from the future.
Coincidence?
Just his imagination?
No, that's not possible.
Varun might not be a mature talker, but he remembered.
He remembered the very friend he played and lived with.
He wasn't like this.
He was more forward and immature, a dirty talker with no filter on his lips.
Sudhanshu: "What are you zoning out for, bro?"
Varun: "Ugh?... Oh... Uhm... N–nothing, just thought you got taller in these 2 years. Man, I am stuck at 5'6."
Sudhanshu: "Oh, yeah I think you are. Well, it's still good since the average height is 5'5. At least you're an inch taller than them, haha."
Varun: "Yeah, yeah, bruh... Don't need to rub it in... Hey... Do you remember when we both went out for my birthday? Your younger brother was also there."
Varun asked this as a meetup question...
But it was more of a question to test something.
Because he and Sudhanshu didn't go out together until 2022, and it was 2021 right now.
Sudhanshu: "Ah~... I do, I do... We had so much fun. My brother was eating the most out of all of us combined, haha... I remember you said my brother looked like a squirrel."
That's it...
That was the answer from the future.
But how did he know?
Varun: "Bro... Let's go to the washroom for a minute."
Sudhanshu: "Uh, what?... I mean... O–ok."
They both went to the washroom, and Varun pinned him in the corner.
The washroom had two partitions, one for stalls and one for urinals, and one extra stall on the wall in the middle of both, facing the door.
Sudhanshu: "Bro, what the fu–!?... That hurt me."
Varun: "Tell me, you are from the future, right?"
Sudhanshu: "Wh–what are you talking about o–... That's nonsense, how can I–... I mean, do you really think that? And why would I hide it from you if I did?"
Sudhanshu wasn't sweating, but it was clear that he was hiding something, because Varun knew Sudhanshu way better than he knew himself.
Varun: "Then how do you know something that hasn't even happened yet?... How do you know what we did in 2022 while we are in 2021?"
Sudhanshu: "W-!?... You?.... Wait.... Are you also–?!"
Varun: "I am... I don't know how... I died... And woke up in 2020... It's been a year since then... And how did you end up here?"
Sudhanshu: "I don't know... Dude, this is a mess... I was sleeping... And I remember someone screaming in my head... Or... Maybe somewhere near... Somewhere where there were just clouds making a sea, I heard someone say something like... 'Let me go back' with an all-out scream."
Varun went silent.
He didn't know what to say.
Did he hear him right?
Sudhanshu didn't die like he did, he just came back in time by falling asleep?!
Varun: "You–.... You didn't die?"
Sudhanshu: "Uhh... No..... What do you mean didn't die?... Was I supposed to?"
Varun: "I died.... I got hit by lightning and died, that's how I came back in time."
Sudhanshu: "WHAT!?.... Th–... You–... You died?!"
Suddenly a teacher yelled from outside.
Teacher: "What are you doing inside this long, boys?... You've been inside for 10 minutes right after you just came to school."
They both nodded and went back to class.
Then, after a few hours, when it was recess, they were both on their school ground, sitting at the staircase on one side of the school.
Since in India, a cafeteria in school means more school fees, which was only common in big states like Delhi and Mumbai.
Varun: "So, what do you think we should do now?"
Sudhanshu: "I don't know.... You tell me, you're the one who died in the first place... Oh... Well... If you don't mind me asking... How did it feel to die?"
Varun: "..."
Sudhanshu: "... You don't have to tell me if you don't want to."
Varun: "It's fine... I just.... I don't know how to put that into words... I didn't feel anything.... I didn't get the chance.... I looked up and everything went black after a sudden light... I instantly felt lightweight and lightheaded... Like everything was taken out of my body. I couldn't feel my body at that time."
Sudhanshu: "... Sounds like a mess to me."
They were having an important talk when one of the guys who followed Varun like a tail even though he didn't want him to, "Adi," arrived.
He lost his mom at a young age, so that's why Varun didn't mess with him too hard.
But Adi wasn't immature because of his mom's death, but because he just was...
He was a damn headache.
But something was off about him too...
Something that was familiar yet new...
Was he also time-traveled back?
Because his way of walking and talking seemed off from what he remembered.
Varun: "Hey Adi!... Come here."
Adi: ".. Uh.. Yeah, sure?.... What, need something from me?"
Varun: "Did you sleep and end up here?"
That shocked Adi.
He didn't respond for almost a minute before questioning.
Adi: "....You too?"
Varun: "Not me, but Sudhanshu did... He ended up just like you."
Adi: "Then how do you know I did too?"
Varun: "Because I ended up here by dying..."
Adi: "What the fu–?!... You... You died?!.. Seriously?"
Varun just nodded and walked a little farther away, thinking about what's going on.
"This is weird, so I am not the only one in the past... If there are these 2... Could there be more?... If there are... I need to find them... Someone might know something about this... Tch–... But how?... I have no idea who might be from the future like me... I can't go around asking either, people will think I am crazy."
He was deep in thought...
He didn't know what to think about it...
It was like the answer was everywhere, but he couldn't even see it.
"I'll see about this later."
Just when he was about to go, the weather got weird...
It was the same as when he got hit by the lightning, but something was off about it....
He could see some marks around him on a few people...
Marks connected to students and staff all the way from the sky with laser-light-like strands, and...
No one else seemed to see them.
Sudhanshu: "What's going on?... The weather got weird suddenly."
Varun: "You don't see those marks?"
Sudhanshu: "Marks?... What marks?"
Varun: "... Never mind... I might've seen some light reflecti–"
He saw the mark above Sudhanshu's head.
He didn't know what it meant until he saw his hair strands floating up a bit...
That's when it clicked.
These marks...
They were on the people whom the lightning was about to strike.
But when?
Just as he was thinking, the mark above Sudhanshu's head turned green....
Varun didn't know what to do.
He just pushed him down a second before the lightning fell.
Just a second, and he was the one who got caught instead of Sudhanshu.
But this time it wasn't death, not instant.
He felt it.
The very pain of death and burning on his body.
"EEAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!"
A guttural scream for a whole 10 minutes.
The lightning didn't stop.
The marks from other people's heads too came over him, and the whole sky sent lightning from all around the globe onto him alone.
A planet-destruction-level thunder.
A few minutes later, he stood there, roasted, but wasn't dead...
Suddenly Sudhanshu and Adi also got hit by one lightning strike.
No, not lightning...
More like laser shots, and they were thrown away.
Everyone around stood stunned and silent.
Varun was barely staying alive.
Even though it was already a miracle that he was alive, he didn't want to die...
Not again...
Not like this...
He couldn't leave again.
[Welcome player]
"Wha–... What the hell is this?~"
[The conditions to start the growth of the player have been met.]
"What the hell is this thing talking about?"
[You got 'Instant Full Recovery' as a reward for becoming a player. Would you like to use 'Instant Full Recovery'?]
"I can't understand a thing... But if it's real.... Yes, I would."
He fell back...
Fainted, but not dead...
His body recovered like it had never been hurt.
Not a scratch.
He was just...
Unconscious now, but alive.
Just like he wanted to be.
Or not?
[Player has been chosen.]
[The player is going to complete quests to get stronger.]
[If the player does not complete any main quest from now on...]
[They will die.]