Chapter 5

On the busy streets which were a lot more likely now in the twilight hours, the bustling crowds of people and the overall carefree atmosphere was broken when a humanoid figure dashed out of a window with a red cloth on top.

The cloth which was embedded into the building was forcefully torn off and the figure fell upon the dirty road.

And with a sudden gust of wind, a man tore the cloth apart and dashed away into the crowds of the streets.

'Shit, shit shit shit shit shit shit shit shit!' Aryan screamed in his mind as he ran as fast as he could among the crowd of people.

It was nowhere near the full speed that he could achieve, which was the absolute limit at which most humans of the modern age could go, but the people made it difficult to get into a full blown sprint.

Taking a small glance behind him, Aryan saw many guards as well as his previous captors rushing out of the doors of the building.

"There he is!"

"Get back here you worthless monkey!"

"I'll kill you!"

'I'm so dead if I get caught.' Thinking about the various torturous ways in which he could be killed, Aryan changed his course of action.

'I need to get off of the streets' He thought and changed his direction of travel.

Suddenly turning towards a building, he dashed towards it. Looking at the top of the building, it was about 4 meters in height.

'Can I make it?' Aryan thought but quickly repressed such negative things from bubbling inside his mind.

Arriving at the base of the structure, he pumped as much power as he was capable of into his legs and placing his trust into the talents provided to him by the screen, he jumped with all his might, not sure if he was going to be able to reach the top.

With a glorious jump, he ascended into the air, making the onlookers around him stunned at the mighty display of leg power.

A single leap carried him 4 meters into the air, and with that leap, he stretched out his hand and grabbed a hold of the small wooden rod on the top of the small hut.

And with a small effort, he was on top of the house.

"He jumped up to the roof!"

"After him!"

Hearing their voices and concluding that they would, in fact, not give up until either, he escapes completely from their view, or they catch him, Aryan turned around and ran at full speed.

Aryan ran towards the other edge of the house, not stopping even as he reached the very end.

And then, without even a shred of fear, he jumped.

His leap covered the distance of the small alley which was between the two houses, which was a distance of about 3 meters.

Feeling the rush of air on his face and the adrenaline coursing through his veins, Aryan was beyond just elated.

'I can't believe I'm so good at parkouring!' Aryan thought as a big smile became etched out onto his face, 'Maybe it's the different talents helping me!'

"This is so fun!" Aryan screamed in Hindi as he ran around the different buildings, his excitement overflowing from the deep depths of his heart. With each jump, he felt like he was shaking some sort of an invisible boundary, breaking away from some chains that had bound him till now.

At this moment, Aryan felt… free.

This was exactly what he had wanted. An adventure where not everyday was the same. Although he was still in a huge predicament, being chased by the slave traders that threatened to kill him if caught, but that was thrown to the back of his mind. He knew very well he could be killed. He knew very well he could suffer a lot.

But still... he couldn't help but feel exhilarated.

"Why the hell am I feeling so excited!" Aryan screamed as he looked towards the people chasing him from the crowded streets while he jumped across the city on top of houses and shops.

He could not help but chuckle when he looked at the people that were chasing him using the crowded roads, bumping into random people and sometimes falling down due to random things that were placed in the way.

Suddenly, a very peculiar sound of drums made its way into his ears. It was like the rhythmic sound of a parade.

It was very faint at first, but as he moved across the city in a single direction, the sound got more and more prominent.

Along with that, the bustling streets went calmer and calmer.

But one sound was still heard very clearly.

"STOP!"

"Don't go in that direction!"

"Somebody stop that man!"

The shouts which previously contained death threats were now filled with extreme amounts of desperation and pleading.

'Huh. Wonder what that's about!' Aryan thought curiously and didn't bother to change his direction, still heading into the same spot at which the drum beats were coming from. He was so engrossed in this new feeling of freeness and invincibility that he was experiencing that he didn't take the possible dangers of the ancient era into account.

The sounds became more and more prominent and the desperate pleas getting more and more distant but powerful.

But then, as Aryan was about to jump another building, something strong grabbed his ankle with an iron grip and flung his body downwards, into the roads below...

Bam*

Crash*

With a crashing sound, Aryan smashed right into the ground and further into a poor guy's stall, destroying most of the contents in the stall.

Pain. Mind bending and unadulterated pain was what Aryan was feeling at this moment.

"W-what was that?!" Aryan yelled, the sudden pain bringing him back to his senses. His entire body felt like it would break apart. All his muscles felt like giving out and he couldn't help but just lay down where he had fallen.

But he knew that he could not just remain here.

And so, with a mighty effort, Aryan pushed aside the bits of wood and dirt that were on top of him to stand up and take a better look at the perpetrator.

With a humongous amount of pain assaulting his mind, Aryan stood up with extreme difficulty.

'It's good that I have the talents. If not, forget about only getting minor injuries, I would have died the moment I impacted the ground.' Aryan thought, and with good reason too.

The height from which he had fallen was by no means short, and the speed at which he had been thrown was beyond scary. Who the hell would have enough brute strength to throw a fully grown man into the ground like that?

Stopping his mind from going into a spiral of thoughts, Aryan looked ahead, towards the one who had thrown him.

It was a tall and imposing figure of a man. He had a skin color that resembled Aryan and stood at a height of more than 6 feet. His figure conveyed strength and ferocity, as could be seen from the bulging muscles on his body.

As for the clothing, he was mostly naked, with a small skirt like garment covering the area below his hips and on his feet, he wore some peculiar footwear, that looked to be an amalgamation of shoes and sandals.

And on his head, he wore a golden and blue striped headdress that draped over his shoulders from his head. It was a Nemen, a popular headdress known to be worn by ancient Egyptians.

And on his neck, a small locket resembling the shape of a hawk or an eagle could be seen.

And this man right now, stood on the other end of the street, with one hand clenched into a fist and the other holding a sword laced in gold, pointed right at Aryan.

Looking around, Aryan saw that the street was mostly deserted, and the few that remained were down onto their knees.

"Huff* huff* Who are you?" Aryan said with difficulty, still shocked by the earlier impact; only to realize that he still couldn't speak their language.

Aryan widened his eyes in shock, realizing that although he could understand their language, it did not mean that he could speak in their language. It was the equivalent of being able to understand Japanese due to watching too many anime, but it did not mean that the person could actively speak the language.

At best, they could form some weird Frankenstein sentences by smashing different words together.

Seeing the man look at him weirdly, Aryan hurriedly tried to speak the best he could,

"W-wha are yeh?" He said.

"Hmm? What?" The man replied, "Do you mean to ask 'who are you?'" The man asked and in response, Aryan nodded.

"Shouldn't I be the one to ask that? I noticed some people chasing you. Not to mention you were heading straight towards the Pharaoh's representatives. What is your goal?"

"It was yeh that throw me to the dirt!" Aryan said while pointing at him.

"Why are you speaking like that?" The man asked with enraged eyes, "Are you trying to insult me?" He readied his sword, raising it into the air as if prepared to strike.

Seeing this Aryan was about to deny but something came from the corner of the vision. And with it, the sound of the drums reached the highest intensity.

Both Aryan and the man turned their attention towards the side, from where a giant parade of people dressed in the same attire as the man were marching towards them. The only difference being that none of them wore the Nemen on their heads.

At the middle of this giant parade, about 8 people were carrying around a litter that was bounded off by cloth.

The twilight sky was still young, making it not so difficult to see the surroundings.

And when the parade came into view, from the other side of the road another group made it's way into their vision. It was the slave trader, accompanied by his guards and the people that had captured Aryan.

Seeing them arriving, Aryan reflexively tried to run away and escape from the rooftops again.

But just as he had turned to run away, the man that was standing there moved and kicked the back of his leg.

"Wha?"

Aryan screamed as his balance was kicked off. In mid air, the man grabbed Aryan's hair and smashed him right into the ground.

Bam*

As Aryan was slammed into the ground, the man quickly moved and restrained him with his hands.

"What the hell?!" Aryan once again blurted out in Hindi.

Seeing this peculiar scene play out, the slave trader group and the parade group made their way to them.

The drumming beats had now been stopped and the litter's cloth had been removed, allowing for the view of the outside.

From inside the litter, a man glanced at Aryan and the slave trader.

Sensing his piercing glare, the slave trader, Ahmet stopped in his tracks and kneeled down then and there. Not daring to move.

And following his footsteps, the men behind him also stopped and kneeled down.

Aryan who was observing this scene, was baffled.

'...I feel like I'm in even more trouble than I was before...'

The parade of men stopped at some distance from them and the litter opened up completely to let out a man who looked like a scholar.

In the huge crowd of highly muscular men, he looked out of place; but his temperament was that of a king. His gaze seemed to look down on everyone present and he held his chin high.

His clothes were highly luxurious among everyone present and had occasional strokes of gold upon them.

Ahmet and his group, although they were kneeling before, prostrated themselves on the ground, their noses touching the dirt on the road. In fact, it was not just them, the few people that still remained on the streets also prostrated themselves before this person.

When he got out of the litter, one of the men that surrounded him spoke out with a loud voice.

"Tehkmen, the Assistant Treasurer of the Pharaoh's court is here! Everyone walk out of their houses and prostrate themselves!" The man announced.

'...Yep. I'm definitely fucked...'