Chapter 1: The Window That Didn't Belong
Krish had learned two things very clearly in his sixteen years of life.
First: Delhi was always loudhorns blaring, vendors shouting, ceiling fans whining like they were tired of existence.
Second: his life was painfully, tragically ordinary.
He sat on the third bench from the window in Class 10-B, Kendriya Vidyalaya No. 3, eyes half-open, chin resting on his palm. The math classroom smelled faintly of chalk dust and old wooden desks. The green board at the front was already filled with equations trigonometry, angles, values written in Mr. Sharma's neat but merciless handwriting.
"Sin²θ plus cos²θ equals one," Mr. Sharma droned, tapping the board with a chalk-stained finger. "This identity is very important for your board exam."
Krish stared at the board without really seeing it.
Board exam. Tuition. College. Job. Marriage. EMI.
His brain automatically played the same tired loop.
Outside the classroom window, a dusty neem tree swayed lazily. A pigeon sat on the ledge, fluffing its feathers like it had no worries in the universe. Krish envied it.
"What a boring life," he thought.
He wasn't failing at anything. That was the worst part. He wasn't a topper, but not a failure either. He had friends, but no one he'd call important. His parents were decent people strict, loving in a practical way but their dreams for him were already decided. Engineer. Maybe government job. Safe life.
Too safe.
Too quiet.
Too empty.
Krish let out a silent sigh and doodled aimlessly on the last page of his notebook: swords, broken clocks, strange symbols. He liked fantasy stories webnovels, games, anime but those were just escapes. Once the screen turned off, reality always snapped back like a rubber band.
"Krish!"
He jolted upright.
"Yes, sir?" he blurted.
Mr. Sharma adjusted his glasses. "If you are so interested in daydreaming, tell me what is the value of tan 45 degrees?"
Krish swallowed. His classmates snickered.
"Uh… one, sir."
Mr. Sharma nodded. "At least you are awake. Pay attention."
Krish sank back into his seat, cheeks warm. See? Nothing special. Not even dramatic embarrassment.
He glanced at the classroom clock. Ten more minutes to the bell.
Ten more minutes of nothing happening.
That was when the air changed.
At first, it was subtle a strange pressure, like the moment before a storm. The ceiling fan above Krish slowed, its rattling sound stretching unnaturally. The chatter of students faded, voices turning muffled, as if he were underwater.
Krish frowned.
Am I dizzy?
Then—
A crack appeared in the air.
Not on the wall. Not on the ceiling.
In the empty space right in front of him.
It looked like glass shattering in slow motion, invisible shards spreading outward. Light leaked through the crack warm, golden, unreal.
Krish froze.
His heart slammed against his ribs.
The crack widened… and widened… until it formed a rectangular window, floating at eye level, barely two feet away from his desk.
A window.
In the air.
Sunlight poured through it, impossibly bright, carrying the scent of fresh grass and wind. The classroom beyond it bent and blurred, as if reality itself refused to touch the thing.
No one screamed.
No one reacted.
Krish's breath hitched.
He turned his head slightly. Rohan was still scribbling notes. The girl in front of him was chewing her pen cap. Mr. Sharma continued lecturing, unaware.
They can't see it.
His gaze snapped back to the window.
Words began to appear on its surface, forming letter by letter, glowing softly like something out of a game UI.
> DO YOU WANT TO SWITCH TO ADVENTURE MODE?
Krish's mind went blank.
This wasn't a dream. Dreams didn't come with this level of detail the hum in the air, the warmth on his skin, the way his instincts screamed that this thing was real.
A small icon blinked below the text.
> YES NO
His fingers trembled.
Okay. Okay. Think logically.
Maybe he had finally lost it. Stress. Sleep deprivation. Hallucination.
But another thought pushed its way forward, louder than the fear.
What if it's not fake?
His chest tightened.
His entire life had been built on "no"—no risks, no excitement, no stepping out of line. And where had that brought him?
Here. Third bench. Math class. Counting minutes.
The window pulsed softly, as if waiting.
A second line appeared.
> WARNING: CHOOSING ADVENTURE MODE MAY ALTER YOUR LIFE IRREVERSIBLY.
Krish let out a shaky laugh under his breath.
"Like it's exciting now," he muttered.
His hand lifted before his courage could disappear. Slowly, carefully, he reached forward.
His finger passed through the classroom air… and touched the glowing YES.
The world paused.
The fan stopped completely.
Chalk froze mid-fall from Mr. Sharma's hand.
Sound vanished.
The window flared bright enough to force Krish to squint.
> CONFIRMATION ACCEPTED.
> INITIALIZING ADVENTURE MODE…
A sharp sensation ran through his body not pain, but something deeper, like his nerves were being rewritten. Information flooded his mind in fragments: maps that didn't exist, symbols he couldn't read yet somehow understood, a distant echo of battles and choices.
Krish gasped.
"Wait—!"
The classroom shattered like glass.
Light swallowed everything.
For a terrifying moment, he felt himself falling not downward, but sideways, slipping between layers of reality. Memories flickered past his eyes: his childhood home, late-night gaming sessions, his mother calling him for dinner, his own reflection staring back, bored and hollow.
Then—
Silence.
Krish opened his eyes.
He was still sitting at his desk.
The classroom looked normal.
The fan spun again. Noise rushed back like someone unmuted the world.
The bell rang.
Students stood up, scraping chairs, flooding the room with sound and movement.
Krish's heart pounded.
Did… did nothing happen?
Rohan slapped his shoulder. "Oye, daydreamer. Lunch?"
Krish stared at him, then at the space in front of his desk.
The window was gone.
"Yeah," Krish said automatically. "Coming."
He walked out with the others, legs slightly unsteady. The corridor was the samepeeling paint, notice boards, sunlight slanting through open grills.
So it was fake, his brain tried to convince him. Just imagination.
But deep inside, something had shifted.
As he stepped into the courtyard, a faint translucent panel flickered into existence in the corner of his vision visible only to him.
> ADVENTURE MODE: ACTIVE
> PLAYER: KRISH
> LEVEL: 1
Krish stopped dead.
Students bumped into him, cursing, but he barely noticed.
The panel faded quickly, as if teasing him.
His breath came fast.
This is real.
A mix of fear and excitement twisted in his stomach. For the first time in years, his heart felt awake.
Delhi looked the same dusty, crowded, alive but Krish knew, with terrifying certainty, that his ordinary life had just cracked open.
And somewhere beyond this world…
The adventure had already begun.