A Golden Mail

"Intriguing," Arnav murmured under his breath.

He recollected how he had initially dismissed the obese man's words as nonsense, but over time, he became increasingly convinced that the man had deceived him.

Throughout his past as a simple naive boy to the strongest villain, nothing of this magnitude had occurred.

Yet, this current phenomenon compelled him to revisit a distant memory, questioning if his father had indeed spoken those words.

This led him to an outlandish speculation - could his father somehow be linked to the ongoing phenomenon?

If that were the case, it might explain his father's words, but to even consider something like that was very outrageous.

The very name of the 'Universe Online' implied a universal scale, making it difficult to fathom how a mere human or more specifically his father could have any impact on it, let alone prevent it in his previous timeline.

Puzzled, Arnav grappled with the idea that even if his father had somehow averted the phenomenon in the previous time, why was it still occurring while his father remained missing in this time?

The situation didn't add up, leaving him thoroughly bewildered and unable to comprehend what might have transpired.

Suddenly, a theory sprouted in his mind, offering a glimmer of understanding amidst the confusion

The theory of multiple timeline.

The Theory of Multiple Timelines posits the existence of an infinite number of timelines, thereby suggesting an infinite number of Earths.

In one specific timeline, the extinction of dinosaurs occurred due to a massive meteorite impact that brought about significant planetary changes.

However, in accordance with the theory, there might be another timeline where such an event never took place.

Consequently, dinosaurs might not have faced extinction, and the Earth could have remained unaltered, leading to the absence of new species or humans.

This theory was highly contentious and even considered outlandish by many.

Arnav pondered if his reincarnation into his past self had triggered a ripple effect, altering its course from his previous timeline, and subsequently causing his father's failure in preventing the phenomenon

"Arnav....!"

'But this is all hypothesis and just my imagination going very wild. Maybe that fatass was right and my father is really a nutcase? I mean, it could be possible-'

"ARNAV! Wake up! What happened to you?!"

Suddenly Arnav was thrown out of his own ocean of thoughts from a very familiar sobbing voice.

"...." But only to find himself getting held from his shoulders and shaking him all over the place by his dramatic Uncle Ben as if he was extracting demons out of his body.

All while his uncle kept saying in a sobbing voice how he was not responding to him for 2 minutes straight and how Arnav looked so absent minded as if he had lost his soul

Not able to bear it anymore, Arnav shouted, "Uncle! Calm down! Iam fine!"

After Arnav's shout, his uncle composed himself and redirected his attention towards him, eventually realizing that Arnav was alright.

However, Arnav's gaze was peculiar, as if he were observing a strange creature rather than his own uncle.

However not noticing his gaze, he directly asked in concern, "What had happened to you, Arnav? You keep on getting absent minded. Did you hit your head during the earthquake? Wait, let me call our family doctor."

Uncle Ben kept on barraging words after words not even giving Arnav any time to response to even single question of his.

But he managed to stop his Uncle from calling a doctor, "Don't worry uncle, there's no need to call the doctor. I just got occupied on my thoug-"

Ding~

Before he could even finish his words, a resonant bell-like sound rang in Arnav's mind, and an ethereal blue screen abruptly materialized in front of him.

'Huh!?'

Startled by its sudden appearance, Arnav's attention was quickly drawn to a glowing mailbox icon on the ethereal blue screen, radiating a bright golden hue, demanding attention.

Surprised by the sight, Arnav wondered, 'This otherworldly blue screen can send or receive mails?'

He hesitated for a moment before slowly extending his finger to click on the glowing mailbox icon.

As he clicked, the golden English script vanished, and a new window with black text replaced it. A single mail stood out, highlighted in a golden aura.

However, as Arnav read the title of the mail, he froze in place.

[Curious about your father?]

The four simple words appeared so casually, yet they felt like powerful blows to his gut, leaving him breathless.

His usually analytical mind, which was adept at calmly evaluating any situation, now became completely immobilized.

Amidst his shock, a single thought consumed him: 'He...he really was related-'

"OH MY GOD! HE'S IN A TRANCE AGAIN?!" Uncle Ben's panicked voice shouted.

Uncle Ben swiftly took out his phone and dialed a number with lightning speed, not wasting even a second.

When the call connected, he yelled into the phone, "ALICE! BRING THE FAMILY DOCTOR IMMEDIATELY! I DON'T CARE IF HE'S BUSY SHITTING OR EATING, I WANT HIM HERE IN 10 MINUTES!"

"....."

******

"The world is in absolute chaos. Just 20 hours ago, the people all over the earth had recieved a message directly into the mind."

"A technology that is centuries more advanced than our! Is it the an alien invasion!? Or a entirely different species that were hiding in the depths of the earth!?"

"The UN or any government has refused to offer up any explanation towards the phenomenon-"

*BEEP*

"Welcome to XX News, we have brought to you the latest breaking news!"

"After the Phenomenon that occurs 20 hours ago, the religious rate all around the world has increased from 84% of the total population to 97%!"

"All around the world, religious proclaim that the end of mankind has come, leading the phenomenon to recieving many name like The , The Ragnarok, The Judgement day-"

*BEEP*

"Hi, this is Natasha and welcome to the X News!"

"All of you must've experienced the phenomenon to which many refer to it as the end of mankind or the final test of the God!"

"But! Is that really the case?! Well worry not, according to our finding we have theorized that this might not necessarily be the case-"

*BEEP*

With that sound, the television was shut down.

"As i expected, there's nothing to learn about this phenomenon in the news." Arnav remarked.

It has been 20 hours since the Warden's announcement, and as expected, the message had spread worldwide, reaching the entire human race.

In the initial minutes, the world was engulfed in confusion, with no one having any clue about the identity or purpose of the mysterious voice.

But after their confusion came denial, almost all of the population did not believe the announcement to be real.

Just then, the ethereal blue screen with golden scripts appeared infront of every human in the planet causing all of the denial to turn into acceptance.

Amidst the chaos, various individuals reacted differently to the impending situation.

First of these people were scared and afraid one.

As most humans were emotional being, even though they accepted the proof of the announcement, they couldn't accept their comfortable life will be over very soon.

Most couldn't bear leaving their soft and peaceful life and be thrown into some trial for some Universal Online. They didn't even know what would be welcoming them in the trial.

Thus, most opted to go for the religions and hope for any miracles to save them from the upcoming ordeal.

Then there were smart and rich people who were not afraid.

The smart peoples were different. They believe from the words of that Warden that there was no choice for them to make.

Many of the rich people gleaned the same meaning from the words on the blue screen aswell as the announcement and began their preparation accordingly.

After all their wealth and riches were earn through blood, sweat and efforts. These people were not afraid of any dangers or hardship.

Then there were those who eagerly awaited the changes. Excited by the phenomenon and the transformation it would bring to their world, many of these individuals were tired of their mundane lives, toiling endlessly for meager rewards.

A minority of these excited souls were psychopaths, whose motives were difficult to comprehend.

Regardless, they sought a departure from the norms of society and were eager for something new, anticipating the start of the trial with enthusiasm.

Lastly, there were people like Arnav who remained indifferent to the forthcoming changes, seemingly unfazed by the whole situation.

"I just hope that this is not some sick joke." Arnav muttered coldly as he eyed the floating golden mail in the ethereal blue screen.

[From - Who Knows]

[Curious about your Father?

Complete the whole trial and then i MIGHT tell you something. Hahahah!

Untill then!]

[The transformation of the planet Earth into the trial ground will begin in {03:52:12}]