A Different Type of Spark

Evil Scientists Kidnapped me!

Emmie woke up.

She was in a flickering room, the faint smell of rust filling the air. Emmie blinked herself awake, taking in her different surroundings. It takes her a few moments to take control of her train of thoughts, eyes widening as she slowly heaved herself up from the cold and smooth floor.

Her heart pounds.

Statues. Statues of creatures and humans, things she's never seen before all faced her. The faint light through a window reflected off the silver metallic of the figures, a sharp gleam parading all of them.

"Weird," Emmie murmurs as she takes a step back, "Weird but cool."

Where was she? It definitely wasn't her room. First she falls asleep, and the next thing Emmie knows is that she's been taken away to this strange place. Did she get kidnapped? No, that wouldn't make sense. There would have been somebody who'd be watching her. Maybe a dream?

Emmie pinches herself. Hard.

"Ow!" She yelps, rubbing her arm. She looks at the spot where she pinched herself, hoping she didn't accidentally bruise the skin.

Wait.

Her skin.

It wasn't caramel colored, which she was quite proud of for having because it related to her Cuban heritage. Instead it was a darker shade of brown, which was a pretty and gorgeous color but it wasn't her skin color.

She leans down, looking at the metallic floor. A reflection looked back and that was-while prettier than hers- not her face!?

Wow, this is hella freaky.

Maybe an evil scientist conducted a mad experiment, kidnapped her and a random girl for test subjects, then promptly used their bodies to switch their brains?

Or maybe she died, and transmigrated into a character in one of her favorite books, anime or movies, just like all those self-insert fanfiction she's read?

Huh.

A creaking sound echoes outside, breaking her thoughts from theories.

"Evil scientist?" She mutters, sneaking through the door. After a few moments of exploring and trying to find where the sound came from, she can tell she's in a museum. A mad scientist museum?

When she reached the first floor, she noticed that nothing there had a shadow, and a strange woman was frozen.

Yes, frozen. Kinda like those three kids in the statue room, who she'd deemed as other test subjects.

Maybe this lady was the evil scientist!

She couldn't focus on the unfamiliar lady at all because the elephant statue started to lift its trunk.

"Cool.." Emmie whispers, staring up in awe and fascination as its jaw unhinged. If only she had her phone on her, she could take a video of this phenomenon.

A voice suddenly boomed from the hollow of the elephant. Deep and rough and wizened. Mega cool.

"WHO HAS DARED TO LIGHT THE LAMP?" called the voice. Now Emmie really wished she had her phone so she could play cool boss music in tune to the voice like in her favorite video game.

"WHO HAS DARED TO WAKE THE SLEEPER FROM HIS SLUMBER?"

Emmie looked around. She didn't see anybody plausible who could've woken the sleepy person. The frozen scientist lady probably did something.

There was a small silence, and Emmie started to feel a little awkward.

"YOU DARE DEFY ME, WARRIOR? FOOL, FOR I HAVE BEEN SUMMONED."

The sound of flapping wings echoed from the elephant's open mouth. Emmie stared in excited anticipation.

Ooh, would a freaky, failed experimentation subject come out? What if the scientist reanimated a dead bird and gave them the ability to talk? It would be cool if it was a mythological creature, like a longma, China's fabled winged horse with dragon scales. The greek animal, Griffin, reminiscent of a lion and eagle would be just as awesome!

She didn't even care if she had to get eaten, it would be a pleasure to get killed by a mythical and fantastic creature.

The sounds from the elephant rose steadily. A shadow lengthened on the ground. Huge and winged.

The mysterious creature who'd been the one speaking flew out of the elephant's mouth.

It wasn't big nor mighty like she'd suspected.

A pigeon?

"A talking pigeon! So cool!" Emmie squealed. It may not be a mythological creature but the pigeon actually talked! Just as awesome as what she originally thought.

"Where is he?" demanded the pigeon, "One of the ancient five warriors who lit the Lamp of Bharata–"

Emmie eyed the pigeon in positive curiosity, eager to question the fantastical creature, "How are you able to talk?"

"How did you get vocal cords, I thought pigeons couldn't talk? Ooh, but you're probably, definitely a magic creature though, so it actually really makes sense you can talk! Unless you're actually a science experiment which would also be a really great guess because–"

"Enough!" The pigeon yelled, puffing out its chest, "I am no trivial science experiment of man–"

"Oh, so you're actually a magical pigeon?"

"Neither am I a mere bird for I cause great devastation, they fear and worship my name, yielding at my power."

"Woah..."

"Indeed."

The pigeon seemed quite proud of her awe, beak upturned. Emmie was fascinated at the fact that birds could look smug.

"The lamp was lit." The pigeon started, snapped from the small distraction, "The Sleeper will start to awaken. It is my sacred duty to guide the Pandava brother who lit it."

Wait, Pandava?

Like, as in that tale from the poem named Mahabharata? Most importantly, wasn't a character from one of her favorite books a Pandava?

Aru Shah, a story she picked up from goodreads which eventually turned into an obsession from having one to the whole book series!?

That kind of Pandava?

Slowly but surely, gears started to click in her head. The mother's museum, where the main character lit the lamp. That was this museum. A talking bird who they named Boo that aided the protagonists. A talking pigeon.

The pigeon that she was talking to right now.

It made sense, the way her skin, hair, body and clothes changed. She should've known from the spiderman pajamas(which were really a bad fashion choice)!

She didn't get taken by a mad scientist, she was inserted . Inserted in a book.

She was Aru Shah, the main character.

"Santos humos!"

Did she just say that outloud?

"Who is this Santos Humos?" questioned the pigeon. Questioned Boo, Subala to be accurate. "Did he light the lamp, who only one of the five pandava brothers could. Do you know where he went, human girl?"

Emmie considered her answer. For one, she technically didn't light the lamp, Aru did. But now she was in Aru's body, so the consequences falled on her.

She might as well give some badass reply, y'know, ramp up the chance of Boo liking her. She'd always wanted to give a good monologue.

"I lit the lamp." Emmie proclaimed, "I may not seem the best compared to the Pandavas before me, but I make up for it with smarts and determination. You can look down on me if you want, but know this; I will fix my mistake."

Then she held her gaze on him, hoping she established a feeling of confidence, and damn, was she proud of herself for saying that.

Boo stared. Then stared some more.

"Hm." Boo huffed, "There may be little hope for the world yet."

Emmie did a little woop in her mind.