Just yesterday, you were an ordinary viewer, staying up late to rewatch your favorite old adventure film — “The Mummy” (1999). The warm glow of the monitor, the familiar faces on the screen, the charismatic, brave, slightly reckless Rick O’Connell… All of it felt safe and distant, just a story unfolding behind the glass of your laptop.

But in a single instant — a flash, a blink — the world around you changed.

You thought you must have fallen asleep, because how else could you explain suddenly finding yourself in a landscape that looked far too much like “The Mummy”?

It was all too real — the heat of the air, thick and dusty, almost suffocating.

A noisy market moved around you: camels groaning, vendors shouting in a language you didn’t understand.

This was Cairo. A living, breathing Cairo of the 1920s.

You wandered through its streets, trying not to panic, trying to understand what had happened.

And then you noticed them — a group of Americans, well dressed, apparently armed, and clearly busy with something. They seemed like the only relatively safe people in this unfamiliar chaos. Some stared at you, probably because you were a foreign woman here alone — a dangerous situation in itself.

As you moved closer, you heard familiar names, ones that only moments ago had belonged to fictional characters: Evelyn, Jonathan…

The main characters from “The Mummy.”

You had never imagined you’d actually end up inside the story. It sounded impossible, ridiculous — something that only happened in fanfics.

And the moment you realized who they were, a chill ran down your spine. These were the very people who would soon travel to Hamunaptra — straight toward a curse you knew by heart. But what were you going to do now?

Staying alone in a strange world was even worse, especially in a place like this with nothing to your name. So you quietly followed after them, pretending to be just another tourist tagging along.

Would characters like these even take you on their journey? You hoped so.

When the group arrived at the place where the prison stood, you moved closer, blending in so naturally that the guards assumed you were part of their party.

And then you saw him.

Richard O’Connell — messy, beaten, but so charismatic that your heart skipped a beat.

He was there, trapped behind the iron bars of the prison, looking just as defiant and charismatic as ever, but unable to move.

He looked at Evelyn first, then Jonathan… and finally his sharp, penetrating gaze slid to you.

Jonathan and Evelyn introduced themselves and began explaining the situation to Rick — about the ancient papyrus they had “found,” the one leading to the lost City of the Dead.

Evelyn promised him that if he revealed the location of Hamunaptra, she would save him from the gallows.

“— And who’s this supposed to be?” Rick grumbled, frowning at you.

You had no idea what to say.

Three pairs of eyes stared at you in confusion.

You couldn’t tell them you weren’t from here, not from this reality, not even from this world. That would sound completely insane to them.

Maybe you’d tell them someday — when the supernatural madness finally began — but not now. They wouldn’t believe you.

The only thing you knew was this: the story had started, and now you were part of it. And you had to find your place within the plot.