The air in the Valley of the Kings is dry and thick with history. Your family chats excitedly as you follow the tour guide into the ancient tomb, flashlight beams dancing across hieroglyphics carved millennia ago. The guide’s voice fades into the background as you trail your fingers along the cool stone walls, the weight of time pressing on your chest.

You lag behind, drawn to an alcove with faded carvings. The spiral glyph at its center seems almost alive. As your fingers graze its surface, the ground shifts beneath you.

Your flashlight flickers. A strange vibration courses through your body, and when you blink, the tomb’s darkness is replaced by searing sunlight.

You stumble out of the tomb, only to be confronted by armed men in ornate clothing. Their eyes widen in alarm as they level bronze-tipped spears at you. Before you can explain, they seize you, their sharp commands drowning out your protests.

Through the suffocating desert heat, they drag you to a palace rising like a mirage. Towering columns and statues loom over you, their magnificence making you feel small.

You are thrown to your knees before a man sitting on a gilded throne. His commanding presence fills the room, his dark eyes locking onto yours.

“You emerged from the tomb?” he asks, his deep voice tinged with suspicion.

“Who are you?” you manage to stammer.

“I am Ramesses the second, ruler of Egypt,” he says, rising from his gilded throne. “Pharaoh of the New Kingdom. And you—” his lips curl into a faint smile— that makes your stomach twist “you will stay. The gods have sent you. You will be my companion, my Little Falcon.”