Tom took a deep breath. The name that came out of the teenager's mouth was quite startling.
"I'm Tom Yodel, and she's Hermione Granger." Tom's voice was calmer than he had imagined.
"Welcome," nodded Menes to the two of them, while casting a glance at the black cat at his feet, which stretched and transformed into a naked woman with healthy wheat-colored skin, delicate figure, and long, slender limbs, her only accessories being the golden ankle bracelets on her feet.
With a catwalk and a swaying of hips, she brought two animal skin cushions and a table with small plates of seasonal fruit to Tom and Hermione.
As she placed the cushions in front of Tom, she approached him and rubbed against him flirtatiously, trying to press her curves against him, and Tom lifted his head so high, so engrossed in observing the palace's ceiling, that he didn't dare to look away, lest she think otherwise.
Of course, when he finally looked up, he had lost.
The cat woman seemed very pleased with herself and, after rubbing against Tom a couple of times, she gave Hermione, who had a distorted face, a provocative look, puffed up her chest, and sauntered away with a swivel of her hips.
Menes laughed heartily and said that Tom could "borrow" the cat woman for a couple of days if he wanted. Tom immediately refused: if he did that, he wouldn't have to think about returning to his own world.
"By the expression on your face, you must have heard of me." After joking, Menes picked up a sprinkled fig from the plate in front of him, peeled it, and chewed. "Tell me about the future, traveler."
Tom was now a bit surprised.
Menes was a bit undecided after finishing the fig, uncertain about what to eat next, and he was even more delighted to see Tom's astonished look. "Yes, I know you come from the future because the fish brought you here." He pointed to the golden fish swimming slowly in the pool.
"Well, tell me what's out there!" Menes said impatiently.
But Tom didn't know where to start. He had lived five thousand years apart from Menes! He had no idea.
"Are you a living person? Or a memory?" In the end, he answered the pharaoh's question with a question.
"Don't answer a question with a question!" Menes pursed his lips but told Tom that he was the true pharaoh Menes, not just a remnant of memory.
"But..."
"Bitten by a hippopotamus?" Menes guessed what Tom was about to ask. "That was my own cover-up. Having mastered the mysteries of time, I am immortal. The hippopotamus was just a way to fade into the background."
So, for Menes, he had already achieved "immortality" through the magic of time.
Menes had constructed a time loop using the Sands of Time and the Golden Fish. He "trimmed" a day of time and then joined it together to form a closed loop, in which he himself entered. In this loop, he and the city he created would be trapped in a continuous cycle of one day, thus achieving eternal life in disguise.
Although he had achieved immortality, he hadn't given up contact with the outside world. In the closed time loop, Menes needed the power of a golden fish to interact with the outside world. This special fish could travel through time, bringing people from the outside world into Menes' time loop and listening to his guidance.
If the point at which Menes chooses to start his infinite cycle is point A on the normal timeline, then Menes has constructed a line that begins and ends at point A. His time never ceases to flow, but it doesn't progress. His time never stops passing, but it always revolves in circles with the help of the golden fish, which in the normal timeline appears to be completely stagnant.
Others move along the normal timeline. If they want to see Menes, they use the golden fish, which sends them from point B on the normal timeline back to point A, where Menes is.
The plan was theoretically perfect and worked well at first, but the messengers came less frequently each time until they finally stopped coming altogether, and Menes was isolated from the outside world. The pharaohs of the First Dynasty didn't want to add another dictator to their heads, so they consciously reduced the frequency of contact, and with the fall of the First Dynasty, contact with Menes was severed.
Of course, even with immortality, the necessary cards were still in place. Menes, like the other kings, had a magnificent tomb built. As the first pharaoh to unite Upper and Lower Egypt, Menes allowed himself the luxury of creating an exact replica of his usual city, which was magically hidden beneath the real city and served as his own tomb, with a symbolic golden fish inside. However, the golden fish in the tomb became the last remaining golden fish in the outside world and the only way to enter Menes' timeline.
After hearing Menes' explanation, Tom finally understood all of this.
Now it was his turn to tell the story.
Having not seen anyone else in such a long time, Menes was so excited today that he called his servants to remove all the fruit and prepare a grand feast.
As they removed the fruit, one of the maids brought a small vessel in which a large piece of balm burned, emitting a strong fragrance and repelling mosquitoes from the room. The feast soon began with the dance of beautiful dancers and the music of the musicians. Menes served roast meat, roasted duck, roasted goose, roasted squab, and assorted fresh fish, as well as fruits and nuts.
During the feast, Tom gave a general account of the changes in the history of the world, leaving Menes speechless: the dynasty he had initiated had fallen, the civilization of ancient Egypt had died, and even the beliefs and ethnicity of the inhabitants of the earth had changed!
Menes could only take a thick beer and drown his sorrows in it. But he was only depressed for a while, and then he recovered and resumed his conversation with Tom.
After a while, Menes grew tired of listening. He stood up and approached Tom.
"Since you have told me so many new and exciting stories, I must repay you in kind."
But Menes was undecided about what gift to give. He realized that Tom seemed to lack nothing. He pondered it for a while, and finally, an idea came to him.
"Traveler, I have decided to help you create a Time-Turner that can travel back in time."