Arthur put some sandals in a backpack along with some clothes that, if he did his maths right, should fit the strange man. Now that he's changed into something cleaner, he left his tent and made his way to the man. This time no one talked to him, so nothing worth noting happened, other than some hyenas howling in the far distance.
When he got to the boulder, he saw the man staring at the stars again. Arthur had no idea what he was doing, neither was he interested. He handed him the clothes and sandals and went to the other side of the boulder, hoping the man was smart enough to understand to put on the clothes. Couple seconds later, the man came out from behind the boulder, letting Arthur know he was finished.
The man was now wearing a thobe, a traditional Arab piece of clothing, and the sandals. They fit him well, they were slightly too large for Arthur so he thought it'd be perfect for the ancient man. Arthur also gave him a coat, which the man gave back to him. Apparently he could handle the cold, he did not seem like he was even bothered by the cold on his way to the camp despite being shirtless. Arthur just put the coat on himself instead of walking all the way back to his tent to leave the coat, it was still quite cold, and now he was on his way to the city with the ancient man following him.
He planned on getting the man some books about learning language, a simple history book and whatever else he finds is good for him. After 20 minutes they found themselves at the border of the city. It was breathtaking how the cities in Egypt never seemed to sleep, putting New York City, the city that never sleeps to shame.
Shops usually opened from around 8am and some closed at roughly 2am, some even until sunrise. The city in front of Arthur was made of lights, with many people walking around the streets. With the terrible heat that comes every midday, these people have adapted to a semi nocturnal lifestyle. The buildings were only up to 5 stories maximum, but regardless the city was beautiful. Arthur loved exploring other countries although he was getting pretty homesick now. He looked at the ancient man, and as he thought, the man looked overwhelmed. He's most likely never seen such a bright place at night, with lamps everywhere down the street, and cars and motorcycles zooming past them. Occasionally you'd heard them beep, but not as much as day time. People were sleeping now after all.
But it wasn't time for sightseeing. Arthur walked to a library with the man following behind him. As he got there he was face to face with the librarian who looked too old to be working.
Talking to the librarian in Arabic with his broken accent, Arthur spoke; "Salam. I need a book about hieroglyphics." Arthur didn't even bother asking him for the other books he wanted. He already knew where they were.
"Walaykum. It's at the end of this isle down here," the librararian said whilst pointing to the isle he was talking about. "Do you need anything?" He asked the ancient man as kindly and inviting as possible.
Arthur was pretty slow to react. It's been a long night and he was thinking of something to say. But right at that moment, the ancient man looked at the librarian and pointed at his own ears, then waved his hands. Realising that the librarian was talking to him, the mysterious man tried to signal he couldn't understand him, and he reckoned the best way was to act deaf. Smart, considering that if he tried signalling anything else like he's from another country the librarian would still try to talk to him through Arthur, but this way no questions would be asked.
"He's with me." Arthur told the librarian. He seemed guilty to have asked a deaf person a question. And Arthur felt guilty that they made the librarian believe that the unknown man was deaf. The man in question seemed neutral.
Now that the awkward conversation finished, they went to the isle to get the book about hieroglyphics. More specifically 2 books. One about translating it to Arabic, and the other was purely about the Rosetta Stone. The stone was a tablet found in the 18th Century that allowed people to decipher hieroglyphs and along with it was a Greek and Demotic script. He hoped the man would be able to translate basic phrases into Arabic even if it took time. He also got him two books titled 'A beginner's guide to Arabic' and another called 'A beginner's guide to English' both from another isle.
With these books the man got straight to reading and Arthur took a nap. His head has been hurting since he took that fall down the ravine. He quickly fell asleep.
***
There was a soft noise coming outside. As Arthur started waking up and paying attention to the noise, he realised it was the call to prayer from the local mosque. So the first rays of sunshine were breaking into the sky. Except that the sky outside the windows was bright. It was midday. He slept for too long. The dream he had was too long. As far as he could remember, he was was talking to himself in his dream and it was so vivid, but he doesn't remember much else or what he was talking about.
Looking around, he saw the man return a confused look. Arthur realised that now he had more advanced books about language and history.
And right in that moment, the man spoke for the first time.
"You didn't accept the choice. Go back."
He had a deep voice, with a harsh tone of authority in it. Arthur was confused. The man spoke with proper English despite his accent being off. Before he could say anything though, the man placed his fingers on his forehead, and everything became black once again.
He went to sleep again.