FSE

Furry search engine

formerly SoFurry search engine

It was some days later that the god Anubis strode down the

halls to the throne room of the king. The term pharaoh was not yet in use and

he was determined not to start using it now. The king had sent a polite summons,

and Jon-Tom (aka Anubis) was curious to see what he wanted. It was a ballsy ruler

who dared request and audience with his god.

As of yet, he had failed to bed the king's daughter. She was a

patient soul, but his excuse that she might not survive such an encounter was

no longer holding. She wanted him and she didn't care if she survived or not.

He wasn't sure if he was back to thinking she was too young or if it was

because he didn't want to mess with the timeline. He had no idea if his

interactions with his own past would have repercussions for his future. As for

her age, well...

In this day and age once a girl was capable of having

children they were considered old enough for marriage. So by the standards of

the time, that wasn't a concern.

 Khufu was sitting on

his throne conversing with a few men bearing scrolls of papyrus. When Jon-Tom entered,

the king immediately left them and motioned for his god to occupy his seat of

power.  Jon-Tom dismissed his action as irrelevant.

 "You called me here for

something my king, so what is it?"

"My lord, you must know how much I worship your presence in

my kingdom. Therefore, it is with trepidation that I dare to wish a favor from

you."

"If this is about your daughter Khufu, then don't say another

word. I will consummate the marriage if and when I see fit!"

"No my lord. I would never question your wisdom. I have a

greater problem than the mere bedding of my daughter."

"Oh? Those words sound a bit cavalier coming from her father.

What's your problem?"

"My great work. I have been told by my royal engineers that

it cannot be done. The groundwork has been laid for it, but they say the stones

are too heavy for the workers to pull into place."

Jon-Tom sighed. He remembered the Greendowns and how he had

assisted in the fortification of the wall at Jo-Troom Gate. The golden staffs

he had created were designed to lift stones weighing many tons as if they were only

marshmallows. If he helped the king, would he be affecting the future? After

all, there was still a great dispute going on in his own time about how the

Egyptians managed to create such a gargantuan construction project with no

modern tools.

"Why should I help you? Are not your projects a display of

your own inner ego and therefore pointless to the gods?"

The words stung. "Yes my lord, if you say so. But I have put

so much work into it! Does not my lord think that it would be a shame to waste

so much effort?"

 "Humans toil at many

pointless tasks Khufu. But I think that I might consider helping you." Jon-Tom

had to wonder. If the pyramid wasn't able to be finished, then how could it be standing

in his time? This was just too weird for words.

"Thank you my lord! I knew I could count on you!"

Jon-Tom stalked from the room feeling rather petulant. He

went down to the underground chambers where Khepri was staying. The beetle

wizard was happily draining the fluids from a deceased's body. Jon-Tom found it

a bit disconcerting but as a god, or the semblance of a god, he ignored his roiling

stomach and waited for him to complete his meal.

 When he was finished

he wiped his mandibles and his labrum, dropped the desiccated corpse to the

table and gave his full attention to the jackal-headed human. "What is it my

friend?"

"I need your advice."

"My advice? You have great power and great wisdom of your

own. What can I possibly add?"

"A different perspective. I have a conundrum."

"Fine. The worst thing I can do is give you bad advice."

"True. I want to know if meddling in my own past will affect

my future."

"Yes."

"What?"

"You asked a question. I gave you an answer. Yes, meddling in

your own past will affect your future. It's impossible not to. The question

you're trying to ask is, should I meddle in it or not? You have knowledge of

how things turn out. You are unaware however of whether or not those things

occurred because of you."

 "But how could I be

the causation for something that happened before I was born, or my mother was

born, or her mother? I'm several thousand years in my own past!"

"The universe is dynamic my friend. It is larger and more complex

than we can ever know. If you can retrace your steps down a road, why then not

in time? I believe you think too much on things. If this is truly your past,

then there is nothing that you do here that will change the future, because you

yourself cause the future that you already know. It hardly matters that you

didn't know it when you were a grub. It only matters that you know these things

now."

"You're talking about predestined events."

"If you wish to view it as such, then yes. You are here now

because you were always going to be here now. And by the same reasoning, so were

I and your little friend. We match the concepts of the gods these people

believe in. Is it merely coincidental?"

"That's what I'd like to know. There seems to be another

"god" on the loose too. When I can catch up to her, we're going to have a few

words."

"Four of us? Who else got pulled over do you think?"

"I don't know. But I do know I'm tired of this shit. I want

to go back home and stay there for a while."

"I thought this was your home world?"

"World yes, time no. And I don't think I could even live in

my own time anymore, even if I was dropped back in somewhere and some time that

made sense."

"I see. Well, I wish you the best of luck. Now, you had a particular

incident in mind with your original question?'

"Yes. The king wishes to complete a project of immense

proportions. He wants my help to do it."

"Will completing it affect your future?"

"The thing he wants to build is there in my time, yes."

"Then build it. Does it matter who built it? It only matters

that it exists."

"Do you think it's that simple?"

"Yes my friend, I do. Much of what we do gets mixed and

muddled through time. Tales of heroes often forego the grizzly deeds they did.

No one is perfect. Neither is any situation. I admire your morals my friend,

but life often has little use for them. Look at me. Technically, I should hate

you, but now that I know you, I find it difficult to waste the energy on such a

violent emotion. If I make it back, I will once again be expected to serve the

queen and then I must hate you again. Does it make sense? No."

"You could come back to Hobarrow with me."

The sound of an insect laughing was something indeed. "My

friend, I would rather suffer the wrath of my own kind than that of yours.

Warmlanders have no love for my kind."

Jon-Tom thought it over. "You're right. I don't know what I

was thinking."

"You were thinking that here, we are all on equal footing.

But back home, we will be enemies again. Nothing can change that. However..."

"What?"

"Are we enemies in the future?"

"I'm afraid so."

"Then maybe we should try to change the future. One grain of

sand can start the avalanche rolling."

                "What are you suggesting?"

                "Nothing really. I was just

thinking that if maybe I could get back and convince my people to reconsider

their incessant need to conquer the world; maybe we all could live in peace."

"That would be changing history."

"Maybe. But weren't you thinking the same thing, only in a

more destructive way?"

"Sadly, I was. But all the killing is stupid. I thought if I

stopped one side from doing it, it might give the other a fair chance."

"And which side would you chose? Which side is the correct

one? I'll answer that for you. It boils down to personal perspective. I have no

doubt that once we return  you could

destroy every one of us in a sheet of fire. But what chance then would we ever

have to grow as a group? Who knows; maybe one day it's the Plated Folk who come

to the rescue of the entire world. Will you be around until the end of the planet's

dying days?"

"I hope not. But Eve should be."

"Yes, about her. I am unclear about who she is and would love

to have a chance to meet her."

"I think that if we get out of this, you'll have your

chance."

"Until that day then, I think we will have to live as this

world expects us to; as gods. I for one do not mind. I could even get to like

you warm-blooded types, may my blasphemy never be found out."  

"I'll never tell!" said Jon-Tom, looking pensive. "I guess

I'm still not satisfied with this situation, but I will do as you suggest. It

seems that if I don't help, then I may actually alter history by my inaction."

"And I may yet have a chance to change the future of my world

if I ever get back. We never know what we can do until we try."

Their conversation was interrupted by Hesmetep.

"I am so very sorry my lord, but when you are finished with your

fellow god, would you consider engaging me in conversation? I wish to have a

few words with you."

The beetle waved him off. "Go, Have many fruitful hours of copulation.

I am sure that more of your seed will only improve the future generations."

The girl giggled and turned red. "I'm not here for that my

lord. I am here to ask again for favor my father has requested of you. He is

most impatient to have an answer."

Jon-Tom's jackal head winced and licked its lips. "That was

what I was just discussing with my compatriot. He agrees that unless I assist

in its construction, I may alter events irreparably."

"May I take that as a yes?"

"Of course. Tell your father that I will help."

"Oh thank you my lord!"

"Please quit calling me that."

"I will when my status is equal to yours my lord, and even

then I will hold no promises."

He stopped and glared. "I see you are still firm in your

resolve in this matter. What would you say if I looked simply human?" Without

waiting to hear her reply, he forced his body to change. It was mildly

uncomfortable being without a steady influx of magical energy, but he was able

to do it.

She stared and smiled.

"Handsome either way my lord. If you thought to scare me off

with a display of your power, you have failed miserably."

He was working his jaw back and forth. The change in anatomy

was still settling into place. "Then what about leaving your world forever?"

"To be with you? There is no choice in the matter. I will go

where you go."

He sighed audibly. This would only lead to trouble when he

got home. And what would a girl like this have in common with a world like

that? True, she seemed ready to accept some rather strange things, but the

magic and oddities of the other might overwhelm her. Looking it over however,

it seemed to him that the choice was no longer his to make, it was hers. He was

too old for this sort of dilemma. He was, of course,  very thankful that Eve had pulled Sybeele

over, for her life would have remained dismal and lonely. But Hesmetep had

family.

He drew up the reins on his thoughts abruptly. She had a

father who was more concerned with building a damn pyramid than he was in seeing

to the future of his daughter - his own flesh and blood. The king assumed that

because the  "god" had chosen her, that

everything else was going to fall into place. Maybe she would be better off coming back with him. There was a school where

she could learn and adapt to her new surroundings. Of course, in Hobarrow, he wasn't

a god. He was only the mayor. At the point at which he returned, they would be

on equal terms.

His head began to hurt so he quite thinking. Time travel was

best left to strange men in blue police boxes.

"Fine. I hereby name you a consort to the god, and as such, I

give you every right and privilege that comes with it. But...."

"Yes?!"

"You will wait until such a time as I deem proper before we

will bed. As fetching and beautiful as you are, the situation I am in demands

my full attention. I have already frittered away my time on things that I

probably should not have been doing."

"The goddess Bastet?"

"News travels fast around here, doesn't it?"

"What the gods do among themselves is none of our business

unless my lord does it in full view of the staff."

"Yeah, I guess that was a little arrogant of me. I'm sorry if

that hurt your feelings."

"Not in the least my lord. I have no right to judge you."

"Well, maybe someone should. I could use a little direction

about now."

"If I might speak?"

"Yes?"

"The goddess said that you would follow your heart until such

time as she would appear again."

"Did she now? A lot of good that does me. My heart is rather

roomy, and it takes on boarders somewhat indiscriminatingly."

"My lord speaks in riddles. Am I not pleasing to you?"

"You are."

"Then I still do not understand. Are you saying that you have

a harem?"

"Something like that Hesmetep. I have responsibilities lined

up all throughout time."

"And this is too much for you to accept?"

"I accept it. I do not know if I can handle it."

"I see. This is beyond me, but I think I see. It is like

father's dream. He knows what it is, but he worries that he cannot finish it

without help. Perhaps you should seek assistance in your great works."

He smiled. "It's a nice thought my dear, but I don't think

there is anyone out there who could possibly take up my slack. I have a great

goddess backing me, but sometimes I think she is simply backing me into a

corner. I don't like pulling people into my life when I can't guarantee their

safety or their comfort."

"As for comfort my lord, I trust you to always make me

comfortable. As for my safety, I am capable of handling myself. If someone

desires your company, and you find them desirable in return, then why do you

agonize over something that already seems set in stone?"

He nodded, a smile coming to his face. "Why indeed?"

She was right of course. It would be one thing to take her

and force her into situations she didn't want, or were ill prepared for. She was

a bright kid who seemed to know her mind.

"Fine. But first things first. We have to build ourselves a

pyramid!"