Kumiyo floated in nothingness for a few seconds, before appearing in front of a strange wall. The darkened room caused her to blink and waited for her eyes to adjust, before realizing on the doorways outside, there were already lit torches. Walking to these torches, she took one and followed the wall towards a doorway which was blocked by a thick wall.

No, it's a door covered in hieroglyphs, she realized as she stared at its pictograms, only to realize this wasn't part of any recorded glyphs they have ever seen, except for one time when she sent a drone to check on the Great Pyramid in Egypt.

The Great Pyramid! She needed to escape immediately, fearing for her life. But the being imprisoned here was kind enough to make her bump to herself. With a surprised yelp, both Kumiyo stared at each other before raising their respective masks and gasped.

"You're me," Kumiyo told the doppelganger. The other one said something in Ancient Egyptian, surprising her some more. "You speak… how?"

The other Kumiyo pointed to the small electronic device hidden under her shirt. Kumiyo took it and turned to find a switch only for it to light up and blinked for a few moments.

"Ah… the Oracle system Mr. Carnago made for Mr. President," the other Kumiyo began in perfect English. "You'll need that to keep afloat in this pyramid. Time is not relative here. I have met a total of 17 us and shared meals with ourselves."

"That's… worrying. Also, how did you speak Egyptian?" Kumiyo asked. "Wait, what do you mean that time is not relative here?"

"It's a prison for a device which you sent the time machines for, remember? Or are you not the same Kumiyo Mirai who resisted immortal rule and managed to use the device to stop them from retrieving it?" the other Kumiyo pointed out, in which she nodded. "Good. This means we can use our time to adapt to our surroundings. When I had just arrived, another us had taught me the ways of the locals."

"When can we leave, then?" Kumiyo questioned. "It looks like we're trapped forever."

"Don't worry. Once the Pharaoh opens the door, we can go out. Well, technically it is open for me, but for you, it is not yet. You need to wait for a few years," the other Kumiyo replied. "And call the other versions of you Mirai."

"It works since technically you are from my future by staying in this Pyramid," Kumiyo replied. "Nice to meet you, Mirai."

"Nice to meet you too, Mirai," Mirai greeted back.

A few twists and turns later, Kumiyo had taken note of the small discrepancies in every Mirai she encounters. Some of them have no masks, having them abandoned after revealing to the Pharaoh, some still have the device which a Mirai passed upon her, a small device capable of forcing a time travel. One Mirai seems to be greatly relieved and was merely telling Kumiyo that the Pharaoh will do the right thing. Another Mirai was currently bored and was speaking up a plan to stop the Pharaoh and the Queen from retrieving the artifact.

If it wasn't for Mr. President's very idea that he himself has died and returned due to her technology, she would be very dizzy right now.

The Oracle itself seems to be holding for now, but every time she moved towards the sealed entrance, it started to spark and fizzle.

Sometimes she would see a little girl who she'd recognize a split second too late, and sometimes she would pass by the Pharaoh talking to someone, only for that someone to vanish after corridor turn. Sometimes she would meet a Mirai, who looked over to Kumiyo and realize she's the Mirai after experiencing a very confusing re-enactment of a conversation she did a few corridors before.

All in all, she never felt hungry.

Until the doors opened, and she slid her mask on and picked up a black cape from the ground near the inner door. Time to shine.

She is definitely starting to think that the Queen's systems shouldn't have an observation module in the first place after visiting the deactivated Queen on her bed, softly praying and keeping her clean. Her Oracle has been replaced with a more primitive Eye of Ra from a bald Egyptian Mr. Cornago, which was certainly her thoughts for the moment on how absurd it was seeing that he was similar to a merchant in stories.

Anyhow, she had time to reflect. All the years in the Pyramid had hardened her heart further to stop the two time machines, but seeing them in action melted her heart again. She was reminded of the President and how he struggled to keep her research afloat, and how they managed to defeat the cyborg which caused the anomalies.

She started to weep, finally seeing the pieces in place as her Eve was the same cyborg which caused the shift in time. She heard from parents what they felt when their child had turned away, and in her heart, both the Pharaoh and the Queen were her children.

Within the royal chambers in silence, Kumiyo wept for the future.

Kumiyo's current agenda, besides a firm resolve that the Pharaoh will do the right thing, was as simple as four steps.

Step one was to visit the Queen with the Architect, who had revealed himself earlier to be similar to Subject 13 back home, and take care of her needs.

The second step was to visit the temples and join in prayer, as much as the annoyance of the soldiers. She couldn't blame them since she had a pale complexion and her eyes were more akin to the rumored faraway countries.

The step after that was to talk to Pharaoh for some advice, something that she never stopped since she met the President. It kept her mind afloat and ready for the year.

Lastly, she would mingle with the nobles and attempt to earn some reputation, even though she desperately wanted to save the slaves.

Every week, this routine took place in one form or another, and the nobles seem to have been whispering about her relationship to the Pharaoh, which unlike her relationship with the President was actually more akin to a mother asking her child how she was. It was a good way to stop the slaves from revolting, and the nobles seem to feed on it.

Nothing can be done since she knew this was roughly twenty centuries before an Israelite named Jesus would arrive. She had to pay to reforge a cross necklace given by the President into a bizarre ankh/crucifix amalgamation, which made the priests unhappy but rumors that the Pharaoh was the one that ordered the necklace grew stronger again.

Well, Kumiyo thought to herself, gossip never changes then.

She definitely knew what happened to the archeologist's daughter now. She was a good astrologer, and even though she was reported missing, she knew she had a good life here. As eccentric as she might look similar to Crazy Jeffry back home.

She still hasn't forgiven him for stealing her keyboard.

She promptly ignored the looks of the head dancer every time they walk past by, and if history is true then he has the hots for the Pharaoh before her time machine android son replaced him.

She also recovered from the time speaking to herself and would seldom keep other curious slaves from entering the Pyramid, claiming that they will be cursed. The Pharaoh wasn't really amused when she was told about it in one of their talks after the General reported the slaves are getting scared of working at the Pyramid.

Seeing the open Pyramid door to the inner door open, however…

Kumiyo Mirai woke up.

Time was in front of her.

"I am sending you back to your own timeline now," he said with a growl, "but do not ever create more of them. I am not kind to those who violate the rules."

"Is… everything alright?" Kumiyo asked. "Weren't you about to send me home?"

"Yes, but your actions caused the timeline to split. Again. All the time." Time looked into her eyes. "You will return to the new timeline, and you are to solve this with your little Traveler. To keep things simple, I will clear your memories."

Her eyes widened. "No, you can't! I don't want to forget them!"

"You will return to the new timeline and you are to solve this with your little Traveler. This is your fault after all," Time repeated with a commanding tone, and everything flashed white.

"What…"

"You know, sometimes I have the feeling I knew you from a long time ago. You'll probably find it silly."

"Tell me more."

"It's like an old memory… but the world was different. It wasn't like this. People were happy."

"That's a lovely memory."

"I wish it was, even though I don't know where this is coming from."

"If only…"

The End…?