In the time loop. Secrets of past lives 2

© Tatyana Golitsyna, 2026

ISBN 978-5-0070-3948-2

Created with Ridero smart publishing system

Chapter 1

Evening Cairo was bustling with a colorful crowd of residents and travelers. The noise of a crowded procession was coming towards us. It was a strange sight. Children carried torches, men with half-naked torsos, brandishing sabers, uttered strange guttural screams, walked to the beat of the melody of fanfare, and drumming. They were followed by singers and dancers dressed in silk striped dresses, accompanied by dulcimers and castanets. The girls’ faces were painted in the manner of ancient Egyptian queens, and their hands were decorated with bird feathers. Someone in our crowd of spectators said that today is the feast of Isis. “So that’s why women’s hands are decorated with feathers. The priestesses of Isis?” I thought.

Suddenly, a ray of sunlight from the setting sun hit my eyes, and I involuntarily closed my eyelids. And when he opened them, he noticed a girl… beautiful… just of extraordinary beauty. She looked at me intently, then shyly covered her face with a veil so that only her eyes remained, like moist black olives, slightly covered with long fluffy eyelashes.

I no longer noticed any wrestlers or dancers, everything around me seemed to have disappeared into a light haze, and the sounds of drums and fanfare could be heard from somewhere far away. A ray of sunlight splashed into my eyes again, I lowered my eyelids again, and when I opened them, the girl was no longer in the place where she was standing. A young Arab was standing there, studying me intently.

“Damn it!” I muttered, “Where did she go?”

“Who?” Who are you looking for?” Elsa whispered, admiring the half — naked men. Their powerful torsos, thickly smeared with palm oil, made a strong impression.

Suddenly, there was a gap in the crowd, and I saw that beautiful woman again. Our eyes met. The girl turned and walked away. I hurried after him. The girl moved with a calm gait, and the men seemed to make way for her. And behind her, the crowd was closing in again. I had to push through this crowd in an attempt to get closer to this beauty. The girl led me further and further away, at one point she looked back, as if checking if I was following her, if I hadn’t lost track of her, and ducked into a narrow, dirty alley. This alley seemed deserted, and only an old woman who looked like a gypsy was sitting at the door of a small hut. The beauty had disappeared somewhere. I plunged into the tangle of dirty, winding streets, already making my way through a crowd in rags and packs of dogs, came to a dead end a couple of times, and returned again. Stopping, I began to wonder where I had gotten to in the first place, and what kind of crowds of ragamuffins were swarming on this street. It was getting dark abruptly. In Egypt, night falls almost immediately, so I had to find my way to a lighted street almost by touch. Here I was greeted by worried Elsa and Sergey.

“Well, where did you go, crazy, walking through these labyrinths?”

“I was chasing a dream… a ghostly obsession,” I said wearily.

“Is that girl a gypsy?” Sergey asked.

“You noticed, didn’t you? She’s not a gypsy,” I replied, offended.

“So there she is, standing on the other side of the street, looking at us.”

I was stunned, and suddenly, as if mesmerized, I rushed in her direction. But the same young Arab blocked my way again. He was shouting something in a guttural voice, waving his arms in front of me. He suddenly stopped talking, thrust an object into my hand, and was gone. The girl also disappeared. Already at the hotel we examined this strange object. Klaus came in. We met at Elsa’s wedding. The admiral assigned this strange-looking man to accompany us to Egypt. At least, that’s what we thought the admiral ordered. It was later that we found out that everything was the other way around, that Klaus chose us and paid for the trip, that he was our guardian and reliable protection from all the twists and turns and troubles. But we didn’t know that yet.

This Klaus is weird. Tall, thin, with attentive, piercing dark eyes. He always wears a light black velvet cloak and a black velvet hat. His appearance in public caused a strange commotion among the people. On the streets of Cairo, the crowd of Arabs fell silent at once and parted in fear before him. He walked proudly, not paying attention to anyone. It was difficult for me to understand this man, as if a light haze of incredible mystery was hiding him. What are you looking at so intently?

“Yes, some Arab gave Maxim this amulet, the Eye of Horus,” Sergei handed the amulet to Klaus.

“It’s not the Eye of Horus, it’s the Eye of Ra. Look, there is no tear flowing from the eye, in the form of a curl. The eye rests on the rook, and a winged disk crowns it. It’s Ra sailing down the Nile in his golden boat.”

“And what does this amulet mean?”

“It seems to me that this thing opens one door in the labyrinths of the pyramids. This is the key. And they gave it to you for a reason. You’ll find yourself in front of that door again. And now we will go with you, or rather, sail to the feast in honor of Isis.”

Our boat docked at a small island on the Nile late in the evening. The full moon rose slowly and majestically, illuminating with its silver light a large hall with columns, into which steps led directly from the water. Countless yachts and boats moored at the steps for their passengers to take part in the celebration in honor of the Goddess of the Moon. Numerous lamps flickered with lights to the sound of flutes.

We went into the central hall, where a group of girls were dancing around the shrine. In long, elegant white dresses, tied with a dark blue belt under their breasts, they slowly and gracefully walked around the altar in the center of the hall. Stomping, the girls shook their silver chains to the beat of the castanets, and small bells rang on the straps of their sandals. One girl among the dancers caught my attention. Something familiar flickered in her appearance. Modestly lowering her head, she gently and airily glided in a circle. Suddenly, the sound of drums rang out, the massive gates swung open, and a flood of light from the fully risen moon poured into the hall.

The moon shone on the girl’s face, she shuddered and looked up at me. I recognized her immediately, the stranger that I had been chasing unaccountably through the crowd on the streets of Cairo. Blushing, the beauty shyly lowered her gaze.

Those eyes, that look, immediately penetrated my soul, and filled my whole being. Suddenly, the dancers rushed to the exit with the speed of a bird and disappeared behind the columns. I stood on tiptoe to see where they had flown off to, and it was as if a dream was disappearing from my heart again. Having barely made our way through the crowd, my friends and I rushed to our yacht to set sail faster before the crowd of boats and boats began.

The image of the young priestess haunted me, her bright gaze, full of tenderness, stood in front of me all the time, her smile did not leave my head. Engrossed in these thoughts, I did not even notice how the pyramids appeared in front of us, and on top of one of them the full moon seemed to be sitting. In this moonlight, I noticed a female figure fluttering out of the shadows and disappearing into the pyramid wall. At that time, Klaus invited us to go ashore. Interestingly, he headed in the same direction to the pyramid, and we obediently followed him.

“My friends, now we will enter the secret passage of the pyramid, where not everyone is allowed. But they’ll let us through. Please do not be afraid, your path will be safe, but not easy. Get ready for the challenges of the trial, at the end of which the Great Priests who possess the secret of the Emerald Tablet are waiting for you.”

“How pathetic,” said Sergey, “the mystery of the Emerald Tablet has not yet been solved, and it is still unknown whether it really exists.”

“That’s what you’re going to find out. Not everyone passes the tests completely, Orpheus tried twice and failed, for which he paid with his beautiful Eurydice. I have to warn you. First, you will complete four physical endurance tests.…”

“What’s Orpheus doing here?” Elsa interrupted him.

“And this way,” I intervened in the conversation, “the one who passes all the tests remains among the Great Teachers, the one who does not pass the last, most difficult test, is released into the human world. Having great secret knowledge gained in the pyramids from the Great Priests, he has the right to bring them to people. So Moses and Christ did not pass this last test, they were released into the world and created great religions. I strongly suspect that Moses brazenly stole the notorious Ark from the priests. And Pharaoh pursued him with his army not because he wanted to return the Jews to Egypt, he wanted to return the stolen relic of his country, the Ark.”

“What kind of difficult test is this?”

“That’s where you’ll find out.”

I knew that once, about fifteen years ago, I came across a book by a traveler in the East. He described in detail these initiations in the pyramids.

“I don’t feel like staying with the Great Priests to leave this world forever, retire from worldly life, and enjoy great wisdom in solitude,” Sergei said thoughtfully.

Klaus smiled, “And you, and in particular you, Maxim, are unlikely to complete them completely. But you should try. Orpheus tried, but it didn’t work out, but they gave him the right to organize a school. I hope you’ve heard about the famous orphics, Orphic school?”

“And why did he pay Eurydice?” Lida asked.

“Because,” I said, “the priests weren’t stupid either. Eurydice was reputed to be a beauty, and the priests bet on her. They need the priestesses of Isis. So, when Orpheus fell down the stairs on one test, he demanded permission from the priests to repeat it. And those who were cunningly made were allowed, but they set the condition that you would not go through again, Eurydice would stay with us forever. Orpheus fell down the stairs again, and Eurydice remained in the temple of Isis. Then Orpheus, creating his own school, came up with a fairy tale about the death of his beloved to hide his shame, as he traded a beautiful wife.”

“Oh! it turns out you know a lot,” Klaus laughed, “all the better, you’ll be instructing your friends along the way. You won’t be lost with Max, he turned to my friends.”

“So you’re not coming with us, then,” there was a sarcastic note in my voice.

“No, but I will be waiting for you at a certain place. I hope you get out of there safely.”

“Thank you, you calmed me down,” sarcasm sounded in Sergey’s voice too.

Chapter 2

We went through the portal and descended into the pyramid. At the bottom of the stairs, we found ourselves in an aisle. I immediately said that I would go first, the girls would follow me, and Sergey would bring up the rear.

“Guys, don’t panic, don’t be scared as much as possible, obey my commands.”

Yes, I read about these mazes in a book once, so I have some idea of what awaits us. The main thing is that everyone’s shoes are comfortable, their clothes are soft, and they don’t restrict their movements. In general, everyone is dressed in uniform. Girls, gather your hair as completely as possible, and pull your caps tighter over your heads. Well, exhaled and go ahead. We step carefully and carefully.

Let’s go… I overreacted. We literally made our way in the dark along the twists and turns of the narrowing corridor, and now we were crawling on all fours, and there was no end in sight. Elsa was sneezing from the dust, and everyone’s eyes were watering. We were about to despair at the futility of the venture when the corridor suddenly widened, allowing us to stand taller.

The corridor led us into a spacious gallery, at the end of which there was a glimmer of light. The dim light of the oil lamp barely illuminated the picturesque scenes of the life of distant gods. Surprisingly, the colors on the walls were bright, as if they had been painted recently. Sergei, without any hesitation, borrowed this single oil lamp.

We moved cautiously in the semi-darkness. The heat was becoming unbearable, as if we were descending to the center of the earth. Sweat covered our eyes. I tried to tread very carefully, carefully feeling the way with my feet. There may be a well somewhere here, and I’ll just fall into it, dragging my friends with me. My expectations were not in vain, my foot, after solid ground, hung in the air.

“Attention, there is a well in front of us.”

“And then what? Is this a trap?” Sergey, from behind the girls, held out his hand with a lamp.

“The bottom is not visible, but there is a ledge along the wall, so I understand that we need to carefully walk around this hole, pressing ourselves against the wall.”

“And if one of us falls?” Lida whispered.

“Stop your knees from shaking, you won’t fall off.”

“As always, you are gallant, Maxim, no, to support you, morally.”

“Let’s hope that we will find a passage in the wall.”

I pressed myself against the wall, and shuffling my feet, I moved to the right, followed by the guys, breathing heavily. It’s a good thing it’s dark, at least none of us can see that gaping hole in front of us, black and unfathomable.

“Is it just me, or are we going down in a spiral?” Elsa whispered in a strangled voice.

“It doesn’t seem like we’re definitely going down. Don’t mumble, it’s distracting. I don’t want to jump down, or we might not even get the bones together.”

We can’t get away, we went down into the pit. Sergei held up the lamp, which was already barely flickering, and we managed to see the iron lattice gates. We tried to open them, but it doesn’t work. Then I decided to lift the grille. Oh, a miracle, the gate lifted easily. As soon as we passed through the gates, they descended with a terrible roar, and the echo of this thunder reverberated through the catacombs. Everyone shuddered and froze.

Again, a staircase with steep stone steps leading down appeared in front of us, we carefully descended it and entered a torchlit gallery.

“Oh, let there be light”, Elsa exclaimed, examining the painted columns, torches blazing at the top of each, “someone is keeping the fire going here.

“Now you’ll have enough fire,” I said gloomily.

“From where? Look over there, the alley, the garden, and the starry sky. Yes, we came out of the catacombs, into the air! Hurray!” Elsa exclaimed happily.

“Great! The lamp is already going out, the wick is over,” Sergei enthusiastically echoed her.

I remained silent in concentration, and Lida, knowing this trait of mine well, looked warily into the depths of the garden. And I was right, snakes and spiders were crawling out from all sides, from all corners. Huge spiders. They were moving their tentacles threateningly, moving rapidly in our direction. Aggressively opening their hoods and opening their vile mouths, snakes writhed, falling on us from the ceiling. Fear permeated us, rapidly seizing our souls. I saw the horror and despair on the faces of my friends. The girls screamed, Sergei grabbed a torch from the wall and, waving it, tried to drive away the creatures. And their number was increasing, they were climbing from all the cracks, falling from somewhere above, the creatures were already curling at our feet. I was stunned, I was not aware of such an ordeal.

“Maxim,” Lida whispered in a slightly strangled voice. A huge snake completely wrapped around her body. The rings slowly shrank, shimmering with black oil streaks. The hideous snout of a viper protruded from behind the interlacing rings, its eyes glittering maliciously. When I pulled the torch off the wall, the snake quickly loosened its rings, in which it held Lida, and furiously jumped at me. But the blow I delivered to the reptile’s head was unmistakable. The reptile convulsed, and suddenly seemed to melt to the ground.

“Hey!” it suddenly dawned on me, “This is an illusion! There are none! Take away your fear, take away your fear! There are none!”

“Ouch!” Elsa exclaimed. The snake jumped on her and opened its mouth right in front of Elsa’s face. With the hypnotic gaze of its green eyes, the creature mockingly rested on Elsa’s eyes, almost touching her lips with its forked tongue.

Unbelievable! Elsa suddenly, also looking into the snake’s eyes, calmly took it by the throat and threw it to the ground. And… the snake disappeared, disappeared into thin air! I was right, it’s an illusion. We were being tested for fear. Our own fears came to us in the form of these reptiles.

“Ugh!” Sergei spat, “Ugh on you,” he added more calmly.

Our fear and panic slowly receded, and with them the bastards disappeared. After a few minutes, they were no longer around us. Everyone slowly took a deep breath.

“How did you know?”

“I saw how the snake seemed to melt on the ground. Although, maybe they were specially collected here? But the deaths of travelers are not included in the plans of the local priests, on the contrary, for them it is an extreme event if such a thing happens.”

“But it does happen,” Sergei retorted gloomily, “it’s a pretty prospect to die of your own fear.”

“This often happens even in life, people often die not from cancer, but from fear of realizing such a disease. And fear begins to devour a person faster than the tumor grows.”

We lingered a bit longer, looking around cautiously. Finally, the peaceful view of the garden finally calmed us down. And Elsa, almost dancing, rushed forward.

“Elsa, take your time,” I tugged on her arm, “we agreed, I’m in front, you’re in the middle.”

“Do you think there’s more?”

“I don’t think so, I know”

And resolutely pushing the girl aside, I stepped forward. I could already see the glow of a flame in the distance. As we got closer, the flames leaped higher above the trees. It shot up at once, both high and wide in all directions.

Everything was burning in front of us. Reeds, pines, palm trees, and flames like fiery snakes quickly spread from branch to branch, engulfing tree after tree, and sparks flew in all directions. The flames were already raging, buzzing, and new flashes were accompanied by the sounds of an explosion.

“We must not delay! We’re going there, straight ahead!?” I shouted over the terrible din.”

“But there’s a fire, look, sparks and burning branches have already covered the whole path!” “And there’s nowhere else! There is no turning back! Hold on, friends! Don’t panic, go ahead!”

And we rushed forward. Instantly, as if the fire was just waiting for this, trees caught fire from all sides with even bigger flashes, branches cracked, and showers of sparks showered us. The trees seemed to come closer to us, connecting their burning crowns above our heads from all sides, throwing burning brands at us, spitting fiery sparks. The girls grabbed their hair and violently pushed it under their caps, screamed, getting burned. Sergei and I bravely endured.

Suddenly, a passage opened up in front of us, and as soon as we stepped inside, the grate slammed down behind us again. Barely catching their breath, everyone watched in horror as the entire forest was already ablaze with wild fire.

“Yes, it’s a test!” Sergey itched, “we could have burned down there, to a pile of ashes.”

“I have burns on my hands,” Lida whimpered.

“Don’t be afraid, we couldn’t burn out,” Elsa chastised Sergei, “fear drives us forward. Healthy fear, not panic.”

“We wouldn’t have burned out.Do you think they plant a whole forest all the time? It seems to me that these are metal structures, complete imitation of trees. They are coated with combustible mixtures, such as sparklers.”

“Wow! sparklers, well, too big, whole torches flew off.”

— So, get ready for the next one. We have passed through earth, air and fire. There’s still water left. Listen and memorize. When the stairs come down, no way, do you hear, no way! Don’t grab the stairs. They will break off, and you will fall back into the water. Grab onto the vertical sticks and hold on at least with your teeth. And when the ring appears, grab it and wrap your elbows around the hoop. Do you understand? Not with your fingers, not with your hands, but throw your elbow over the hoop. Did you remember? And most importantly, don’t panic. Well, exhaled and go ahead. Lida, Lida, what is it, what kind of tears? Pull yourself together, everything will work out.”

“I’m not a good swimmer,” Lida sobbed. “I’ll be there for you,” he tried to cheer her up, but he thought to himself: “poor girl, she’s going to suffer horrors, I shouldn’t have dragged her with me.”

And holding our breath, we hurried forward. The path made us turn off, and led us down into a dark space. Streams of cold air blew over us gently at first, then the air became colder. We could hear strange voices, either the screams of people or their screams. We entered a huge cave, and a roaring torrent roared in front of us, rushing past us, furious bursts of laughter and human screams mixed with the rumble of dark, almost black, water.

Chapter 3

It was scary, but my courage took over. There was nowhere to go, we jumped into these black terrible waves. As if sensing this, the stream suddenly roared even louder, and the waves swirled around us in a whirlpool.

“Where is the current taking us?” Sergei shouted.

“Ouch! Something huge and slimy is rubbing against me,” Elsa screamed.

“I’m going to drown!” Max! Yes, a hand! Give me your hand!” Lida screamed at the top of her lungs.

Time seemed to have disappeared for us, we unsuccessfully struggled with the current that was rapidly carrying us into the unknown. But strangely, we didn’t get pulled apart. We were all wallowing next to each other. Lida looked at me with wild eyes. I could see the horror in her eyes. Her strength was already running out. Suddenly, from above, in the bright light, a shiny staircase began to descend towards us.

“There she is!” I shouted, trying to drown out the roar of the water with this cry, “don’t grab the steps!”

Of course, Lida immediately grabbed the step, and immediately collapsed into the water. I grabbed her armpits and hoisted her up. Finally, she began to think. Clinging to the vertical support, Lida pressed her cheek against it and hung limply in exhaustion, not giving me a single centimeter to save myself.

Elsa easily, for her weight, flew up onto another vertical crossbar, and even managed to help Sergei by dragging him by the scruff of his neck. That’s what true love does. The ladder was already going up, swinging violently from side to side. There was no way I could catch and grab even the small tip of the vertical crossbar. The ladder, rising, slipped out of my hands, and the whirlpool, swirling, pushed me away from the moment of salvation.

“Max!” Elsa shouted.

I had no choice but to grab Lida’s leg with one hand and the crossbar with the other. Lida almost lost her temper and started kicking in a frenzy. But I had already pulled myself up and was holding onto the handrail tightly. And then the ladder suddenly began to sink back into the water.

“What’s that?” Are there many of us? Can’t the stairs go up?”

At that moment, lightning flashed, and a huge copper ring appeared in the cloud.

“The ring! Grab it and hang on to it, like I said!” I grabbed the ring and pulled it towards us

Elsa and Sergey also pulled him up and hung on to him, throwing their arms over the hoop.

“Lida, come on, get off the ladder! Look, the ring is coming off!”