“I suppose you now understand the reason why we have built the portals connecting the planets, don’t you?” Ruthorn asked.

“Yes, I think I’ve got the point. But Master Ruthorn, I have a question about the three great pyramids of Giza in my world. We’ve noticed that they have been positioned intentionally to point towards the positions of the three brightest stars in the constellation of Orion. I wonder if you could tell me the true story behind this mystery,” I asked.

“Let me put it this way, it’s a symbolic sign,” Ruthorn replied.

“So, what does that sign mean?” I pressed on.

“This sign points to the exact position where our parallel world can be found,” he replied.

“Does this mean that Tuengra is also part of the Orion constellation?”

“Yes, but what you believe to be three brightly shining stars in a row aren’t in fact stars at all; it’s the solar system or the galaxy itself that you see. Actually, you can’t see the planet Tuengra because it doesn’t glow by itself. The position of the three pyramids of Giza is just a reminder of our position,” Ruthorn explained.

“Then … which one of them is Tuengra?”

“The brightest one, the one in the middle of the constellation that you call ‘Orion’s Belt’.”

I let that information sink in for a minute or so, before I asked “I have another question, does this mean that the ancient Egyptians are related to your people?”

“Of course!” Ruthorn replied.

“When we decided to build all 360 portals, we sent out groups of highly evolved beings to start with the construction at each designated spot around the world. Egypt was chosen as a base for many of our portals because they have lots of open space without vegetation. Most of these areas are deserts and the lack of vegetation means that the portals won’t be overgrown and will always stay clearly visible, no matter how much time has passed.”

“The higher evolved beings assigned to construct the portals had to live among the people of your world and recruit the local workforce. And although the construction process itself wasn’t as hard as you might think, it wasn’t that easy either, so we had to come up with a strategy to assemble and inspire the workforce. The method we used was to send someone from our world to govern the people in your world, similar to what Vlad did, but with the difference that we spread love instead of fear. As a result, the people who worked with us loved and respected us like deities. One of the first highly evolved beings who was assigned there was Osiris. And like Vlad, his nature was purely physical, not semi-energetic.”

“Eighty portals were built in those areas, with Osiris as the first higher being governor, followed by many others. At that time, each interval was set at 100 years, which we thought to be quite reasonable for the people of your world,” Ruthorn explained.

“I used to believe that the pyramids were the tombs of the Pharaohs, so have I been wrong all these years?” I interrupted him.

“Well, you’re not completely wrong. Actually, we tricked you on purpose by making you believe that story so that you would have a more rational explanation why the pyramids had been built. We couldn’t tell you the truth about what we were building and what the pyramids would be used for, primarily to prevent anyone from using them without our permission. Even though we were convinced that no one would be able to figure out the enigma of the opening times of the portals, keeping it a secret was the safer bet, wasn’t it?” Ruthorn said with a smile.

“Now, I’ll describe our plan to you. Whenever a portal was completed, the responsible governor had to fake his death. All facts about his supposed death and his funeral were kept secret. The truth was that they weren’t dead. We brought in some dead bodies which had been specially treated to maintain their physical conditions as part of this deception. Initially, some people questioned the cause of death of their beloved kings since most of them had been young and healthy when they passed. Others noticed that the bodies and faces of their kings didn’t age with time throughout their reigns, hence, after that, we covered their heads with masks in the form of animals so that no one could see their faces and guess their age.”

“Due to these deceptions, no one has ever discovered the real reason why the pyramids were built. However, there were disadvantages to this strategy, too. People began to worship us as gods. This culture of worshipping Gods was passed down and spread to different civilisations around the world, and it still exists to this day,” Ruthorn said.

“You just said that human beings would never figure out the enigma of the portals, but there must be some indications,” I intervened.

“Certainly, and that’s the pyramids themselves, or I should say, almost all of the pyramids that were built except the first portal. We calculated that the opening date and time of the first portal would also be the start and the end of the universal time. That date, the 21^st of December 2012, passed not too long ago.

“For all other portals, we set the opening times by calculating the volume of the pyramids. The calculation, using the duodecimal system and incorporating specific data from our advanced mathematical principles, computes the sides of the pyramids and the orbit of our two planets to determine exactly when the peaks will be aligned. When our highly evolved beings want to know when each portal will be open, they enter all the data into our calculating machine. It’s the same apparatus as the ‘Antikythera Mechanism’ that we left behind on the island of Antikythera. People in your world didn’t have the knowledge to resolve these enigmas because, apart from lacking the specific data, they would also need to have this calculating machine – and the knowledge on how to use it.”

“Apart from the pyramids in your world, there are also many more on other planets such as Mars, Mercury, Venus, on Gaia’s moon, and some on Jupiter’s moons. We built all these pyramids to travel directly to those planets and carry out our missions there. We also use them as an alternative way to travel to your world. We stop by at those planets first before continuing our journey to your planet. This way, we don’t have to always wait 10 years, as there are so many pyramids on other planets which allow us to travel almost every year,” Ruthorn added.

“I’ll tell you another secret that you and your people have never known. When you pass through a portal that connects, you can only travel at the same velocity of the current that occurs at that particular moment. The velocity depends on each pyramid’s individual volume, and all of them are different. The bigger a pyramid is, the higher the speed that is necessary to pass through the portal. At the moment, no vehicle in your world is capable of traveling at the speed required to pass through a pyramid portal with a base of 60 meters or wider.”

“Oh! That sounds complicated,” I commented.

“Yes, it is. No one can come here without permission or divine guidance,” Ruthorn explained.

“Hmm,” I said, pondering on this information, “while you were explaining all this to me, one thing came to mind. I’ve had this question since I first stepped into this world but nobody was able to give me an answer, so far.”

“You said no one could come here by chance, but only through his or her own choosing. I’m sure I didn’t make any conscious decision to come here as I didn’t know anything about this world. I had literally no idea where I should go or what I should do in order to get here,” I said.

“I can assure you that you have made that decision on your own,” Ruthorn replied.

“Really?” I said, curious to find out where this conversation was going.

“Yes, because you have already been here in your dreams.”

“When was that?” I asked.

“Try to think harder, and remember that you came here with a girl.”

“A girl?” I asked, racking my brain.

“I have a faint memory of that, but I recall having been somewhere with a beautiful garden, and that I was so happy.”

“Anything else? Try to focus on the details,” Ruthorn encouraged me.

“I am trying, but I really can’t recall anything else.”

“Tell me, how did you feel about that dream?” he pushed.

“Hmm, I do remember very well the emotions that I had. I felt so peaceful, as if I had been relieved of all my burdens,” I recalled.