As Kurou walked on, worried about the fact that the abomination called Ammit could appear at any time, he felt inclined to stay clear of the city, packed full with scrutinizing eyes he wasn't ready to put up with.

Unreasonable as it sounds - given how easier it would be to hide from the beast in a place cluttered with buildings - an inexplicable force pulled him toward the desert. It was as if he were destined to find something there, though he had no idea what that might be.

In the dead of night, after hours of walking, Kurou noticed a small figure ahead. Drawing closer, he identified it as a jackal, doing its best to extract a meal from what seemed to be a long-deceased wildebeest.

Kurou was fond of canines, so he approached the jackal cautiously, not wanting to startle it. However, the jackal quickly noticed him, raising its head and ears, engaging in an intense stare-off that seemed to last forever.

"Who's a good boy?", Kurou asked, attempting to be friendly. "Who's a good boy... FUCK!", he shouted as the jackal lunged at him, sinking its teeth into Kurou's throat and tearing off a sizable chunk of flesh.

Screaming in pain, Kurou tumbled around as the jackal feasted on his flesh like it was some delectable barbecue.

"God dammit, you little mutt! You could have killed me, you know that? BAD BOY! YOU'RE A BAD BOY, YOU HEAR ME?", he yelled.

Ignoring Kurou, the animal finished its meal and stood there, no longer displaying any signs of aggression.

"Now what? Want another piece of me? Give it a go, I can regenerate as many times as I need", Kurou said defiantly, opening his arms.

The jackal looked at him blankly, seemingly amazed at Kurou's audacity to challenge a wild animal.

"Okay, so I guess you were just hungry, right? That carcass was nothing but flesh and bones, and a pretty rotten one at that. I'll let it slide this time, but don't try to attack me again, alright? I made a promise not to hurt animals, but self-defense is different", Kurou said, resuming his walk and leaving the jackal behind.

To his surprise, the jackal decided to follow him.

"What? You want to take a stroll around with me? No, not gonna happen. You're going to feel hungry again, and I don't feel like losing another chunk of my neck, even if I get it back a couple of seconds later. It's painful, you know? And I'm soaked in blood, to boot", Kurou remarked.

The jackal emitted a sound resembling that of an overgrown puppy.

"For fuck's sake... I'm about to adopt a jackal. Of all the crazy stuff I've done with my life till now, I guess this is top tier for sure", Kurou mumbled.

"So, what name am I going to give you?", Kurou asked his slender, pointy-eared, black-backed new friend.

The jackal looked around and found an obelisk with hieroglyphs carved onto its surface.

The hieroglyphs were many, but the jackal intelligently landed its paw on a few of them – images of a four-legged canine, a woman with a feather atop her head and an ankh – and then looked at Kurou expectantly.

"Looky here, little buddy. I can't read hieroglyphs. All I see are a jackal, a woman, and an ankh. To me, it's just a riddle I can't solve", Kurou said.

Kurou raised his eyebrows. "Riddle. I like the sound of that", he said to himself. "What about I call you Riddle?".

The jackal snarled at him.

"Now now, be a good boy, right Riddle?", Kurou teased.

Appearing defeated by Kurou's lack of understanding, Riddle snorted but ultimately accepted his new name.

"Okay Riddle, I need to find Inpu. Do you happen to know something about him?", Kurou asked, not expecting an answer.

Riddle let out a vigorous and high-pitched bark and ran toward the desert.

"Where are you going, doggy? Come back here!", Kurou shouted, to no avail, and ran after the jackal.

After a few minutes of running under the scorching sun, Kurou spotted a marvelous tomb in the distance, with Riddle going in without ceremony. Looking around to make sure no onlookers were prying, Kurou followed.

The burial chamber was small, but its walls were adorned with large images of what seemed to be a pharaoh, a woman carrying ankhs, and a man dressed with a jackal mask. Several baboons were painted on another wall, and a figure being embalmed could be seen on a third wall.

However, what caught Kurou's and Riddle's attention the most were the four people – two men and two women – dressed in white robes, lying on the ground, motionless. On a large stone slab lay a young man, dressed in fine white clothes, where a sarcophagus should have been.

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Kurou checked their pulses. The four people on the floor were cold and dead, but the young man was alive and breathing.

Kurou poked the boy's cheek, and he jumped as if awakened from a bad dream.

"What? Where am I? What's going on? Who are you?", the boy asked, not giving Kurou any time to answer.

"Hold on, boy. I have the same questions as you do. Why are these people dead, and you are alive? What happened here?", Kurou asked, intrigued.

"I don't know. As far as I'm concerned, I was dead, a long time ago...", the boy said, gazing at the walls.

"Egypt is full of surprises, isn't it?", Kurou remarked, scratching his chin.

Seeing the boy about to get up, Riddle walked around the corpses, grabbed a cane with his mouth, and brought it to the boy.

"A jackal? You're walking around with a jackal? And how does it know I have trouble walking?", the boy asked.

"No idea. He's no ordinary jackal, I tell ya. Keep that cane close to your face, in case he gets hungry", Kurou said.

The boy shuddered at the thought of being attacked by the jackal, but Riddle seemed quite mild-mannered around him.

"Okay now, I don't know what you're going to do, but I have a quest of my own to pursue. See you around!", Kurou said, dismissively, walking towards the exit.

"Wait", the boy said. "Let me go with you".

"You just said you can't walk properly", Kurou said, harshly. "I can't waste any more of my time".

"Believe me, I won't waste your time, sir. I... I can't remember much about myself, but I know I'm someone important, or else I wouldn't be here. There must be a reason why you found me".

"I'm not into that fate/destiny crap, buddy. It's just a coincidence to me until you prove otherwise. Besides, there are four corpses inside that tomb, and I don't want to deal with whatever or whomever killed them".

"They were sacrifices", the boy said in a grave tone. Kurou halted immediately. "Did you just say sacrifices?".

"Y... yes. They were voluntary sacrifices in a ritual to bring me back", the boy said.

"Voluntary sacrifices, huh...smells fishy", Kurou said, looking at the boy suspiciously.

"I don't know what you mean, but I'm telling the truth!", the boy answered.

"You just said you couldn't remember a damn thing, and now you can. Care to explain?", Kurou said.

"My mind is foggy, but I'm pretty sure I was brought back to life through a ritual. Those people willingly gave up their lives so I could return to this world", the boy said.

"You must really be someone important if people are willing to die for you", Kurou remarked.

"This place... this tomb, this desert. All of this feels too familiar. Even the language I'm speaking... how can you understand me, by the way? You don't look remotely Egyptian. And what about those red eyes? You look like you just came out of a horror tale", the boy said, sounding both scared and fascinated.

"Funny brat", Kurou said in a flat tone. "I am living a horror story, you got that right. And I'm not Egyptian, as you surmised. How we are able to communicate is a good question. There were only a few people I could talk to in this country, and I never learned Egyptian or any other African languages in my life. I still haven't figured that out. By the way, my red eyes are a gift".

"A gift?".

"Yes, probably to make me stand out, since everyone else looks like shit here", Kurou said with a smirk.

"You are surely a strange man, sir", the boy said.

"Just call me Kurou", he said. "If you want. If you don't, then don't. I don't care".

"All right, I'm going to call you Kurou", the boy said. "Quite the uncommon name you have. Where is it from?".

"My parents were kinda crazy, so they thought something about the black color", Kurou said. "Enough questioning already. You're already slowing me down, boy!".

"Tut".

"What was that?", Kurou asked.

"Call me Tut", the boy said.

"Tut as in Tutankhamon?", Kurou asked, tilting his head in disbelief.

"Yes, I am Tutankhamon. That speech about your parents being crazy. I remember now. My parents were crazy too. And they were the king and queen of this country. I was a pharaoh, Kurou! I am the owner of that tomb over there, and I was brought back by my own followers".

"That's a tough pill to swallow. Wow. I have my issues, but this is wholly unprecedented. Resurrection ritual, can you believe it?", Kurou rubbed his face with his hands, taking his time to digest what he would find absolutely impossible just a couple of days ago.

Many supernatural events had occurred since the airplane crash, and the resurrection of a human being could no longer be dismissed by Kurou as something unfeasible. He survived the crash, the unforgiving desert heat, got punched in the face multiple times, tried to drown himself to no avail, talked to foreigners without knowing their language, interacted with the long deceased pharaoh Ramses II, and even the God Horus. He could freaking see in the dark. Not to mention he had gone without food or water for days now.

He had no choice but to accept that the concept of the impossible had changed. Impossible was the new possible now.

"But orange will never be the new black", Kurou said to himself with a laugh.

"What is that?", Tut asked with a puzzled expression.

"All right Tut, don't mind me. I was just lost in thought", Kurou said. "I'll consider your situation acceptable due to the circumstances we're in right now and due to the things I've seen in the last couple of days. But if it wasn't for that, I'd probably be banging my head against the wall right now. I have a lot of questions you might be able to answer if you can remember everything about this place".

Kurou glanced at the jackal, checking for any reactions. Riddle seemed attentive to Tut.

"Riddle seems interested in you, I guess. It seems you're not lying to us after all", Kurou said.

"Thanks, Kurou. You're a good companion, and I appreciate your trust. I promise you a great reward if you stay by my side until I finish everything I need to do here", Tut said.

"I wouldn't count on that, Tut. I mean, you being a pharaoh is cool and all, but I'm past all that fame and fortune thing. All I want is to find answers as to why I'm here, and then get out for good".

"And I will help you", Tut said, confidently. "Let's get going then. I know where to find money. And we're gonna need it, even if you say otherwise."