Catur turned off the tape recorder and laughed—a malicious, offensive laugh intended to ridicule me.

“Interesting. I haven’t had this much fun since the interview about the dog-eating case. The guy claimed that dogs wagged their tails to signal him to eat them. Oh, I’m not five years old anymore. Do you think I believe that story?”

With my mummified fingers, I grabbed the armrests of the crumbling throne.

There were only a few moments left. My shadow was now projecting at Catur's feet. Even if she spent her last moments denigrating me, soon she would realize the mistake. A magician’s honor meant little when faced with the prospect of returning to that hell.

Just recalling the memories made me tremble, and she noticed.

“Are you scared? Are you perhaps afraid of me, mighty Malcavissa?”

“Believe it or not, I cannot speak anymore.”

“Oh, this is how the story of the most fearsome wizards ends? By telling fairy tales to a sorceress? What is it? Does it bother you that some people can bypass your magic?”

I didn’t answer, just waited. Since I couldn’t look in the mirror, I had no idea what my face had become. It certainly wasn’t pretty to look at, but at least it no longer had the fleshiness to show changes in expression.

“I was honest. I told you what happens in the afterlife.”

“Huh? Our fates are decided for eternity by sentient toys. Sure, thank goodness. I’m not a child who gets scared easily.”

“Why would I lie to you?”

“I don’t know.” Catur rubbed her chin, considering the question. “I don’t know. But there’s no doubt that you’re lying to me.”

“Have you ever been to the afterlife?”

“No, but the dead I spoke to would have told me.”

I laughed—a hoarse laugh, whistling through the cracks of my golden teeth.

“You admitted that you came here because the dead do not know. Only I, of all people, possessed the power to remember. And so, it was. Tell me, Catur, why does this good fortune trouble you?”

“The dead do not remember, but they are all terrified of the afterlife. They fear the moment when I will let them return to eternal sleep.”

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“So, it is with me, don’t think otherwise.”

“But no one would be afraid of sentient toys. Your entire story is incomplete, bizarre, and disturbing. What kind of meaning would life have if that is its end?”

“What do you expect me to know?”

Catur pulled out the stake and pointed it at me.

“Be careful what you say! I remind you that you are here by my permission.”

I tried to smile and felt the thin layer of moldy skin on my cheek crack.

“I can prove my story is true, but you can't return and tell it to the newspaper you work for.”

“Are you threatening me?” Catur stepped forward, and a gust of evil spirits created an aura around her.

It was trivial. Tricks of a magician compared to my resurrection. Maybe I had misjudged her. Maybe this necromancer was just a lucky dabbler. And yet, she had said she had resurrected others and had some of my power—was she lying? Was she hiding her true abilities?

Well, it didn’t matter anymore. My shadow was touching hers, and so I screamed. A hideous, feral scream that made the stone shake.

“Catur! Now you will see with your own eyes!”

The sorceress did not have time to realize that she fainted. My shadow engulfed her, and I also lost consciousness.

*

“What happened!? What is this body!? No!”

Those screams hammered in my temples. When I opened my eyes and stood, I saw the throne shadow stretched over me.

The silver stake was on the ground, and the aura of spirits had dissolved.

I looked at my hands and clothes, moved my feet in the sandals, and placed the recorder in the pocket of my backpack.

As I ran my hand through my hair, Catur screamed like a madwoman. The voice she possessed was mine. The body was mine.

“You! How could you!? You!”

“Catur, Catur, or should I say Malcavissa? You don’t play with the dead. Especially if they’re much more powerful than you.”

“Was this your goal? You deceived me from the beginning!”

“No, you are wrong. I have not lied to you. It is necessary to offer something to start the shadow exchange of minds. Something that the other must ardently desire. In your case, it is the thirst for truth, the curiosity that sucked you into my body. Now, I will dispel the spell so that you can verify what I said.”

The mummy began to wriggle. But the more it wriggled, the more the body fell to pieces, now too fragile to withstand sudden and angry movements.

“Wait! You can’t! You can’t! I believe you! I believed you from the beginning. I don’t want to! Give me back my body!”

“Not at all. The pact is sealed.”

With those words, our shadows parted. The mummy faded and fell to pieces on the throne.

I stood there admiring it for a few moments in the twilight glow.

I couldn’t believe it. I couldn’t believe it.

I was alive.

I had escaped the eternity of suffering to which I was condemned.

No, I hadn’t escaped. I had only bought time. If I wanted to continue running, it would be essential to quickly recover my immortality and the powers that had made me fearsome.

Perhaps it would be useless. A group of heroes would come to stop me again. But there was no point in worrying about that. I had to think one step at a time. One step. At a time.

Now I, the mighty Malcavissa, had returned from the realm of the dead.