After a looong walk, Kurou found something. He could see some lights from a distance, and a big mountain of yellow stone.
From the position of the moon, he guessed it was around 4 a.m., and there was nobody around.
Getting closer to the mountain, he realized it had huge carvings in the shape of people, sitting beside one another with their hands on top of their knees.
"So that's Abu Simbel. The temple of Ramses. Now that I'm here...I might just come in".
Kurou invited himself in, realizing with a dumb expression that the construction was pitch black inside.
"No lights inside, huh...makes sense. No wiring available", Kurou mumbled.
As Kurou walked the temple's huge corridor, his eyes glowed red. The surroundings became bright as day.
"Great. Now I've got infravision. Look, Ramses, I'm a hero from another planet, and I can see you!", Kurou yelled like the funny prankster he thought he was.
"I can see you too, Post-Mortal, and you do look like you're not from this world", a grave voice answered.
"WHAT? WHO SAID THAT?", Kurou asked, surprised.
"I did. Why are you surprised? Weren't you talking to me?", the voice rumbled again, now revealing a translucent figure of a man, apparently in his thirties, holding a staff and a scepter.
"You are...a transparent person. You came out of nowhere. Are you a ghost or something?", Kurou asked, narrowing his eyes and pointing his finger at the ghostly figure.
"That's rude, Post-Mortal", the man said, "I'm the owner of this temple, Ramses II, son of Seti".
"YOU are Ramses?" Kurou yelled, "as in Ramses the ancient pharaoh?".
"You are correct, Post-Mortal".
"I don't believe it. This is too crazy for my small brain. First I can't die, then my body parts project onward, then I can see in the dark, now this? Am I seeing things, have I become schizophrenic?".
"Your mental health is fine, as fine as it could be, Post-Mortal", the man said, laughing a little. "But if you fail to understand why those things are happening to you, then I can't guarantee you will keep your..."sanity" for long".
"And you have answers for me, Pharaoh? Is it that easy?", Kurou asked, skeptical.
"I never said I would give you answers, Post-Mortal. I only said you need them in order to stay sane".
"And what about that Post-Mortal shit? What's a Post-Mortal?", Kurou asked.
Ramses face filled with rage.
"Don't swear inside my temple, you dirty inhuman", Ramses shouted.
"Yeah, yeah, I didn't mean to offend, okay? Just tell me about the Post-Mortal...thing".
"You don't deserve much information. Let me just say your fate rests with Inpu", Ramses said, solemnly.
"Inpu?", Kurou asked, tilting his head to the side. "Who's Inpu?".
"The one who rules over death", Ramses said. "That's all I'm willing to tell you, Post-Mortal. What you do with what you have is your problem to solve. Just don't forget that immortality is a curse, not a gift".
Ramses' figure vanished completely before Kurou could have said anything. An unworldly wind passed through the chamber, giving Kurou the creeps.
"This place is not as fun as I thought it would be", Kurou said to himself.
Just as he was about to leave the temple, he felt something moving and then a strong pain in his stomach.
He fell to the ground from the impact, and the silhouette of a man, dressed in a white robe and holding a knife could be seen.
"What the hell are you doing?" Kurou yelled.
The man ignored his words and crouched in his direction so he could stab Kurou again. Kurou was stabbed at least 14 times before his body became immobile.
The man cleaned his knife with a tissue and walked towards the inner sanctuary.
Kurou came to his senses and saw the man with his arms opened, saying what seemed to be a prayer to a god.
"That fucker", Kurou whispered, and got up on his feet. "Not even your god will save you now!".
Kurou grabbed the man from behind, trying to apply a spinal lock. The man struggled and stabbed him with a reverse-grip, but this time Kurou stood his ground. The man tried to throw himself to the ground in the hope of crushing Kurou's head on the hard stone floor, but he was dealing with someone just too stubborn to die.
After all the struggle, Kurou felt the man's body becoming heavier, showing no more signs of resistance. He was dead.
"Oh shit. I guess I just killed someone", Kurou said, rubbing his worried face.
"Killing my acolyte wasn't a good idea, Post-Mortal", Kurou heard Ramses' voice again.
"He tried to kill me first, Ramses!", Kurou yelled to the walls.
"I won't forgive you, but I'll let you go for now. The gods will take care of you for me; leave now before I change my mind, scoundrel!", Ramses exclaimed.
"The ghost of an old mummy just called me a scoundrel!", Kurou said out loud, as if to piss the great Pharaoh off. "All right, I'm leaving! I never even wanted to be here anyway! But I'm taking this knife with me, just in case".
Grabbing the knife, Kurou left the temple and realized it was already morning.
"That much time has passed already? I guess I've lost track."
"Okay, now what? What was the name the old fart told me? 'Inpu'. He said my life is in this guy's hand. I guess I'm out to find him, then."
"But where should I look to begin with?", Kurou looked all around, just to realize a whole mob of people was looking at him.
"Shit. I forgot this place is a touristic spot."
He approached an old woman sporting a flowery umbrella. She looked at him with a frightened face and tried to hide behind it.
"I'm sorry, milady, but where can I find the big city?", Kurou asked, with the ugliest smile one can ever see.
"The big city you ask must be Cairo, right? It's a long way from here to the north of the country", she said, keeping her distance.
"Thank you, lady, for your kindness and gentleness. Have a good morning. And if I don't see you again, good afternoon, good evening, and good night!".
And there he was, knife in hand, strolling towards the big city in a walk he never imagined would have taken several weeks to complete.