At that statement all the humiliation I felt seemed to disappear. Pushing my hair from my face I asked. "Is this your idea of a joke?" I felt no fear now, only anger. He had done all this as a joke? I don't know why I had become so angry about this, but even though the man did not touch me in a way that could be considered molestation. It was still humiliating. Standing I deadpanned. "There is nothing special about me, except the fact that I wear men's clothing and prefer a good fight to embroidering."

The man shrugged. "That is due to the spirit of the warrior within you. Have you ever wondered why this feline holds you in the highest devotions?" He gestured to Bast as he said this. The cat looked at him and then me. She chirped and began to wrap her body around my legs. The man studied me. "Why do you find it so hard to believe that you are blessed?"

Feeling my fingernails dig into the palms of my hands, I spat. "Because…because it is! Why should I even explain the ridiculousness of this to someone who's head has been touched by the sun one too many times?"

I expected the man to grow angry at my insulting him. But he did quite the opposite; he merely threw his head back and laughed. Feeling slightly childish, I pulled at my hair in frustration. "Why do you laugh at me?"

Shaking his head, the man eyed me. Still smiling he mused. "In my culture a sharp tongue like yours gets a woman into a lot of trouble."

Continuing to glare at him, I snapped. "Well then I am blessed that I grew up far away from your people."

Stepping forward the man looked down at me. "A shame really, if you had grown up among Med-jai. You would have been given a good man for a husband."

I let out a cold laugh. "Then I thank God, and all others that I was not cursed in such a way."

In the Morning:

I managed to convince Evelyn that I would be ok without a night of sleep. Personally I did not want my mind to wander into the realm of dreams; I specifically did not want to think about the man, or the very idea that I was playing host to some sort of goddess. So I was able to join O'Connell, Jonathan, and Evelyn in opening up the sarcophagus of our cursed friend. "Oh I have been dreaming about this day since I was a little girl!"

Evelyn squealed happily as Rick and I as we set the sarcophagus horizontal. Giving her a strange look, Rick puzzled. "You dreamed about dead guys?"

Evelyn ignored the jab; she was busy studying the lower portion of the sarcophagus. "Look, his sacred spells have been chiseled off." Pulling back to her full height she clarified. "This man must have been condemned not only in this life, but the next life as well."

"Dear God." I mumbled.

"Tough break" Rick affirmed without a hint of sympathy.

"Yeah, I'm all tears." Jonathan finished while working on unlocking the lid of the sarcophagus. "Now, let's see whose inside, shall we?" Evelyn was smiling like a child on Christmas, as Rick and I began to remove the led. When we did the mummy popped out of the sarcophagus, causing Evelyn to scream in terror. Calming down she mumbled. "Oh, I hate when these things do that."

Rick studied the corpse and asked. "Is it supposed to look like that?"

Moving forward, Evelyn shook her head. "No, I've never seen a mummy look like this before. He's still…still."

"Juicy" Rick and Jonathan said in unison.

"Yes", Evelyn considered the mummy and went on. "He must be more than three thousand years old...And, well it looks as if he is still…decomposing."

Rick knelt down and inspected the lid. "Hey, look at this." He gestured to a series of scratches in the lid. "What do you make of this?"

Getting down on my knees, I felt my eyes widen in horror and my mouth drop slightly. Evelyn knelt beside me. Reaching out my hand I traced the marks. "My God" She breathed. "These marks were made with...with fingernails."

Looking at the mummy I murmured. "This man was buried alive."

"Look here, he carved something." At this I looked back at the lid. Studying the message I mumbled. 'Death is only the beginning.' Very slowly we all turned and looked up at out nameless friend.

That evening:

We all sat around the fire pit that night, unspeaking. That is until our American friends decided to join us. "Hey O'Connell, what do you think these babies will fetch back home." Henderson gloated, waving a viscera jar at us.

Taking a seat next to Henderson, Burns added. "We heard you boys found yourselves a nice gooey mummy. Well, congratulations!"

Smirking, Daniels continued to taunt us. "You know if you dry that fellah out, you might be able to use him for firewood." At this all three Americans began to guffaw stupidly. Rick faked a laugh, trying to hold back his urge to punch them. Evelyn thankfully chose that moment to join us. "Look what I found!"

Looking at Beni, who was sitting between Rick and I. Rick, snapped "You're in her seat." Beni chuckled, but didn't move. Rolling my eyes I smacked him upside the head "Now!"

Beni scurried away before I could do worse. Evelyn sat down and told us of her findings. "Scarab skeletons, Flesh eaters and I found them in our friend's coffin." Leaning forward I picked up one of the skeletons, studied it and then put it back. Evelyn continued. "They can stay alive for years, feasting on the flesh of a corpse." At the thought of that, our group shuddered. "Unfortunately for our friend, he was still alive when they started eating him."

Rick stared at the bugs and mused. "So somebody threw these things in with our guy, and they slowly ate him alive?"

Nodding, Evelyn confirmed "Very, slowly."

That was a death that I was not fond of experiencing. Drowning and burning, I could handle but being eaten alive did not sound like fun. Jonathan pocked at the fire a little, causing it to blaze. "Well, he probably wasn't a popular fellow when they planted him, was he?"

"Perhaps he got a little frisky with the Pharaoh's daughter." Rick hinted as he eyed Evelyn, earning a blush and a chuckle from her.

"Well according to my readings. Our friend suffered the Hom-Dia, the worst of all the ancient curses…one reserved for the most evil of blasphemers. In my research, I've never heard of this curse actually being preformed."

"That, bad huh?" Daniels questioned.

Nodding Evelyn continued. "Yes, well they never used it because they feared it so. They say that if a victim of the Hom-Dia should ever arise, that he would bring with him the ten plagues of Egypt."

My blood seemed to freeze over at the thought. "God forbid." I whispered only loud enough for myself to hear.