I will return

11

It's only been a few weeks since I discovered the power I have over Joe, and in that short time, I've realized something interesting: his body has become a kind of puppet, without a will of its own. Joe goes where I tell him, says exactly what I'm mumbling, and, surprisingly, has started bringing me better food and keeping me away from the older inmates.

At first, I was surprised, but after a few days of observing, I noticed that when Joe tries to get too far away from the prison, he simply passes out. It's as if his body lost all life, collapsing on the ground like a broken doll. In fact, on one occasion, I had to get close to where he had collapsed to get him back up. It was then that I realized that Joe's body is under my control, an effect of the black magic that the Daemon Ritus offered.

According to the legends I have studied, if a soul that was sucked manages to escape from the body, it can be absorbed again, as long as whoever used it has accumulated enough evil to invoke the magic of the Daemon Ritus. That explains why I couldn't do the same with my minions when they mocked me or kicked me; I didn't have enough power at that time.

Joe's body, once possessed by a monster, is now just a puppet that only functions when he is a kilometer away from me. I deduced that it would be best to keep Joe's body nearby, perhaps in a closet or hidden near the outside facing my cell, to ensure that he was always under my control.

Meanwhile, I began analyzing the museums where the Daemon Ritus has been on display. Additionally, I have been ordering Joe to obtain the names and addresses of all the victims who testified to having been inside my body during my transformation. I need to know where to go and of course I've been looking over the prison plans.

I found out that the next museum to display the Daemon Ritus will be at the Metropolitan Museum of History in *Westbridge*, a town close to where I'm locked up. Its arrival is scheduled in three years.

"I have three years to prepare," I tell myself, while a smile appears on my face.