Tales of the Mysterious Traveler #1

When a priceless mummy mysteriously vanishes from a sealed museum room despite armed guards watching through the night, the Mysterious Traveler knows exactly what happened—and guides us back through the centuries to an ancient pharaoh's clash with a humble seer whose curse seemed impossible to fulfill. This tale weaves together ancient Egypt and the modern world, revealing how fate works in ways neither the proud nor the powerful can foresee.

A mysterious bottle washes ashore carrying an evil genie who's spent centuries dreaming of freedom—and who's convinced that the tantalizing visions he can conjure will finally tempt a mortal to release him. When Mr. Jones discovers the bottle on the beach, the genie's certainty about his power faces its first real test. The Mysterious Traveler presents a tale of temptation and resistance that proves some mortals are stronger than the genie's darkest promises.

Miss Marlow, a devoted caregiver who visits the ailing Jonathan Harrow regularly, receives a summons to his lawyer's office for the reading of his will—but a series of inexplicable delays conspires to make her late. When she finally arrives nearly two hours past the appointed time, she discovers that Harrow's will rewards whichever heir arrives last, as a test of character over greed, and the Mysterious Traveler reveals he engineered every obstacle to ensure her victory.

When the Mysterious Traveler arrives in a Swiss valley famous for its clockmaking, he finds the Luber factory at a crossroads—old Herr Luber has divided his life's work equally between his two sons, Hans and Fritz. But Fritz, tempted by a syndicate's offer to buy him out, begins to see a ghostly figure at his door each night, a warning that stops him cold. As the Mysterious Traveler departs, a final conversation reveals the true nature of the visitor who came in darkness to protect a legacy.

Hugo the Great arrives at a small European village with his extraordinary ability to reshape his face at will—a talent that draws crowds to his performances. When he overhears villagers discussing a fortune in farming equipment funds kept in the mayor's house, his greed gets the better of him, and he devises what seems like the perfect crime: steal the money while wearing a disguised face, then change back to his own to avoid suspicion. But fate has other plans, and a mysterious turn of events ensures that Hugo's clever scheme doesn't go quite as smoothly as he imagined.