Siberian light magi, chronicles of bratsk. chamele

18+

(The book contains violent scenes)

Siberian Light Magi, Chronicles of Bratsk. SIBERIA — DIARIES OF ONE OF THE MAGES
STORY ONE

«CHAMELEON»

PROLOGUE

The headquarters of the magicians exist not only in large cities, but also beyond the Urals in Siberia, in the very wilderness, in young cities that have preserved the appearance of the Soviet Union. They are small, and despite the high crime rate in the cities, the Light and Dark creatures have lived there for a very long time, having adapted to the conditions. They have never heard of the coordination of the Forces, and the following detail is astonishing: They gnaw at each other in the following order: Dark ones — Dark ones on the night streets, Light ones — Light ones…



The Irkutsk Region, for example, where there are the cities of Chuna, Taishet, Bratsk, Vikhorevka, and the village of Chekanovsky, is a tough place. Life on foreign soil is no picnic, so one comrade writes diaries… He writes in Bratsk, he is from Moscow, having come to observe the life of the Wild Ones. You can go crazy in these parts, or you can just watch and write down what the guy — the Inquisitor — does. Bratsk has its own headquarters, commanders, its own rules and its own laws. Everything else, not — Bratsk, is rejected and shit on. And people and magicians of both stripes push their «I». Here everything is different… Black can easily be repainted into white, and white into black. (If this text already makes you sick, you can stop reading).



Night. An empty street, where rats, homeless people, alcoholics and criminals, cats, plus the Dark Ones — vampires and werewolves — scurry around the alleys. These creatures are invisible to people — but at the same time everyone has seen them, because during the day these creatures live like everyone else, no different from others.



The boy, a non-human, walks silently along the empty avenue, looking at the bright stars. He has a cell phone in his hand. The phone is silent. So far, no one has called Maxim, a newcomer from the Light Headquarters. It’s strange. They probably don’t trust him.



Although a big story happened recently — a Great Sorceress appeared in Bratsk, destroying almost all the Dark Ones. The Chief of the Dark Mages and Headquarters, however, made a lot of efforts to hush up the situation and bring the dead back to life.



«What happened?» — asked the night.



«I can’t live here, in Bratsk! The atmosphere is bad, and the balance is inclined towards Darkness. Total blackness and aggressive people with unbearable characters. Lots of gopniks, vampires»…



«What did you expect in a city built by prisoners, huh? They did a useful thing, though — they created the world’s largest artificial reservoir. And they themselves are going crazy with fat: „Me“, „Me“… There are places here that are older, scarier, and cooler than Bratsk.»



«It’s a shame that people with unbearable characters live in these places.»



«That’s why there’s so much crap.»



«Yes. I’m walking down the road now — glass crunches under my feet. Everyone drinks here, even children and minors take a swig from the bottle. It’s bad, very bad.»



The night is silent, does not answer. It hangs over the city like a black dome and weighs on his soul. Max glanced at his watch: 01 — 01. Then a light began to blink in the invisible World. It was strange — black and white, so incomprehensible and interesting. Never seen anything like this before. Maxim went into nowhere — into the world of magicians, to figure out what was what. Time stopped. The creature must be eliminated.



But how!?

Two days later. SETTING: SIBERIA
CITY: BRATSK
TIME OF DAY: LATE EVENING
ABOUT HALF PAST. MONTH: APRIL. YEAR: 2005 — Y. TERRITORY — IRKUTSK REGION …A. M…

(TELLING MAXIM — INQUISITOR). The twenty-fourth of April, evening

Eh… What have I done today?



My name is Maxim, I came from the capital to observe the savages — magicians who live in these parts. I joined the small Headquarters of the Light.



Here they have not heard a word about any coordination of the Forces, except for the chief.



Evening. I decided to get drunk. On the table there is a bottle of vodka, a faceted glass and a piece of lard. No bread. Boredom… In addition, today I received a reprimand from the boss, because I told him: «Blessed Enerik, another curiosity has appeared among our people in the city of Bratsk.»



This is how it was.

DAY

— Svetlykh employee, Maxim, WHEN are you finally going to change!? In general, you’ve been acting like a child lately, you don’t understand our jokes, even the sometimes vulgar ones! You already went to Moscow in January — that’s it, no more! Three years have passed since you first showed up here, you still can’t adapt… — the boss sighed.- Understand, my friend: Moscow is not Bratsk, and Bratsk is not Moscow, this is exactly what pisses me off about you, and I also don’t like the fact that you’re not like us. You’re kind of strange. You let the sorceress go, you crushed the Dark Ones, what else do you need!? But we have the only Inquisitor in the entire Irkutsk region! And therefore you must behave accordingly, even though you’re my subordinate, that’s it. Do you want to justify yourself, Max?



I launched ten rings towards the ceiling and began:



— Last night I spotted a strange guy — a magician, I’d give him fifteen and a half years old. I determined by his aura — the guy was converted somewhere a year ago, no one knows by whom, but something strange happened: he half-decided on both sides. I started looking at his memory, managed to find out: a couple of times he fell into the hands of thugs, still too young, stupid and inexperienced. Lives in the village of Energetik.



That’s what the power seal said. He leads a healthy lifestyle — doesn’t drink, doesn’t smoke. That’s the situation. I served in Moscow for eight years and saw all sorts of people, but this is the first time I’ve seen THIS! I’ve never seen magicians with a black and white aura! It turns out our boy is a real Chameleon! The first time I felt him, I almost felt sick!



— Go on.



— You see, never before in the history of our race have we seen such things roaming around the city! Never! And here, in such a wilderness — mutants, I’ll probably see something else! Was it like that with you, Enerik? Well, yesterday the invisible World was agitated, it almost turned inside out. There was a truly monstrous release of Force.And I thought about this: it seems that it is time for the Light and the Dark to think about their careers! Because if such a dangerous specimen joins or at least tries to get to us, the Light Headquarters will fall apart, and if he joins the Dark, the Dark Headquarters will fall apart. What are we going to do, boss? Of course, the enemy will find out about the boy and start hunting him down. Or he will foolishly want to get hold of him to tarnish our reputation.And very nasty, very good to soak… Do we need it? Absolutely not, you must admit… They will ruin our work! The guy can’t decide either here or there. That’s why he is dangerous for everyone.



— Maxim, what are you trying to achieve? Do you want me to find him, go and kill him? — Enerik asked, clutching his head in his hands. Then he began to write at the table. He took a sip of strong beer.



— No. I want to find out WHERE such a miracle came from. Otherwise, our headquarters in the City Executive Committee will have to be closed down.



— But… down the drain, I have a schedule, and to hell with your schedule down the drain — down the drain — down the drain… — Sang the Most Blessed Enerik and smiled like a brother. — Well done!



Personally, I don’t care how the Mages work in Siberia at Headquarters and outside, but it’s bad to miss the Chameleon. Even the Siberian ones don’t look like the standard! The Dark Ones were the first to find the Sorceress in St. Petersburg. For THREE months, the girl was in Glomen’s team, the chief of the Dark Ones, covering herself with an energy shield.The whole mess ended with the beauty turning one thug — the Dark Mage — into a Luminary, and then mysteriously disappearing. This story made a lot of noise, the enemies had to try hard to restore the Headquarters. And now this kid has appeared!



— We will not kill the boy under any circumstances — he is still a child! — The door suddenly slammed, one of the colleagues entered the room. He was probably eavesdropping.



— Do you know that eavesdropping is not good? — The boss noticed. — Didn’t they teach you to knock?



— They taught you to knock. What happened to us?



— Maxim has found another wonder of the world. Ask him.



I told him everything as it is.



— Eh — eh… Maybe we shouldn’t catch the boy? Let him go in peace, and that’s it?



— Then you’ll send us all out in the world.



— Why not? — The Light One didn’t let up.



— You’re a blockhead! — Enerik couldn’t resist. — The guy is using up both white and black Power at the same time! He’ll destroy both Bases, okay!?



I wasn’t going to say anything in response and was looking at the big fly that was circling around the ceiling. More precisely, around the old Soviet-style chandelier. And on the wall behind the boss were two coats of arms — Russia’s and Bratsk’s. I got the feeling that the room itself was absorbing our conversation.



— Wake up, Yegor! This is a magician of terrible power… A half and half, so to speak… After all, it is very rare for a person to have a child — a Magician. It turns out that our miracle is a half-breed?



— But it seems to me that non-humans appear here not so rarely, — I noticed, squinting. — Who stamps them out? The boy can easily be drawn to the side of Light, — if you erase his memory of the previous initiation. But still, he will be a very weak Light. He is the same with Darkness. Unless, of course, he is a vampire or a werewolf.



— If you say so, then catch him for me! — The boss ordered.



I did not expect this at all. I did not want to talk to anyone anymore and left.



Here’s the rubbish. It’s night outside now, I’m sitting in a small kitchenette where there’s not even wallpaper, smoking and drinking vodka, racking my brains over a problem. They exploit people here in a cool way: since you’re a real Inquisitor, then deal with the unknown bird as best you can! Horror… Today I’ll sit at home, I won’t stick my nose out, I won’t climb into the invisible World, I’ll leave you all and go drunk. Here in Bratsk, troubles always happen: someone recently threw a grenade in court. The story has reached my homeland! It has added glory to the city, a bad one. The village of Chekanovsky alone is worth something!



This is a settlement that grew up in the sanitary protection zone of the plant during the construction of BRAZ (Bratsk Aluminum Plant). The settlement was inhabited mainly by workers. However, when the builders completed their task and built everything, it became clear: living in the settlement is dangerous for health. The maximum permissible concentrations of harmful substances in emissions for all parameters, — which are regulated by the law on environmental protection — were exceeded several times. Today, people still live there. There are not many of them left. Only four hundred and eighty families. Mostly pensioners and DEGRADING citizens, but there are workers among them. There is a very small school left — for one hundred and eighty people and a small kindergarten. So why do the residents of the village, — understanding the dangers posed by the ecology in the vicinity of Chekanovsky — were they so reluctant to leave it?



Firstly, not only because it was easy for them to get to work. People were used to growing potatoes, vegetables, berry gardens, keeping cows and poultry on their garden plots. It was convenient for them to live and work. (Yeah, I immediately remember a cartoon from fifteen years ago, where it says: a man had a cow in the village, and the village was near a factory.The animal constantly went not to the meadow, but to the factory, nibbled the dusty grass there, and the owner pulled it away by the tail. And even then with difficulty. The cow sniffed the smoke, then the guy started milking her — instead of milk, gasoline poured out. Grandfather filled the car with it and drove off, the cattle honked in response, like a machine. Isn’t that degradation? The same thing here. They plant gardens with berries, vegetables — all with poisons, heavy metals, nitrates.They got used to it, apparently… They got used to eating everything poisoned — their cows and geese were probably mutants at the gene level! Living and working comfortably — sounds delicious! Comfortable! But no one wants to hear about the slow suicide that is going on. What a beautiful prospect! I would never agree to kill myself like that for any amount of money! After all, all the nastiness is built into the genes, and that’s it. It’s a life sentence.)



And there’s more. Secondly, relocation, for example, to Gidrostroitel (settlement) threatened them with the loss of a well-paid job at BRAZ (oh, how we love money here, I’m going to shed a tear right now! After all, these Toksy will start breathing over the plant’s chimney for the sake of money, because otherwise withdrawal and depression will begin, they will start missing Bratsk! How romantic, though! They love to engage in self-masochism at the genetic level and suicide here… Damn fools).



Getting to the plant by public transport was becoming not just unrealistic, but impossible (and thank God!) — it took more than an hour to get there with transfers. And, of course, it required extra, significant expenses (If you want to live, walk there — at least all the crap will leave your body).



What’s in the village now? They say: Ghosts, and nothing else. BUT not with the Ghosts you’re thinking about now. It seems to me that with ghosts the place would be cool. If you drive along and across, the picture will appear something like this. Here and there, boarded-up houses stand empty. On the outskirts, a three-story school stands black. It opened its doors to children in 1964. On the opening day, its walls were painted in soft, multi-colored colors, revolutionary at the time. There was no such school in the entire area, it seemed very beautiful — a school from the future.



At that time, no one even thought about it: some thirty years later, a farewell bell would ring within its walls. In May 1996, it became symbolic for all residents. They understood well that they would never again gather on the same street with their neighbors to drink tea. They would not walk through the village in a jubilant May Day column.They say that the first of May was always celebrated there especially solemnly. Such a festive mood on the streets during these days was not observed in Bratsk itself.



Forty years later, the three-story beauty of School No. 23 no longer resembles anything else. Its tragedy lies in the following: it was too young when the last bell rang within its walls. It was preparing to welcome more than one generation of first-graders.Now she looks from afar with empty eye sockets of window openings. And her former students, accidentally passing by, do not hold back their tears.



It’s good to be a Light mage, but not here! I was fired from work in the summer, and then I ran into my… Dark Ones. I saw a striking, inexplicable paradox: THEY CALL THEMSELVES LIGHT! They take anyone they can into their Headquarters, then get offended — why do people run away? How angry Glomen was then, his vampire — a shapeshifter nicknamed She-Wolf — too.She was always screaming and demanding that a guy like me pay attention to her. I once had a wife, but we divorced — she couldn’t stand my essence of a Mage.



I look at the street through an invisible reality. There are ours on the streets, but only Dark Ones. Werewolves or vampires.



— Hackwork! — I shouted to myself.



— Ha — tura… — The echo responded.



The mobile phone on the table suddenly beeped. I reluctantly reached my hand to it and accepted the call. The boss is calling.



— I’m listening, Maxim.



— I’m listening to you too, Most Bright Archmage… — I muttered reluctantly.



— Are you drinking?



— I’m drinking. And having a snack. What happened there?



— Glomen called, the Dark Ones also saw the Chameleon, they started hunting him. Just like you. Tomorrow morning, go to the enemy headquarters, talk to them. Try to talk them out of it. If they’re not idiots, they’ll understand and won’t laugh. If they know who the Inquisitors are. Try to get it into their heads: Since we are Light, we will detect and eliminate them ourselves. If you run into werewolves on the way, hit them with a fireball, don’t spare them… No more and no less. A cross and an aspen won’t help — it’s all bullshit! — He laughs. — Before you leave, have some pig blood — no more than a liter.This is Bratsk, not Moscow. If your fangs start to cut through, don’t cry. If you feel sick, drink some vodka and have some bread. There’s a bowl on your table. Now open the fridge and take out the meat. Let it melt overnight. Well… you know what kind of people there are here. And put your amulet on. Don’t talk too much to Glomen. — The receiver beeped and went dead.



The required amulet was not found in the table.

April 25, 2004

No. 1. Morning, 8:00

Boom… Slap, smack…



Finally woke up! Overslept. My head hurts like crazy. That’s it, NEVER, NEVER will I drink LIKE THIS again! For your information, it wouldn’t hurt to shave. I’m going to the Dark Ones after all! They’ll laugh at me! Enerik too. By the way, if you want to be respected, then, Max, please shave and get yourself in order. Okay, I’m joking about the mockery, but the werewolves might not like the face of the Light Mage.



I pulled up my pants, reached into the invisible World for a razor — there was little time. Then I made my way to the kitchen, got out my breakfast, and a crash came from the room — a picture fell from the wall.No need to remember the bastards! Glomen is waiting for me. This guy works for the ambulance, he also doesn’t have much time. I barely drank the stinking red liquid, put on my shoes, got dressed and left.



Drunk again — but with pig’s blood.



The room was unbearably hot — you couldn’t breathe. It was dirty, there were bottles, cigarette butts, cans on the floor, a couple of raincoats were hanging on a hook on the wall — dark and silver. Dark and Light. There were carpets and a couple of paintings of mermaids in the room. No pentagrams, icons, or spheres were visible.



— Is there another party at home today!? How much longer can you stand it!? You should go somewhere else!



— Mom, calm down! Yes, it is, and how! Stop contradicting me and throwing tantrums about it! There’s still plenty of room here!



— That means you won’t go to work.



— Mom! I’m twenty-three years old! You’re fussing over me like I’m a baby! Stop controlling my every move! I’VE GROWN UP A LONG TIME AGO!!!



— After you all set up this whole incomprehensible thing here for the New Year, — namely the headquarters, — I don’t want to see anyone here anymore! — an elderly woman with a thick, dark braid ran around the room, clutching her head.



The Dark Headquarters of Bratsk is small:



¹1. Vampire Letat (of course, he pulled the name out of thin air to make it look cool).



¹2. A pair of werewolves.



¹3. She-wolf.



¹4. Witch.



¹5. Witcher Iron.



¹6. Amrod — Dark Prince.



¹7. Fenyrg, or Fenya.



¹8. Light (!) magician Beregond — probably a spy.



¹9. Quagger.



¹10. Glomen. Sergei (according to the passport).



For comparison — Light Headquarters:



#1. Celt Enerik, Light Mage.



#2. Maxim — Inquisitor, Muscovite.



#3. Beregond — brings us the plans of the Dark Ones.



#4. Valya (Revived mage, who earlier switched to Darkness.)



#5. Darkness (her brother, who also switched to Darkness).



#6. Vitaly (Valyuk).



#7. Lika.



#8. Light Mage of fourteen years — Egor, nicknamed Psycho.



#9. Anna.



#10. Tame vampire — Thror.



The Light’s headquarters is in the City Executive Committee. Almost on the top floor. The Dark’s headquarters is in Sergei’s apartment, with all the ensuing consequences, on Kosmonavtov Street. And if the Light have more than enough work, then the Dark have nothing but fun, idleness, orgies, and the rest.



The word «Bratsk» itself says a lot, and it should not be understood in the literal sense.

A BRIEF HISTORY OF THE CITY OF BRATSK

There are so many rumors about the construction site… Both good and bad. People were killed there for a food ration, for an inadvertently dropped word, for going the wrong way, bringing the wrong thing, and so on. There were so many people in 1955, of course! Prisoners and young people from all over Russia came to build the city. They flooded the old village of Bratsk.Before that, the Angara was blocked for nineteen hours, as a result of which villages, settlements and a gigantic area of forest were destroyed. Everything is still rotting at the bottom of the largest artificial sea.



The builders initially had nowhere to live, so a tent city was set up near the forest. The prisoners were resettled in the village of Chekanovsky, which soon became a real prison. Taishet, a nearby town, also became a prison. Because of this fragmentation, Bratsk was often called not a city at all, and a village connected to neighboring settlements by roads and forests. People suffered, builders dug trenches, started fights at night. There were even cases when a person would be killed at a hydroelectric power station or in the streets — they would throw him into a hole, fill him with concrete — and forget about him!



When the first street of the World appeared in the forest, then the Mages began to appear among the people — Light and Dark. At first, there were only a few dozen of them — both. The former were mostly optimists. The latter were pessimists, rapists, bandits, thieves. And very often, — due to inexperience, — the Light entered into marriages with the enemy. As a result, the City of Youth began to occupy first place in the region in the number of divorces. Soon it reached a critical point. Then the Dark Ones began to unite into their communities in the forests. Werewolves in the form of wolves and bears hunted chickens, exterminated cattle in private plots, sometimes attacked people. The level of blackness in the city began to grow with terrible force.



Seriously scared, people started killing predators. The ranks of Darkness thinned out. And you think why predators are not visible in the forest. Then they started cutting down forests, starting to build BraZ, LPK (Forest Industry Complex), where they produced cardboard, aluminum and cellulose in immoderate quantities, all of which led to devastating consequences.At the same time, summer cottages began to appear, the creatures settled further and further from the buildings — these were most often called forest people. There is also a story about a married couple who lived in the forest near Ust-Kut in the Irkutsk region for twenty-six years. Only occasionally did they come out to people.



That’s how they lived — hiding, afraid to reveal their true nature, afraid to end up in a mental hospital.



Years and decades passed. Our number was becoming few — some left these parts, some disappeared without a trace or took another name. The City of Youth began to wither, the culture was forgotten. The youth drank, shot up, complete darkness and vandalism reigned all around. The headquarters of the Light was exhausted from punishing the Dark, of whom there were even more. Although if you say so — means to say nothing. Bratsk was SWARMED with them!



Judges usually cast the victim down into the invisible World forever, or took away the Power for many years. They let them live a little longer. Although the Dark Ones are vampires, or walking corpses, supporting their existence with the lives of others. That’s why they lived in the village of Chekanovsky — that’s where they first appeared. The ecology there was always the worst. It didn’t harm them — they were inhuman! The ecology harms people.



The werewolf population either fell or grew: they could hardly reproduce naturally, unlike the Light Ones, but could only turn a person who fell into their clutches. Gradually, but they also degraded.



Our Headquarters also thinned out — someone fell in skirmishes, or could not live the life of a Mage and died voluntarily.



And our boss, by the way, built a hydroelectric power station, like everyone else! What brought him here?! WHY?! FOR WHAT REASON?

A VERSION OF THE LIFE OF A POWER ENGINEER BEFORE BRATSK

Enerik is the Most Bright Magician of Bratsk. Outside the city, the man has a beautiful cottage with a garage, equipped with the latest technology. True, there is a stone idol of an ancient pagan god near the building. Either a stone Valkyrie, or Odin. Our boss, despite his youthful appearance at first glance, is almost two thousand years old. He was from Ireland or France, or somewhere else, I don’t know for sure. He even sailed with the Vikings on ships to America, to the English lands, and became famous as an inimitable archer. They also said that when the Magi promised each other just like that a thousand years ago — not to tear each other apart — Eneric was present. Then he was not as strong as he is now.



At eighteen or nineteen, his grain of Power was awakened by a Dark mage, then a new Light one organized a brotherhood that caught vampires and werewolves. It later moved to an abandoned castle, but Enerik did not like living in poverty. He behaved like a good boy among the Dark Ones when he came to their communities, and then crushed them heartily. If they were naughty.Then he took the property and lived happily. Of course, in 1005 some condemned him for this, tried him a couple of times. The case almost ended in execution, but the handsome man was saved by actively helping someone strong.



Cunning and dodgy, the Celt won the trust and love of the then Warriors of Light. He behaved like an eighteen-year-old boy, though. By nature, he was the kindest man.



During the years of the Plague epidemic, each clan of Light and Dark kept to itself, trying to guess each other’s secret. Castles and estates of people died out, there was nowhere to bury the dead, our enemy became very uneasy. There was nowhere to take living blood, and no one to convert.



But the Light Ones lived so-so, helped the people who remained alive, receiving the same in return. The last living Celt in the world after the epidemic became the owner of the estate — unable to bear it, he left the plague-ridden lands and settled where there was no plague. Unlike most feudal lords of that time, he did not mock the servants and others, but periodically encouraged them. He spent his evenings in the library, reading ancient sagas. Some, meeting him, remarked: before them is a warrior, from the time of Charlemagne. The blond smiled and was silent.



He sometimes fell in love, but it brought nothing but disappointment. Gradually, his heart hardened, grew cold. If the beloved became pregnant from this Archmage, she always gave birth to a man.That’s why the chief’s numerous children, who came from poor families (the Celt loved only peasant women), scattered throughout life in all directions, lived out their lives, and died. Svetly began to lead a solitary life, avoiding love and women. He began to wander around bars and taverns. To lead a solitary but cheerful life, not paying attention to anything. He continued to sit in libraries, studying physics, chemistry, astronomy. Centuries passed.



Finally, the terrible twentieth century arrived. Enerik lived in Russia for a hundred years. When talks began to build the Bratsk hydroelectric power station, he took part in the construction together with the Komsomol members. He hoped that the city would be Light. Then he singled out the Magi from the builders and suggested that they create their own Headquarters.At first, many did not understand what the Celt was talking about. Who had a fake passport with someone else’s initials. But some — seeing how Darkness was growing in the village of Chekanovsky — agreed, choosing the Archmage as their boss. Having nested on Mira Street. In the eighties, they changed their address -The headquarters were moved to the City Executive Committee — a multi-story gray-white building in the city center, near the Lenin monument.



That’s the boss’s story. Although it always seems to me: he’s hiding something from us.



I’ll get to the main point.

9:00 a.m.

Here is Kosmonavtov Street. My mobile phone is ringing in my pocket. I accept the call.



— Hello?



— Hi. Where are you, Maxim? — The boss asked.



— Well… I’m on Kosmonavtov Street, opposite the Darkness headquarters. — I yawned.



— Well done! DON’T LET GLOMEN FIND THE CHAMELEON FIRST! Otherwise, we’ll all be in trouble! Don’t be afraid of anything, boldly step into the entrance. Got it?



— That’s it.



The connection was interrupted. I glanced at the third floor — the light was on. Someone was home. Probably the Dark Mage of Bratsk.



Hmm… Strange. There is a large park nearby, over which crows are circling with a hoarse, nasty cawing. They sense the darkness! Maybe I shouldn’t go? YES! I don’t care who is in the apartment. I climbed into the invisible World, stepped towards the entrance. I opened the wooden, spit-covered door. It was as if I had run into an invisible barrier: in the real world the door opened, but in the invisible world it was also closed. I made a sign with my fingers — order. Third floor. In front of the apartment door I found another one — two or three times more powerful than the first barrier. I had to return to the normal world. It was useless. hammer. The defense is up.



He went outside, raised his head, and shouted:



— Glomen, I’m calling on you!



He stood there for a while…



— Glomen!



Quiet. He can’t hear, damn him! I’ll have to climb again. The house has turned into an abandoned building without glass or pictures — only red bricks. The height has decreased by one floor. The trees near the house looked blurry, the air was trembling. Instead of snow, black earth appeared underfoot. Gray sky. The Halo of Darkness by the window is very visible. The light bulb slowly went out, then on the contrary, it glowed. As if in slow motion.



Suddenly an empty bottle was thrown from above. It fell very slowly onto the asphalt, miraculously cracks ran across the glass — the container shattered into shining fragments. Like a collapsible structure in a science fiction film. Beautiful! Of course!



I took a deep breath and shouted again:



— Glome — e—en! The inquisitor has come!



The window slowly opened, a mocking voice asked:



— What have you come for? To my headquarters? A messenger? Everyone has been in a state of panic for the last five days. Such chaos hasn’t happened since 1963! Oh, — Glomen shielded his eyes with his hand, — take away this Light, I can’t look at you! You, Inquisitor, shine like a spotlight — it hurts my eyes! Get out of the world of shadows and get up! — He clearly wanted to laugh. After all, even I couldn’t break the spell that locked the apartment.



— Build me a portal! — I shouted.



— Good. EVERYONE is the same in front of you.



I hung it…



I will never ask the Dark Ones for this again! With one hand I got into the sink, and with the other I ended up in the bathtub filled with hot water. Wow! Before I could come to my senses, I dove in head first. Bastards.



The door opens — the boss comes in. I climbed out. Aren’t you ashamed!? Now my cell phone will die.



— No shame. — Sergey giggled. — After all, you, Inquisitors, don’t care!



And I got scared after these words.

10:00 AM.

— What kind of hack work is this!?



— Why!? We didn’t know ourselves!



— You know everything, since you yourself issue us permits for murder, Inquisitor!



— Are we, the Light Ones, really to blame for the fact that there are so many undead in Bratsk!? No, sorry… The Chief is asking for assistance.



— I was also going to ask your people for help, if only to get rid of that moron — Chameleon! We saw him the day before yesterday.



— We too. Did you call Enerika, Glomen?



— Yes. — Why?



— Ask. Light Ones, this guy’s name is Alexander. And I communicated with him quite willingly, — when he was a true Dark One. Now I have to kill him.



I finally managed to wipe my head with a towel, slammed my fist on the table:



— I object!



— What do you suggest?



— Leave the guy alone! Let him get away!



Glomen laughed mockingly.



— If he gets to us, he’ll be ours; if he gets to you, he’ll become Light. You know, he’s my enemy. He’ll start torn between two elements. He’ll die, like a dear, and that’s it, the end of trouble.



— Just like in the song of the Irkutsk bard: black — white.



— Yes… — The Dark One giggled.



— Why he’s two-faced is unknown. This is the first time I’ve heard of such a thing. — I glanced at the clothes drying on the line in the hallway. I chuckled and pursed my lips. What a cool meeting: I’m sitting in front of the lord of vampires, mages, and werewolves in my underwear.



Three o’clock in the afternoon. The boss’s office.



— Well, did you take a bath at a party? Why, why, why did you ask him to hang a portal!? — The boss leaned over the table and looked into my face. — Glomen doesn’t care, he doesn’t care?



— He doesn’t care about my Highest Rank of Inquisitor, that’s it! I didn’t know — there are such boors among your Dark Ones!



— We have a lot of them. Keep that in mind. They just like to party and drink, they don’t do good deeds that often. And if they do, it’s for their own.



— Thank you. The enemy is cunning. If we had talked normally, as equals, without falsehood, I wouldn’t have gotten wet.



— I repeat once again: the Dark Ones here are NOT AT ALL THE SAME as you have in Moscow. Here they are worse than a homeless person on the street in intelligence and upbringing! — Enerik lost his temper. — Stop behaving like a child and hiding your true behavior! When Chameleon is found, I will send all the Light Ones to their dachas — I will calm down a little…



He turned his head, alert. A mage, a shapeshifter named Beregond, came out of the wall. The cheerful computer guy came to the Headquarters a year ago, Power Rank 2. Very good.



«How can we change the colored one to our side?» Valyuk asked, opening the door after knocking first. A cigarette was smoking in his teeth. Enerik started baring his teeth again:



— How many times can you say: NO SMOKING IN MY OFFICE! — He took the cigarette and trampled on it. — We need to eliminate the Darkness in it.



Another person entered — Bondarchuk Andrey. A magician who has long been wanted to be executed for his recent transition to the Dark Side. The boss is keeping a close eye on him. Andryukha went into a corner, squatted down and froze like that, frowning and lowering his head. Three years ago, a vampire maimed him — bit him by the neck, left him to die on the street.The Celt himself treated the guy — he dived into the invisible World with him several times. He tried to remove the Dark Essence, but he couldn’t: the colleague became a half-vampire. Otherwise, Andrey wouldn’t have shit on the Sorceress. Now this miracle sits and mutters:



— I’m sick of it… I’m sick of everything! Enough! The sky doesn’t want the sun, my life is talentless, my love is mortal, my flesh is corruptible. I want to sleep and die… — We’ve all been sick of this nonsense for a long time now.



— M — yes. You couldn’t come to a normal agreement, Maxim, what a pity. Oh well, enough sulking, let’s shift the mission to Beregond.



April twenty-seventh.

One of the streets of Bratsk. 13:40 p.m.

With nothing better to do, I’m sitting on a bench near the city center, reading a book about Bratsk and Siberia: where did all this come from and what it’s like. Oh, Ermak! You really were one of us! But WHY did you go to the Urals!? Why do good, kind people leave this life so early?! And the inhuman ones too. Such is the law. I walked along the avenue, near the Yubileiny store — at the Peace Ring — I squatted down: tired.



Music.



Marvelous… Where did it come from? It flows, barely audible, through the invisible World, which only non-humans can hear. Pleasant, amazing. It called, beckoned — like a bride to a groom. I wanted to break away and run, offer my neck for a vampire’s kiss. Then forget myself — feeling, like blood flowing into another body. Oh — oh… But I knew: under no circumstances should I respond, believe the melody. Meanwhile, all thoughts disappeared from my head. In order to somehow resist, I covered my ears with my palms. It didn’t help: the sounds turned into words, and it was as if someone whispered:



— I’m afraid, I don’t want to! Save me! Kill me!



I raise my head. There is almost no one around, just a fair-haired boy running across the road.



The melody — the song burst out with renewed vigor. Headlong, he rushed straight to the «Yubileiny», rushing past the kiosks, the «Charoit» store. He dodged a hurrying group, a drunk man. He stopped for a moment, greedily gulping air. His lungs seemed readyto burst. I wonder who he’s running away from? No, he’s still standing. His legs are tired.



I stepped behind the tree, and, looking at the stranger, almost cried out with joy: Light and Dark energies were trying to merge into a gray mass, into something new. Now they were blocking the figure, spinning like tornadoes. And then…



— Stop, you bastard! — Three people ran into me — Quagger, Amrod, and Letat.



— What are you standing there for, Svetoch!? Wake up: there he is! Mage, identify yourself!



— Inquisitor Maxim, Svetoch.



— Seize him and kill him!



— Did the music catch your attention!? — I guessed, starting to think. — We all missed this bastard?! Look how the beautiful murk was buzzing in my head! Like after a drinking binge in my ears, with a sore head!



It was buzzing… Now it’s gone.



— I hope: the trace remained, Inquisitor, — Amrod muttered discontentedly.



Clear, beautiful. A black and white line, turning into a gateway on Kirov Street, — towards the former kindergarten. Then it forked in two — that’s it. The light part went to the park, the Dark — towards the City Executive Committee, where the Enerik headquarters is located. We were stamping around near the fork.



— Well?! Where to now?! — Amrod howled.



— Wherever you want: Chameleon has gone into the deeper layers of the invisible Worlds. — Lestat declared.



— ONLY WHO WILL GET THE PREY?! — It suddenly dawned on me. Both Headquarters have ironclad alibis. Having spat at their feet and cursed, the Dark Ones went to drink beer at the nearest kiosk.



«That’s what you were running from, poor thing! From the Darkness.» — After such thoughts even I wanted to drink. I won’t tell the boss anything. And someone will tell Glomen everything anyway! The guys will charge me with letting the prey go.



That’s all for today.

April 30, 2005. Day

Get drunk again?! The boss is not here, the office is closed. The silence is so bad that it makes you feel sick. The office is closed and in the invisible World. Today, I feel like everyone is going to get into trouble. Glomen was standing at the end of the corridor, grinning quietly at us: he didn’t like one thing — his workers had missed out on the loot. Hmm… which would have destroyed the entire Dark Headquarters and its reputation.



He’s angry!



Let it be.



Beregond wrote something down in his notebook, frowning.



— Chameleon: a rare species. Emits black and white energy depending on the situation. If life brought him together with the Light, he becomes purer in soul, if with the Dark, he becomes more angry and irritable. A creature of this kind is sometimes haunted by the good Force.Then it starts to climb the walls or cheat on its partner. It suffers from duality, resists the pressure of Darkness, and vice versa. It starts to look for what it lacks in life. Some people get mad about this. — Darkness muttered and smiled. He looked into Beregond’s notebook. — What’s wrong with that? Everyone has the right to cheat. Even me.



— Shut up! No time for jokes! Two Headquarters are under attack — a savage is wandering around the city of Bratsk and the village of Energetika! Completely uncontrollable! And it is unknown WHAT this guy will do in the next two or three days. Right, Maxim? — Valyuk rebelled and lit a cigarette.



— No! — A proud, rude voice rang out at the end of the corridor. — My power extends not only to Bratsk, but also to Padun with the aforementioned Energetik, even to Irkutsk!



— No one is asking you! — Valyuk snapped, extinguished his khabarik with his fingers, and threw it in the trash can. — We don’t need Irkutsk to get in here!



Finally, Enerik appeared. He walked quickly, unlocked the door and entered the office. He slammed the door so hard that my ears were blocked for five seconds. Glomen chuckled.



Well, that’s it…



— Freaks! Weaklings!



— But…



— Do you even understand WHAT you did?



I raised my head.



— It seems…



A good office. Something distant awakens in the soul when looking at porcelain cups on the shelf, fans mixed with computer disks, floppy disks, documents. Each thing has its own story. When our Irishman is in the mood, you can listen to interesting stories for hours. But this rarely happens!



— Tell me how it really was! Today Glomen told me SO much about you — my ears are wilting.



— Tell me? I was walking home…



— I was walking through wet puddles. — The boss got angry. I was offended by such a reaction.



— I was walking from the city center home — from your office to carry out an assignment. It was…



— Got it. Next.



— I sat on a bench, sat there, read a book. Decided to go to the bus station — to go to Energetik, to weigh the balance of the Force: for your own good. I also wanted to find the savage there. I reached Yubileyny, and then the Call caught me. I see a guy running across the road like crazy. I ran across it, and I — bam! — into invisible Worlds. Before I could blink, I saw: Light and Darkness were swirling around the guy like tornadoes. I had just taken aim, and the Chameleon had gone into other layers. I came out into the normal world, and a scream hit my face: «Stop, bastard!» That guy was strange, but he left an interesting mark. — Tired of talking, I took a sip of water from a glass and sat down in a chair. My legs were buzzing, sweat was running down my back.



— An interesting picture emerges… — Enerik chuckled, starting to comb his long, golden hair with a wooden comb.



— Three grabbed me by the scruff of the neck.



— What kind of trace did Chameleon leave behind?



— Black and white. It split into two near the former kindergarten on Kirov Street. I thought: my goal is to simply track down a teenager who shies away from everyone and everything, track him down and… uh… neutralize him.



— So-so… — The boss softened.



There was a giggle in the corridor — the Dark Ones were happy with my failure. How can we all bring this bastard to justice?! How can we send him far away?!



— I wonder, — does he have his own mark? In the form of a tattoo? It’s not even about that. — The Celt muttered, and the situation was getting more and more heated.



— And if he keeps running around like this? — Valyuk asked, looking at me in amazement. — Then?



— What? An epidemic will start, a bomb will be accidentally dropped on the city of Bratsk, sabotage, a plane will crash, widespread destruction, hunger and drug addiction without control… Something will explode or burn at BLPKat the dachas, BUT THE PEOPLE ARE ALWAYS CALM, THAT’S THE MAIN TROUBLE. This duplicity can’t go on forever.



— Really?



— Really.



— The bad thing is this: our enemies have an alibi. — Beregond continued writing. The boss also moved his pen over the paper, then put everything in the folder and fell silent.



— We let him go… — Mrak sighed disappointedly.



— Yes. He gave the Dark Ones such a run for their money!



— Maxim, you heard the Call. If you hear it again, please write down your feelings in your notebook.



Feelings…



First of May. City center



Several Mages are standing by the Lenin monument near the City Executive Committee and Prometheus.



— Hey, Max, why are you so sad?!



— No, nothing. — I waved him off.



— Okay. Then tell me something.



— Listen.

«THE DRAGON’S AWAKENING AMONG THE FLOWERS IN THE MOUNTAINS»

The body of the Dragon is copper. The claws are iron. The wings are silver, and the crest along the body is gold. The creature’s blood is molten tin, phlegm is heavy mercury, and its heart is lead.



Thus, the idol symbolizes the seven planets that the Dragon united to serve ours. It also unites the four elements: it is a product of the Earth, capable of rising into the air, to go under water, and inside — fire.



When a creature sleeps, it still sees the world around it. Sleep and reality are so closely intertwined that these worlds become one. Day and night, Light and Darkness, dreams and reality — all these concepts are embodied in the Dragon. Only he does not see them as opposites, he perceives them as one.



For the giant is the product of the dream world, the world of reality, their contact: a living symbol of Awakening.



In those days, Lilith wandered the young earth. Abandoned, unhappy, she walked, not knowing where. The newcomer was not human: she felt neither hunger, nor thirst, nor fatigue. But she carried a huge grief — which grew, becoming heavier.



And finally the woman couldn’t take it anymore and fell to the ground, as if crushed by this weight.



It was in the mountains. The exhausted beauty fell asleep on the grass, near the huge stones. When she woke up, the sun was rising. She got up and looked around. The pain that had been tormenting her since the very second when the one created from the rib opened her eyes had subsided a little, and the red-haired girl admired the wondrous beauty of the mountains, the sky and the strange flowers growing among the rocks. Then it was revealed to her: paradise on Earth will soon end, but this earth is eternal. Even when the whole world collapses, — the all-consuming fire will break free, the primordial chaos will reign in the world again, and God will call the entire human race to account — even then this earth will remain beautiful.



She turned around and froze — from horror and admiration.



For what she had taken for a pile of stones at night turned out to be a sleeping Dragon. He lay with his shining wings spread out, motionless as a statue. Now Lilith felt a breath — at first weak, then it became hotter — as if a waft of heat from a blazing furnace.And at that moment, when the sun rolled out from behind the mountain, the copper eyelid lifted, and the fiery eye turned to the guest.



The dragon woke up.



The huge wing moved, rose and stroked the hair of the abandoned one. Heavy, silver, with sharp edges, it seemed lighter than a butterfly’s: so tenderly touched the red curls of the guest.For the first time in many days of travel, the first woman met a creature that could pity her: people outside of paradise did not yet exist, and it was better not to deal with spirits. And she could not stand it, pressed herself to the cold scales, and burst into tears.



These were the first tears in this world. They fell, turning into diamonds — small, slightly cloudy, but with a bright shine.



And then the giant spoke. His voice was low and loud, like a trumpet, and echoed in the mountains.



«The pain is passing!» said the Dragon. «You do not know it, but you are destined to be healed. Adam rejected you, but you are his equal. Like him, you are made of earth, while Eve is only a part of Adam himself. You are — the best creations in the Universe. Know this: both of you have received your gifts. He has received what no one on Earth has, not even I, the great Dragon. The name of this gift is Choice. But your gift is no less valuable. Immortality. If my beloved had stayed with you, the human race would have become great, above all forces and spirits, and would have stood at the very throne of the Creator. But Adam made a Choice — and stepped into the abyss. He received a dangerous gift Man! It was not in vain that your path lay here. I will give you knowledge, and you will not have to pay for it, because it is intended for immortal humanity. But if a Mortal now wants to get even a grain of it, he will pay dearly for it. You are life itself, Lilith! And in pale Eve Adam will find death. Soon, soon Paradise on Earth will end, and only only after death will man find peace. The human race will be cursed, and all the curses will be revealed to Adam at once, EXCEPT ONE. Man will NEVER forget his first love — you. The sons of Adam will seek you in all mortal women, and the daughters will dream of strong and daring conquerors, which your sons. Stay here. And do not grieve — your paths have diverged. But you will meet his children again, and you will love them. The children of Lilith will wander the Earth — not like the children of Eve.



The dragon fell silent.



The beauty looked into his fiery eye, and saw clearly — clearly: there, in the valley of the Euphrates River, pale Eve was picking an apple from the forbidden tree.»



«That’s what the Great Ones and Magicians say, who have learned about human life.» Said the boy with a cheerful face. I took out the player again, inserted the disc and pressed «Piay». «Scooter» came up. Listening to the music, I began to calm down little by little. And then suddenly someone’s unfamiliar Call slipped through. Someone was clearly asking for help. This is what I caught:



«Pain… What is it? It means nothing compared to what I feel at the moment. Nothing compared to the all-consuming fear, the horror beating inside, the cold wild despair that blossoms inside me — as if poisonous flower. I can’t relax for a minute, I can’t close my eyes, I’m afraid: I won’t be able to open them again. I don’t know how to overcome the horror, to force myself to calm down, to bring myself to my senses… A constant race, running in circles, RUNNING FROM MYSELF. The desire to relax — even for a moment, but that means death. Rest means resignation to the inevitable. I shouldn’t stop, I must run on! Despite my shortness of breath, despite the fact that I have no strength left. If I don’t give up now, if I live through this day, I will gain time. And perhaps even life itself.»



I turned off the player and started to watch. I wonder who is calling us, the Light Ones? The voice is so enchanting… I take out a notebook and write down the feelings that have washed over me, the Inquisitor. Waves of tenderness, bliss, even coldness… I begin to repeat the words in a whisper. First slowly, and then faster and faster — forgetting himself. From the outside he looked like a homosexual, who received a call on his cell phone from a tender, impressionable boy. The call… How passionate, though!



«A wonderful feeling! It originates somewhere inside me and rises higher and higher, trying to break out. It’s thirst. But it doesn’t torment, doesn’t dry you out, but on the contrary, it gives you strength, kindles the desire for life, and ultimately shows the way. I feel the blood boiling in my veins, calling me to action. It dictates the terms to me, controls me. How I want right now to tear the thin flesh, to get to the juicy, hot meat, full of life and juice, to drink the blood steaming with passion!«Tearing flesh with my teeth, trying to drink as much as possible. How I thirst for blood! I feel that if I don’t taste it soon, I will die… I must drink it today — during the day, then I will gain time until the next time. Until the next attack of thirst, then I will save my life.»



It’s enough to drive you wild… What a passion! What a howl! Never in my entire career at the Light Headquarters has anything like this happened! It’s clear: one of the young Mages has gone crazy. Flapping the air like slate, moving south.



Now, stop, Maxim!



This is the Call of the Dark Ones! There seem to be quite a few of them. They have gone wild, come out to hunt. And then, as it happens in Bratsk, there will be a feast with a Sabbath and a wild orgy.

And meanwhile, the clock says 14:30

I AM NOT ABLE TO RESIST THIS TERRIBLE AND BEAUTIFUL CALL ANY MORE. I AM CALLING A YOUNG MAN, OR A BOY WHO HAS ONLY RECENTLY REALIZED THAT HE IS NO LONGER A BOY AND CAN TO LOVE. PERSONALLY, I WON’T GO INTO THE CLUTCHES OF DARKNESS, SO VELVET, SO AT FIRST SO GENTLE. I WILL STAND THERE, GRITTING MY TEETH. THIS VOICE, LIKE A DRILL, DRILLS AND DRILLS MY BRAIN… FUCK YOU KNOW WHERE, YOU MUTANT VAMPIRE?! I AM STANDING IN THE CITY CENTER AT THE LENIN MONUMENT ON SOVETSKAYA STREET WITH HIGH HOUSES DECORATED WITH MOSAICS OF BLUE AND BLUE COLOR — IN THE FORM OF SQUARES. OK, TO HELL WITH THEM.



«How much longer can I run?! I have no more strength, I can’t do it anymore! Maybe I have a few more minutes to rest? Just a minute! I lean against the wall, trying to even out my breathing. My lungs are burning with a cold, dry fire. How dry my throat is! The pain hits me with a sharp impulse. I try to jerk, but something won’t let me go. It begins to spread, turning into such that you are afraid to move, so as not to make it even more painful. It is scary to make the slightest movement, and I stand, pressed against the wall, holding my breath. The wall.



A damn wall of thin plywood that can be pierced with a dagger. And I understand: I am pinned to the wall with a sharp one, which has become a momentary support for me, a deadly trap. Why, why didn’t I run further?! Fear grows when I hear approaching footsteps. Despair tells me — this is the end, today my life will end. How quiet and unhurried, although there is a clear sense of impatience in them. They still do not speed up. This slowness frightens even more. If the tip had pierced a little higher, then I would no longer feel the pain. Death is only feared when alive. Dead, I would finally conquer my fear. What if I were to die and still be afraid? What if the fear of the inevitable will not want to leave?



Every breath brings unbearable pain. My heart is mad, bursting out of my chest. I try to hold it back with my last efforts, but this makes my breathing even more difficult. I involuntarily shake with fear — knowing: this is precisely what I shouldn’t do. I felt movement very close, almost immediately heard heavy, ragged breathing. I pulled out a long, narrow dagger and plunged it into the wall made of thin plywood. I immediately heard a half-sob, half-sigh. I got it! I was slowly approaching, although I wanted to run there, to get to my goal as quickly as possible. But I had to restrain myself, slowness and leisurely pace should become the cause of even greater fear. I craved this feeling, I felt the intoxicating taste of fear on my lips… Like the taste of a kiss in bed with a beloved girl (the words are already floated in the invisible World as scarlet droplets — lines, all the letters written in blood, fear. Or are the Dark Ones catching someone, and the thought itself is so strong that it can be felt at a distance of several kilometers? Who do they want to grab there? Or have our Mages mixed up again? This happens very often in this forgotten backwater. Who is the prey SO afraid of? Maybe a novice is hunting for the first time, afraid of failure? Yes, he was driven away from the prey, and chased away, like a lion chases young from a carcass? The call comes from remote areas. Everything around has gone silent).



The pain is nothing compared to the sensations I feel. Nothing compared to the all-consuming fear, the horror beating inside, the cold, wild despair. I can’t relax for a minute, I can’t close my eyes, in fear that I won’t be able to open them again… I rush along the avenue — stinking and dirty, where fear and horror reign, hiding in every crack. I send out a Call for help, but who will hear? I don’t know how to make myself calm down. My legs start to tangle, my breathing quickens. I’m about to fall to the ground, and glittering fangs will sink into my throat, into my whole body, and numerous hands will grab me by all places. Strangely, they caress and drag me.



How tired I am of this black and white duality!



I am tired of the constant scandals in the family, on the topic of «Good — Evil». Sometimes I really want to get drunk, but I have no money. Then I periodically leave home, spend the night at someone’s place, and spit: on everything, on everyone. Whether my family is worried or not — it doesn’t matter from a high bell tower. They have morally crushed me! Leaving home is incomparable to anything pleasure. No rules, no responsibility for anything. But to keep silent, not to open your mouth — it’s dangerous all around.



In this city called «Bratsk» it’s scary to even say a word. They either won’t understand you, or they will understand you — but NOT the way they should. They’ll start to drive you away, re-educate you, condemn you. Again this stripedness… Nasty city! I hate it: because here you can’t have a sincere conversation with anyone, but you have to do such a simple little thing — hide behind a mask, breaking yourself. Forgive everything and everyone — and not give away what’s going on in your soul with a look or a gesture. You are a living target for those, who are not like you. Life itself is like a moment. Then — the death of everything human, the life of a being in full force begins. Sleepless nights will begin. Or days when all the Magi wander the streets like ordinary people. Having fun, drinking beer, other…



I DON’T WANT TO!!!



I don’t want to suffer, to be tormented, but I want to LIVE! Not to rush around the city like crazy for days, and then cry at night. Sometimes I really want to become a person again, not to shy away from those around me.






The gray haze could not dissolve the shell that had been growing on me in layers all my life — since birth, it could not bite through my soul, lick it. But I came out of there as an inhuman. I am not evil, not kind, but two-faced. Any side — Dark or Light — kills in me morality.



Amrod and I were glowing scarlet with our aura. Finally, the wall of our World inexplicably dissolved, and I dashed down the street again. It was unclear where the strength came from. The Dark Ones were not far behind. I wanted to move less and less. And then a body fell on me from behind. Long, blue fingers closed in a death grip on my shoulder.



— Last time I managed to escape, my dear! And now the Light Headquarters has finally failed! — His eyes flashed an emerald color, so unnatural for ordinary people. Blood spilled — penetrating, gentle, deep pain flowed into the brain, limbs… blood — it was unclear whose — froze in the air. In scarlet droplets, dust, and fell on my clothes, hair. I tried to dive from reality again.The vampire succeeded, he dragged me along with him — it is not clear where, to finally convert me. It did not help him — that little world does not like blood, releases us both into the normal world. Sprawled on the asphalt, I lick my lips, on which the bearer of life bubbles. I do not remember how a white fire flared up on my palm, how threw it with a weak hand into the enemy’s face. He doubled over with a furious howl. While he was howling and jumping, I crawled on my elbows somewhere into a corner. And then, overhead, with a squeal of pain, a giant bat flew past, disappearing behind the BRAZ.»

May 7, 2004. Someone’s flat, Andrey’s apartment

The magician our Enerik is going to kill. It’s seven o’clock in the evening. I’m sitting at the table. There’s a bottle of beer on it. I’m watching the people. Strange. Here comes the beeping of the mobile. I press the button, accept the call… but my head is spinning. Damn, stop drinking! I’ve never drunk so much before Bratsk! I wonder what the Bratsk people make their booze out of?!Hellish mixture — like horse piss mixed with honey. Ugh! Vodka is better! And with cucumbers!!!



— Hello! — Why are you yelling like that?



— It’s Max. — I feel like throwing up, I need to smoke.



— Of course it’s you. What happened there?



— They found Chameleon, who raised everyone’s ears. — I finally corrected my intonation. Although my tongue is already getting twisted.



— Excellent! — The boss was delighted. — Did you catch him?



— Uh… no…



— Why?!



— The Dark Ones found him first. That bastard named Amrod bit the guy.



A first-class curse poured out of the receiver. The province is the province! I hate it.



— I wonder what the enemies will do with this time bomb now? Will they take another hit? — Enerik asked mockingly, and was silent for a bit. — What’s the boy’s name, Maxim?



— No idea. We’ll ask Beregond now. — I responded politely and handed the cell phone to Svetly.



The evening smoothly flowed into night. The wind hummed outside the windows, shaking the wires and antennas on the roofs. Beyond the horizon — as far as the eye could see — a mountain range covered in forest was blue. Which had survived the flood. One could still see a lonely high mountain and a chain of low ones, stretched out in a single line. Near Andryukha’s house there was a ravine — also overgrown with forest, on its shore — a beach, and an abandoned Pioneer House there — our people call it Eden. The Bratskoye Sea has just — just begun to open up, ice floes were floating near its shores.



I go out onto the balcony, stand and smoke, holding a pipe in my hand. My bleeding gums sting, it’s cold. I can smoke until I’m stupefied — we never get sick. In three years I’ve grown long shaggy hair. I have them dark in color, a young face, but the years have already left their mark on it. It seems like an eternal student — but at the same time it is not he at all, but it is not clear who. Oh, a party animal by choice. Hair gathered in a ponytail, intercepted with a blue elastic band. I am wearing a blue shirt, blue jeans. In my bag are a can of coffee, a pack of cigarettes and a book on psychology. And what did you think about? No, I have a wife or a girlfriend and not at all — there is no need for it yet. And the Magician — a non-human — is the best psychologist in the world. The youth who sooner or later will get into my notes — reading the lines written above — will think: I have a couple of condoms stashed away. A plague on you for such words! Sexual desire has dulled over the years of loneliness, and the nature of the super-being has eaten it. Ate it, replacing it with another. Oh, what a word jumped out! And a dome of black energy hangs over Bratsk. Which slowly rotates over the House of Pioneers. Over Paradise for drug addicts and toxins.



Strange thoughts, huh, colleagues? Very strange and peculiar for this region, which used to be a zone. It can be felt everywhere. Here a crow cawed, — maybe barked, as it seemed. We need to get out of here! Damn, my legs ache again, I overdid it with nicotine. I’m falling in a chair, staring stupidly at the antenna.



Every word at Headquarters is explained to newcomers: for example, the Dark Ones will start talking a lot about Good, promising you luck, love. About how you need to think only about yourself, and not give a damn about everything and everyone. We don’t live in a garbage dump, but in apartments stuffed with electronics! Here’s what I’ll tell you, gentlemen Dark Ones. The Light Ones will say this: «Give uprenounce everything base, go forward along the most impassable road, let only ten rubles jingle in your pocket, and a thin jacket on your shoulders, — but your conscience and soul are pure as a tear.»



Naturally, for many this is incredibly difficult. But you have to endure everything, gritting your teeth, endure all the obstacles, failures — but then you will not regret anything. Personally, it was incredibly hard for me to part with my friends. I really did not want to leave, because I knew and understood WHERE I was going, WHAT awaited me in the distant province. I dumped it on tests, earnings. Naturally, I did not receive a penny. I also need to find out how the Magi live in Bratsk. I was drawn to black lyrics — I must have dreamed it. It sounds like this: «A girl arrived on a freight train from the city of ****sk»… Juicy. Then I saw this poem on the Internet, beautiful. I would shake the poet’s hand!



And I spend a lot of time on the Internet.



There are very few Light Ones here, but there are plenty of Dark Ones: gopniks without number, vampires, werewolves. All this despite the fact that the Light Headquarters is small in number!



The most powerful Light mage of the city and its suburbs is Enerik, I feel sorry for the boss: he has to take the rap for everyone! I help as much as I can, training him more scum to kill: they’ve had enough! They sit and eat at the entrance, every other word is a curse, they’ll probably start mooing soon! And also such people don’t like to wash themselves — because they are «non-formals», so cool! Who brought such crap here — I don’t understand! I would tear it to shreds if I found it! The city is small — very young, green in development! The city captured by the Dark — all around there are only drinking, partying, violence, flats, rastamen, prostitutes — witches who are having fun on the street South — and so on, so on, so on… Sexual games, perversions, orgies in Eden.



Today, as an experiment, we also arranged a flat, but without any crap.



— Enerik, I don’t know his name. They’re sending me a Call — they took it from the Dark Ones. We’ll report it. Rejoice: now we’ll have to sulk. — Beregond handed me the phone.



— So, Maxim, I’m counting on you! Bye!



— Bye! — I wiped my lips with the back of my hand. I put my cell phone in the bread bin: it’s iron.



There’s also a gateway around the house — narrow and gloomy, like our life, filled with the smell of earth, mustiness, in the light of the lanterns it seems: there’s someone in it. The Call of the Dark Ones wafted from there. The victim is being caught.



Behind the wall, someone choked and coughed. It smells of aromatic pickles. I stick my hand into the jar and pull out a couple of them, they are so cool, Siberian, just sugary! I pour some brine into a glass and wet my lips, eat some bread and butter. It won’t get any worse.



There is no tea at home, I have finished the last bread. I will have to go to the store, buy another cake — I am fed up with the monotonous food.



The Light Ones were having a great time. I looked at them through the invisible World — only Andrey is registered for work and life here.



And time goes by…

19—20

I fell over a stool and broke a flower pot. I look at the phone in the breadbox — it’s silent. And on top of that, the battery is running out. There’s nothing to do, some teenagers are yelling songs on the neighboring balcony. It’s shitty, damn.

19—22

Beregond wanted some bread, and they sent me to the store. I bought the cheapest one — they would probably leave me alone. When I looked at it with my inner vision, I realized: the expiration date had expired two weeks ago. That’s why it was so black, incomprehensible, crooked. The money is Beregond’s, let him eat it himself, if that’s the case. I’ll get myself some wine.

19—30

I fly into the apartment through the Portal, people are laughing at Petrosyan. Cool. A number popped up on the mobile. Unanswered call. Boss. Clap your hands, do the cleaning! In the room that was given to me as a bedroom, there are paintings hanging and a nest of pillows, bags, blankets and even a basket on the sofa. I dumped everything on the floor and sent a text message. My head is full of crap.

19 — 35

The light ones are cursing me behind the wall — I bought rotten bread. I won’t go and drink tea.

19 — 45

A text message came. I carefully blew on the receiver, everything went quiet: the battery was dead. I threw the phone into the invisible reality — let it recharge!

20 — 00

Someone throws my cell phone out of the wall. Caught it. Played the Headquarters anthem on the guitar. People liked it. They are having a great time.



What will happen here in a month or two? I don’t know. And who cares — depression. And people don’t want to understand me, not at all. They just laugh.

FOUR HOURS LATER. 23 — 30

Suddenly — out of the blue — a car pulled up to our entrance. An ambulance. Several Magi got out — I couldn’t tell who. They pulled out a stretcher, and on it was a fair-haired boy with bandages and a scarf wrapped around his neck. He was barely breathing and was about to die from blood loss. Somehow the patient was holding on with his hand by the carotid artery, his body already translucent. A little more — and he would go into invisibility. Blood bubbled on his lips.



Two Light Ones dove through the wall into the entrance — through the invisible World. The stranger urgently needs to be operated on, why did they bring him to us?! What can we do?! Another phenomenon in the psyche of the people. But no, they came for good reasons: the young man — Light a vampire bit! The Peace is broken, he’s going to court! Glory to the Light, if by pure chance he turns out to be a Chameleon! Then there was a knock on the door, and they were pounding hard.



— Sergey and Alexander, what does this mean?! — The owner of the apartment freaked out. He didn’t like this kind of visit.



— What do you mean? And you don’t even know? — one of our guys yelled in his face. — An attack on Svetly has been registered! The poor guy was mentally calling for help as long as he had the strength! (I couldn’t help but remember the strange Call on Sovetskaya Street.) The unfortunate man was found in a dirty alleyway, Sergei took the boy to his home, and from therealready to the hospital. The people there threw up their hands: they couldn’t determine who had bitten him like that: pieces of flesh were hanging! The wound was still bleeding! We don’t know what kind of blood to transfuse!



I glanced at the wounded man with my penetrating vision. Yes, he was not human. His white aura suddenly and unexpectedly began to darken, soon turning into a gray clot. Then it turned black, and again… I wonder! What is SO the poor guy did something wrong, since the vampires caught him? Oh yeah — I was smoking, that’s why I think so! The Dark Ones made a fool of me, there’s nothing to say. They almost killed the teenager.



— Interesting stuff: the Dark Ones started hunting the Light Ones. Have they completely degraded, or… They got little in February, little: then Tilsirve — the Great Sorceress — staged a massacre.She turned the Dark Mage she was in love with into a Svetoch. He had tried to make the beauty a witch before! And it was too bad — the Great Light One left for St. Petersburg right after the massacre! Now Bratsk really needs her… I need to get her dossier — I’m interested. — Beregond muttered under his breath.



— Let’s get out of here… — he added to Yegor, as the wounded man’s upper lip twitched: fangs were growing. This is what we needed! — Tie this monster to the bed immediately, we’ll watch. Look, the passport is glowing in the pocket of his jeans!



Sergey rummaged through the pockets of the creature’s trousers, leafed through the burgundy booklet. Or a student ID — I didn’t understand: it was so dim in the room.



— The dying man’s name is Alexander, sixteen years old. — He immediately lightly touched the victim with the Power of Memory and frowned. — Amrod did his job.



— What a bastard… — Someone hissed. — Call Enerik quickly! Why are you all standing there like sheep?! You were able to cast a false memory on an ambulance driver, but you can’t call the boss?!



— I don’t give a damn about your thoughts… — Andrey opened the window and threw a part of the Force there, opening the Portal. The Archmage appeared right there — disheveled and sleepy. Apparently, he was sleeping at the table.



— Well, well… — the Bright One muttered, wiping the sweat from his forehead. He jumped off the windowsill onto the floor. — Who else showed up on a stretcher at this hour of the night with a torn neck? Maybe someone is here with Sasha figure it out? We couldn’t do anything — all the employees had little experience: green, small fry. I’m probably going crazy after sixty years of living here… Look at Glomen, what a bastard! It seems like his roof has completely flown off. Now I’ll send this youngster on the floor to his forefathers forever. Because I don’t understand — what are the Dark Ones counting on, having bitten Chameleon?



— WHAT?! — The whole team gasped.



— Didn’t I say that? The chameleon is lying on a stretcher, well done! Bonuses will be given to everyone, once we hush it up.



— Yeah, that’s why the body won’t die. — I coughed into my fist.



— The Dark Ones haven’t done such mayhem in these parts since ’66. And Glomen doesn’t seem to understand: by forcing the find, he risks destroying his entire Headquarters! The guy got drunk, got drunk, and went into Chekanovsky.



— What does he have to do with it?! Amrod needs to be put on trial — he’s sticking his nose in everything! Let’s erase the teenager’s previous initiation before it’s too late, let’s give him a choice again! — I couldn’t stand it and started yelling.



— He’s right. — Beregond chuckled, beaming, then fainted.



— You’ve had enough…

MIDNIGHT

— Maxim, what do you say to that? Your head is probably a complete mess.



— What can I say? You have to be completely out of your mind to attack the Chameleon!



— One thing infuriated him: there is Light in Sashka! He took a swig so that the Darkness would overpower him. That is completely useless.



— Guys. I don’t give a damn what this little bastard liked or didn’t like. Chameleon was bitten by a vampire, he could become one if he goes over to the Dark Side! — Enerik sat down on the sofa, propped his cheek with his palm. He looked gloomy. — Let’s find out if the amulet will help Sasha. I’m talking about the wound. — He took the chain with the claw from Beregond and put it on the wounded man’s neck. And the kids stood there like sheep, not even trying to help, at that moment they looked like dolls with glass eyes. Alexander arched his back, gritting his teeth in pain.



— Did you see? — the boss chuckled. — The Dark Side is rapidly gaining the upper hand, the Light is hindering it. It’s no use: something needs to be done. Sergey, come here!



— What needs to be done? — He finally came out of his stupor.



— Say the sacred word.



— I’m turning you…



— STOP! — I was scared. — You can’t do this! Can you imagine what kind of whirlwinds of Power will rise up now?! Where, where should we put him now?



A few hours later — two or three — Sasha began to recover automatically. He could even speak, and I decided to talk to him.



— Why are you running around like crazy?



— I’m scared… — he whispered.



— What’s scary?



— Even if I do a good deed, my conscience starts to torment me: should I do this?



— What do you mean by that?



— Good, Light Ones! Where were you before, when this crisis began?! Why, why didn’t you call me to your side?! I’m sitting here, like a damned thing, in this hole, I can’t find a place for myself! (and he’s still a child, damn it!) Left alone with my problems. And so I want affection and care! (if this whining continues, I’ll start swearing!) I don’t want to depend on anyone… — Our common Chameleon closed his eyes.



Classical music was playing in the next room — Shostakovich, Schubert, Mozart, Kalman. Light, pure melodies. This is how Beregond wanted to calm everyone down, turning on the tape recorder with a disk. Music radiating Light.



— You fight, fight, Sashenka! The darkness is trying to overcome! — Enerik whispered, stroking the guy’s head. The music died down immediately.



— He can’t fight: he becomes Dark. — I said, taking a sip of beer: nerves!



— Exactly! — A voice was heard from behind.



I turned around and met Glomen’s gaze.

OO — 30 at night

As if nothing had happened, Glomen sits there, sits at the table and drinks Bratskoe beer, which tastes worse than wine. Light. He dragged it with him, and got here with the help of the Portal. As if by an invisible command, the classics were replaced by hard rock.



Sergey — Glomen’s long, dark hair is tied in a ponytail, a gangster, obscene smile of satisfaction floated across his face. The magician predatorily looked around the large room, his eyes shining with a mad fire: the way a cobra looks at its prey when it is afraid of death. In his left ear hangs an earring with a ruby — in the form of a flower (oh, how touching!), and on his neck — on a chain — well, you have to think of that — a CHRISTIAN CROSS WITH A SEVEN-STAR PENTAGRAM! I have NEVER seen such a combination ANYWHERE before.



The dark magician sat with his hands on the table, laughing to himself. He was pleased… very much so. And how could he not be, if his stepson, his adopted son Amrod, had bitten the unfortunate victim? Now the Light Ones were finished.



He sits there, giggling, sipping beer — from a straw. What a freak, what a pervert! Dressed all in black, only a silver cloak on his back. A beautiful combination, nothing to say — covering a black, vile soul.



— This time we are both lucky, comrades, — he spoke with a satisfied look, as was written above, — your boy is bitten, and there is nothing you can do, Enerik!



He first glanced at him half-turned, then took offense.



— Have you come to take him? Too late! He is ours, not yours, we will cure the boy of his filthy blood!



— And now we’re even. We have a unique specimen in our hands. He can make anyone fall in love with him, corrupt him, and then abandon him. Yes, it will be difficult for the Light Ones.



— It will be difficult for you too… — The golden-haired one reached into the refrigerator and took out a jar of kefir. — You came to ask for help. So why don’t we talk about this? In a normal setting, without beer? Huh?



— Listen, you, Gray Dog, — the Dark Mage poked a thick finger at Sasha, — by what right did you disfigure my son’s face?!



— If you were being killed, you would have done the same. — The unfortunate man groaned, opening his eyes. — I’ve already killed one of yours, which means I’ll become a Light One. Here you go, fat mage… — The wound on his neck disappeared, as if it had never been there. But words were still difficult for him. — So, If I’m half Dark, then I can be driven around the city and suburbs every day, right? Do you have a conscience, dear half-colleague? Because of you, I can’t eat, sleep, or go to the computer club in peace! I walk the streets, afraid of the slightest rustle! Leave me alone!



You’ve scared me… Really.



Slowly, slowly, Chameleon unfastened the Beregond chain on his neck and threw the discharged amulet on the floor. Which even cracked in the middle.



«You know why it’s useless to initiate me, Glomen!» The mutant brought both palms together, on which Light and Darkness flared, thoroughly mixing the Force. «Even I can’t do that! A real living nuclear bomb, or a pregnant woman: don’t touch, don’t breathe, don’t make noise, or it will explode or give birth. It will explode so much that there will be nothing to collect. Kilometers of water will splash over us.



For some reason I remembered a song by the fraternal group «Maz’», not very pleasant when you listen to it: they sing about all sorts of rubbish. About things that people don’t talk about — except for teenagers. But young people are delighted with obscene songs. Degradation…

I AM A NUCLEAR SNAIL

I am a NUCLEAR snail,



Forgive me for being disabled,



I have hundreds of tons of TNT,



I will boldly go out into the sun —



A big mushroom will grow,



When my body breaks…



It looks like it, right? This is the only song I liked. The video for it is similar to Masyanya.



Both the Light and the Dark have sat in a puddle. It is unclear how to get up and wipe themselves off. Maybe we should wait until the puddle dries itself?

TWO HOURS AND FORTY MINUTES AT NIGHT. FLAT

Sasha is delirious, he has a fever.



— You cannot understand the indifference of reasons…



I sit and think. Yes. Indeed, the Magi from Siberia are not at all like their relatives from Moscow or St. Petersburg. At least they understand the essence of their service in the Headquarters, but here it’s a complete collapse. I feel sorry for Enerik. If only our boss would go far, far away from here. We’ll cure Chameleon of Darkness — what should we do with him next? He’s mortally scared. On the one hand, Alexander will start to bring us some benefit, and harm. At the same time, we will all become oh so afraid of the new guy. This duplicity will not benefit any Headquarters. Glomen announced: he has begun evacuating the Dark Ones for a while. Until then, he will sit somewhere — until the situation stabilizes.



By the way… then where should the Light Ones go? There is a live bomb in Andryukha’s apartment. The Bratsk rabble is moving to Chekanovsky — and now this settlement can confidently be called Transylvania number two. We can’t kill the poor guy, really!



Another Dark One, Amrod, emerged from the invisible World. He sat down at the table and immediately buried his face in the salad. Meanwhile, in invisibility, Sasha took on a rather wild appearance: he would turn into a lizard, which is typical for the Dark Ones, and then the scales would disappear. Instead, white, angel-like robes appeared, a light above his head. It looked very scary, and we were amazed at how he could endure such things at his age! How he was twisting inside: his pupils became oval, round, slits. The tragedy of the situation was also in something else: the young man did not even sleep, but stared at the ceiling, almost without moving. Sometimes he glanced at Enerik, then at Glomen, who sat on either side of the bed.



«Come to us, I will help you.» Says the Celt, pouring Light into Chameleon.



«Come to us, I will help you.» Echoes Glomen, adding Darkness.



And both were smiling, holding hands. He, like a pump, was pumping the Force out of both of them. If the Light side prevailed, the boy’s appearance changed to white clothes. If the Darkness took over, he turned into a lizard. Everything was very similar to the following: Light and Darkness were in harmony with each other! It was impossible to separate them using any of the known methods. Our new hybrid looked at the ceiling in fear, but his face — no emotion, no words, nothing, like a mechanical doll.



Finally something happened — Amrod raised his head, and I saw: his cheek was decorated with a giant scar. The skin had grown together poorly in a short time, his beautiful face was disfigured by half: as if a sabre had struck his cheek.



The vampire sat, puffed up, hissed with anger. He wanted to take revenge, but it was impossible! Even he was curious about HOW the experiment on Alexander, who drew Light and Darkness in equal doses, would end. Both bosses would end up looking like a squeezed lemon, or the prisoner himself would die. The force would kill him, and the balance between Bratsk and Energetik would collapse completely. Then? The world-famous hydroelectric power station would burst.



— This guy is stronger than me… — Glomen muttered in amazement and moved away.



— And he surpassed me… — Agreed Enerik.



At five in the morning Glomen and Amrod left, and the unfortunate man lost consciousness.

May 7th
May 8th
May 9th
May 10th, May 11th

All the days up until the 20th are quiet. The Dark Ones have moved to Chekanovsky, Sasha is unconscious, and Andrey is eternally depressed.

May 20th

The situation changes radically: the boss ordered me to meet with someone.



Have you ever heard of Eden? The place in the Bible is called paradise, where you can do anything. But something bad happened — some Adam and Eve were tempted — they ate an apple from the Tree of Knowledge. The consequences are clear — God got angry and destroyed Paradise, and kicked out the culprits of the tragedy. And so it went. The biblical version. And this is what life is like.



In Bratsk, Eden is the name given to the abandoned Palace of Pioneers made of brick and concrete, where the wind always blows, and around this building there is a forest. It is beautiful here in the summer, because the building is located in a ravine — near the last stop of trolleybus number four. Opposite is the Memorial of Glory, where the Eternal Flame is lit. Nearby is an airplane and a tank, if you pass by and go down — then there, at the edge of the shore, is the Bratskoye Sea.



I almost never went there, but I heard: this is a gathering place for Dark Magicians. From afar you can see — the walls are covered with such words: «Vsevolod Ogorodin», «Viktor Tsoi is alive», next to them there are several guitars, hexagrams, pentagrams, a couple of graffiti… Sometimes, figures in robes appear on the roof of the abandoned building, bandanas. They spend hours running up and down the stairs, yelling at the top of their lungs: «I’m a punk, I don’t give a damn!»



At this time, I highly recommend not going down into the ravine or approaching the abandoned building: they’ll tear you to shreds. They’re like wild animals: they perceive everything quite aggressively. Because in reality, they’re not punks at all — they’re non-humans, wild ones, who consider themselves punks. So Eden is, in a way, Paradise… Paradise for False Punks and Dark Ones, where they gather almost every week.



But they suffered a vendetta: among this rabble, a person was found who loved eternal fun, but at the same time suffered from loneliness. Light mage of the third level — seventeen years old a guy with a dark past. I judged him for a crime and violation of the Charter in relation to the Sorceress, and it was with him that I had to meet. I wonder: will he be scared or not? In Eden at the end of winter there was a massacre — when all the Dark Ones were killed by a beauty named Tilsirve.



The boy, who was the cause of all the fuss back then, rarely shows up at Headquarters: once every six months. Now the boss has dragged him out into the light. I don’t understand one thing: WHY? Enerik called me on my cell phone, sending me a portrait on my camera, and I immediately recognized the young boy.



Throwing my backpack over my shoulder, I went down into the ravine. From under my feet, grasshoppers that had just come into the world scattered like rain, the first butterflies flew, and the weather was unusually warm. The grass, which was barely beginning to sprout, smelled fragrant and incomprehensible. Dandelions were blooming, from which the locals make jam — a little sour, but similar in consistency and color to honey. The willow is in full bloom. There is a lot of it here: the golden haze in the air absorbs swarms of bees and bumblebees. I go around only birches and pines — there are a lot of them there ticks. I can also climb into the Portal, go invisible. I just don’t want to. At the moment I was admiring the unusual Siberian nature for me, my soul was singing, flying. Probably, lovers fly in the same way, and I have long since disowned love. Perhaps forever.



I don’t know what I’ll do in the summer. When the Dark Headquarters calms down, the first thing I’ll do is rush to Moscow. There I’ll enjoy life, I will hug all my colleagues and friends, and maybe I will never return to the province. Maybe I am offended because I can’t find happiness for myself in the amount of one female person? Probably, this will never happen to me — I am not worthy of anyone’s love, gratitude: it is almost impossible to love me — I am cruel, cold. Although, inside I am completely different, like a child, kittens that need to be squeezed, squeezed constantly. This still needs to be considered, and not everyone can do it. Maybe I won’t go anywhere, I don’t know. Maybe I’ll drag Enerik to Moscow and show him what real life is.



There are several ravines in Bratsk — also near the port. The slopes there are steep and dangerous. You can definitely break your neck there! I’ll go there I won’t stick my nose in: Glomen trains his people there, last summer our guys found a body there. Everyone got scared and ran to the police at once. The cops, of course, came to the scene. I don’t know if the Dark Ones were tormented by their conscience after such an act: they did good! Great, otherwise no one would have found the girl.



And to hell with it… I kicked the bump with my foot and looked at Eden through the invisible: empty, no one there. It got cold unexpectedly. But not because a cloud had run over the sun. Twenty minutes later I was hooked by the Call. Medium strength, but its owner is strong. And maybe a vampire: The Light Ones don’t send like that! He was mesmerizing, I wanted to listen and listen, dragged into the windfall, I climbed onto fallen trunks. I fell, tearing my jeans at the knees, got up and walked again. Like a geologist, sweat was pouring down my back. Finally, having made it to the bus stop, having shaken myself off, I raised my head up.



A fair-haired young man stood on the roof of Eden and waved his hand, on which a ring with a skull was flaunted. At that moment, when he lowered his hand, the melody died down. Strong… Very strong at seventeen! How can you not be strong if you drank the life-giving Power of the Sorceress, whom you loved to the point of unconsciousness?! Sucked it up to zero, and then threw it away — provoking the lady to revenge? The scoundrel is dressed like this: a red bandana, a black shirt with the inscription «Merlin Manson», worn jeans. Slender, beautiful figure of almost two meters, hair perfectly styled, but the eyes… nasty, disgusting, like those of a notorious womanizer — a seducer and a deceiver. It’s very good that Tilsirve left! Almost killed her with my damn Darkness!



— I was waiting for you, Maxim. Go up to the roof.



He didn’t seem to recognize me. Although the boss told him. What naivety! The Sorceress protected and loved you! And you, bastard, almost dragged her into bed. When she refused, you sent her away as hard as you could. And she cut out everyone who was your friend, your brother. What are you looking at, scum? Come down yourself! The girl was alone — all alone among the dirty company of the Dark, you didn’t give a shit about her feelings, emotions. And I don’t give a shit about you, your help. Okay, I’ll get up.



— Hello. Who are you? — I look at my interlocutor with a penetrating vision. Yes, he is Light, but his aura is like an overhead, forcibly sealed to his character. Like a band-aid. Fake — like replacing a hand with a prosthesis. There was something wild hidden in this guy, ominous, driven into the very corner and hiding behind the Light. Two seals shone on his chest: one local, the other fiery. Seeing my wariness, the magician held out a cigarette. I took a lighter out of my pocket.



— Ah… it’s you, Maxim… — He immediately lost heart. — My name is ILLYO. — He looks confused, frightened. — I have never oppressed or remade anyone else! — My memory did not deceive me!



Illyo…



I see his Power again. It’s changing, getting used to its owner. Unformed Destiny Now he can grow up either as a complete egoist, or as a magnificent Mage with a pure soul. It all depends on him. If he gets into the right place, and doesn’t lead a depraved life.



— What happened there? Anything terrible?



— Something happened that we never expected. Have you ever heard of mages with dual energy? With the help of the Dark Ones, we caught one person from the village, who now has the nickname «Time Bomb».



— I know. I experienced it myself when the Massacre in Eden happened and all the Dark Ones came to an end. At first, only me and Glomen remained. Remember?



— I remember.



— And what, again?!



— Yes, again. And something even worse will happen if we don’t find the reason for this. The dam will burst.



— I don’t believe it!



— I didn’t believe it either, until I saw it with my own eyes. Now both Headquarters are on the verge of defeat. The Dark Ones are hiding in the nearest village. — I rattled off, looking at the distant, high mountain where the summer houses were. Their roofs were shining in the sunlight. Meanwhile, Illyo threw his cigarette down.



— They won’t succeed! This Supermage will get there without any problems, and then they…



— And the Light Ones too. — I added, grinning bitterly. — The Chameleon will harm anyone it meets along the way. Well, just like…



— There is a way out, you probably won’t like it. — The freak said coldly, looking at the sea with cloudy eyes, already smoking his third cigarette. So young, and he smokes so much! How can his heart stand it?



— What are you going to offer us?



— I suggest killing. There’s no other way. This guy will only be in danger if he kills someone. He’s probably already managed to kill someone with his running schedule. A nasty thing like that can do ANYTHING in a fit of frenzy. Or we need to stage an accident — things are settled, Bratsk’s balance will be restored. The best way. I know. just one killing spell. One blow will be enough, a wet spot will remain from our boy.



— You yourself were barely a wet spot left at sixteen, when you ran into the Great One, Dark Mage! So that you don’t dare raise your hand against the Chameleon! You were asked to help in a good way, and not in a bad way. — Wow! I was sincerely amazed by the brat’s reaction. Despite his outward calm, he still had so much insolence, rudeness, selfishness — I was amazed how he could be reborn in that massacre! And he’s called the Light One! Maybe it’s a play on words — to test me, the sly one! — You want me to find him and kill him, right?



— How else? — Illyo was stubborn. — It seems you know it yourself: if the mutant mage dies, then the danger will pass!



We went down, went along the highway out of town.



— You speak very interestingly, Svetly, — I spit through my teeth, — a truly untranslatable play on words, and behind each of them there is hidden the vulgarity that you used to love to insert into your speech! You smell of darkness, and this should not be. Have you ever, with your life philosophy, tried to create a group yourself without help? — I had already begun to play along, watching, like a teenager trying to mentally put a barrier around himself. So that I couldn’t get to the truth. For me, cracking such people is a piece of cake: I’ve met worse. Ilyo grinned.



«Yes, I am like that…» Svetoch said with pleasure.



Behind Bratsk — near «Artek» and «Solnechny», which are located on a mountain — there is a clearing. Very similar to the Chernobyl landscape. The Light and Dark call it the Amphitheater. And it’s true: the concrete blocks there are assembled in such a way that they resemble a funnel. You can sit on them, drink beer — and then, as everyone says, «you start to get into your head"sip beer — and then, as everyone says, philosophical thoughts start knocking on your head. But I know — under the influence of beer there can be no such thoughts. It’s a mirage, an illusion, where it’s easy to get lost. Like a dream: you sleep, but you can’t wake up. When you wake up — you don’t understand what really happened.



We are sitting on the ruins of a children’s playground — under rusty street lamps. To get there, we had to climb up the slopes for a long time, because the hills are covered with rubble. It is almost impossible to climb up, and the only way to get down from there is to slide down, your whole body will be covered in bruises. Ilyo slid into an abandoned garage, where the informals and Magi lit fires, throwing in whatever they could get their hands on. An electric guitar was drawn on the wall, which I really didn’t like. At the bottom was a nasty inscription, written with an aerosol can.



Then Illyo, adjusting his belt, went to look for boards in the yard, and I stayed to wait for him. Thinking, why the hell did I come here? Should I trust this former Dark One or not. How quiet! Even the birds aren’t singing. The light bulbs on the rusty lampposts are knocked out — they look at you with empty eye sockets, gaping mouths. Underfoot there is rusty wire, iron, and even syringes — with traces of blood, AIDS. The place really did resemble Chernobyl — quiet, empty, everything abandoned, broken, destroyed, and most importantly — scary. There is cretinism here, all because of iodine deficiency, and underage people are going crazy. But one plus — from the mountain the city of Bratsk is visible as if in the palm of your hand. In the middle of the city rises a television tower one hundred and ninety-five meters high, and if it were possible to climb the tower itself, then you could see even further. You can see more interesting landscapes: behind the Kovrizhka hill you can see the sea, and to the right of it — a mountain, also overgrown with forest, and behind it — the sea again, and again — a mountain.



Behind them stretches the Iysky Bay, the mountains — and so on to infinity into the horizon. Very beautiful places, people are very cruel, vulgar to the point of horror, distrustful, with difficult, unbearable characters. You can communicate with them in a good way, but they… Maybe that’s why I can’t settle down here. I can’t find a normal job that would pay four thousand at most. I don’t have any real friends, and if they exist anywhere, they are only VERY FEW.



Eh, people and non-people! You need to move forward towards morality and innocence. Only one attachment to this city holds you, and that’s the mistake: we fish the unfortunate out of the shit — they crawl back like pigs! What can you do? Pigs are pigs. Among them there are Light, Dark. Or am I missing something?



I hear boards falling on the cracked asphalt. Big ones: Illyo found firewood. Here he is, climbing up the small ladder leading from the grove to the Amphitheater, five logs on his shoulder. He threw them at the wall with all his might, set one board down, kicked it so hard it cracked in half. Now it will be a little warmer.



— A chameleon, you say? That’s strange: I’ve never seen such specimens before. Maybe it’s not a Mage at all? — Someone suggested, biting into a cheese sandwich.



— Maybe it’s definitely not related to chromosomes. — I joked, taking a loaf of bread and a baked ham out of my backpack.



— Maybe it is, how do you know? — The interlocutor answered dryly and coldly, wincing. — We have all heard the old legend about how the strongest Mages appear in families where illegitimate children are born from generation to generation. This process begins like this: a girl gives birth to a girl, she too, and the third illegitimate child becomes a witch. If this continues lawlessness — witches are resting. Magicians are mutating. Their children have terrible powers, capable of surpassing even the Great Ones! It seems that your and our Chameleon is one of them, Your Highness. I agree to help — in a few days I’ll dig around on the Internet, find the necessary sites and find out where the dog is buried and her grave is poured with beer. I’ll try to dig up to the tenth — twentieth generation, agreed?



— Agreed… Illyo. And in five or six days you will bring me the material on everything. Then we will break down the genealogy bit by bit. Thank you… colleague. — I squeezed out the last word with incredible difficulty: It smells of darkness — The light aura is false!



He didn’t say anything in response. When we parted, it was already getting dark. And then, on the guy’s right cheek, I saw a strange scar — in the shape of a cross, I asked what it was.



— He was fighting in an invisible reality, it hurt. In five days, we’ll meet at my place. Call. Goodbye! — The hybrid said dryly and disappeared into the shadows.



May twenty-fifth.



I’m sitting at home, worrying.



May twenty-sixth.



Same thing.



May twenty-ninth.



The phone rings. I pick it up half asleep and realize it’s Illyo. So he was trying to find out something, he must have gotten scared. I get ready in a flash and go to his house (while I finish writing).



He literally dragged me into his apartment from the doorway. Before I could come to my senses, he sat me down at the computer. I took a sip of beer and asked:



— Well, did you dig through the archives about ours?



— You bet! — The employee’s eyes were shining. — I spent two days surfing the Internet, spent all my pocket money on the cards, but there’s a sea of information! I saved it all to my disk, you’ll like it. I only dug up information up to the seventeenth century, — further is inaccessible. Wall. — The guy was loading an unknown program. While I looked around the mess in the room in amazement, he quickly inserted the disk into the hard drive. After opening the folder, what appeared before our eyes was such a — ah — genealogy — our eyes ran wild! Every now and then the hired man enlarged the image. The font was, as luck would have it, very small, written in calligraphic handwriting. The paper with which scanned the information, it turned out to be very old, crumbling with time, but it was worth it!



Something shocking turned out: the age of the mothers who gave birth to their first child was very young — sixteen (!) years old, or a year older. The first generation, the second, the third — all as if conspired! All, damn it, sixteen! Only once did a lady of a certain age flash by. A rather strange phenomenon was also discovered — the women died relatively early. No grandmas or grandpas — only green youth. I could not figure out why. The hair on my head began to move: they were probably surprised too!



— Listen, — my eyes couldn’t tear themselves away from the monitor, — is this a religious sect? Did kids kill their parents when they turned sixteen? So that’s it! — and I decided: «Well done, Enerik, but why didn’t you go online yourself?»



— Well… — Illyo hesitated, since he himself did not understand the genealogy layout, — having reached the age of fifteen or sixteen, they… hmm… lost their virginity en masse. Then they gave birth, and… — and he grinned maliciously, but with a sly smile: apparently, he himself was a sinner. Since thirteen. — Exactly. But the mothers did not die young, and this is not a sect. — He added.



I was starting to get it a little.



— How is it not a cult?!



— What you’re about to hear, Max, will be a sensation. I hacked the main database. Do you know who they all are?



— Who? — My voice dropped.



— HEREDITARY MAGES. In fact, here are the years of their birth, and the years of acceptance into the Headquarters. From a human point of view, they died of an accident. After that, the traces are lost. I am powerless to figure out their biographies. This is far from a human site.



— Eh… — My eyes popped out of my head. HOLY SHIT… THEY GIVE BIRTH TO INHUMANS! THIS CANNOT BE! AN IMPUTTED JOKE!



— Maxim, Your Grace, you shouldn’t have brought up the chromosomes. About mutation: there’s some truth in every joke.



And he laughs, burying his face in the keyboard. I’m not laughing. If these Magi didn’t die, then where are they now?! Where?! In Russia, Germany, France, or have they all become disembodied shadows in another World? No, not everyone has been laid to rest — only a handful of people and Alexander remain. Here is his year of birth, place of birth, first and last name. Now it finally becomes clear why neither Light nor Darkness prevails in him. Everything has merged in his genes. And so a super-being was born — half-werewolf, half-vampire, half-magician. Truly, a hellish mixture. A super-being, very young, who put both Headquarters at risk!



Despite the help of a friend, I saw the following: he was hiding something, but he didn’t want to talk. I need to ask the chief for an archive about him, no one has the right to refuse me. Meanwhile, the owner took the disk out of the hard drive and handed it to me with an impassive face. At home, I decided to find out if there was anything else there. It turned out to be jammed. Besides genealogy there were several folders there — with a dossier on the asshole himself and the Light girl. He began to read the footnote with the photograph of the defendant, studying.



«Illyo, Magician. Identified at the age of thirteen by the Dark Magician, lives in the city of Bratsk in the Irkutsk region, on Komsomolskaya Street in a dormitory, maintains friendly relations with the Dark and Light, under the supervision of the Light Headquarters has repeatedly

got into trouble — for corrupting underage girls. Sixteen years old, studies at Grammar School No. 1, repeatedly skips classes, smokes, drinks, has sex with the first people he comes across. Studies in the eleventh grade, attacks the new Svetly, is capable of murder.»



«Tilsirve, nineteen and a half years old, lives in Bratsk on Mira Street. As a Sorceress, she was discovered at thirteen by her cousin just like that, out of curiosity. Doesn’t work, doesn’t study, secondary education, was a member of the Light Headquarters of St. Petersburg, the Headquarters of Bratsk, maintains friendly relations with Glomen and his team. Later she ran away from them. During the time stay in Bratsk violated the Charter, was noticed by the Inquisition in Eden, — in early 2005, she cut all the Dark Ones along with Enerik. Capable of murder as a defense.» Damn, what a beauty! Fragile, thin in the photo, in a silver cloak… Gods! And she waves a sword like that?! I wish I could hug you — we would sing together, Lady. The diskette continued video of Illio’s interrogation, he was tortured by the boss himself in a cage — in his office. I noticed the catch correctly: Illio is actually a Dark One who was turned to the Light against his will. In the past, this slippery type was a thug who did a lot of dirty tricks, but at the same time he managed to study at a school for young naturalists, danced in a ballroom dancing club — without giving any indication of his secret life.



He committed his first offense against a woman — or a girl — at the age of thirteen, on a gopota flat. Since the boy had no friends or acquaintances. At first, the bastard wanted to involve Glomen and the Dark Headquarters, but then the Light side suddenly woke up in the guy. He snooped around the courtyards, repeatedly appeared at the Bonfire, behaved like a good boy in front of strangers and carried around Yin-Yang amulet. Studied Buddhism, martial arts. Writes poetry, songs. Goes to sessions, performs in an unknown rock band. Didn’t believe in love and still doesn’t believe in it — he thinks: it doesn’t exist, there is only sex and nothing more, that’s enough.



I didn’t watch any further, turned off the computer. I pick up the phone, call Enerik.

JUNE 2. SIX IN THE MORNING. GATHERING AFTER THE NIGHT SHIFT

The boss walked around the office, his hands behind his back. Today he was in a bad mood because of my news. His beautiful face was distorted with anger. His voice sometimes broke into a shout:



— It’s beyond comprehension! It’s scary to believe! Have you ever heard of the Dynasties of Mages? This is some kind of nonsense! Bluff! The scoundrel Illyo simply made up a story and passed it off to Maxim as the truth!



— Bluff? I don’t think so. — Yegor said quietly, wiping sweat from his forehead. — We have a unique case before us: every generation gives birth to children at sixteen. You rarely hear such things, you rarely find information about them anywhere. I wonder who tried to… hmm… give birth to them so early?



The Archmage sat down in a chair, clasping his head in his hands.



— It is known why. In teenagers, especially young men, the peak of sexual maturity and attraction to the opposite sex is at sixteen. A hormonal explosion. And hormones, as we know, hit the brain. The result is disastrous: you want a big and pure love — once or twice, it doesn’t take long. The consequences are bitter. — Valyuk put forward the idea.



— Never, not once have we seen a case of Mages giving birth to Mages! Every time, after marriage! Here, Dark and Light are stamped out, like a carbon copy! When I saw these damned ill-fated genealogies, I felt sick… — I exclaimed irritably.



— Give me the disk, Maxim. — The Celt said quietly. I handed it to him. He stood up and continued to pace back and forth, looking furiously at the evidence.



— A hopeless situation. Nothing can be changed anymore: from now on and forever, Light and Darkness remain in Alexander’s genes. The young man must be accepted into the ranks of the Light, but his every step must be watched. He will not like this, no one is to blame for his tragedy. Let the Inquisitor decide what to do now. — Enerik glanced suspiciously in my direction. — I still doubt the authenticity of the dossier.



— Your will. — I answered. — I don’t blame Illyo. He did everything he could.



I went to the wall, sat down on a chair, opened a volume of poems, taking it out of the bag hanging on my shoulder. I began to read. I decided: I have nothing to do here, — I said everything on the phone a few days ago, — and slipped into the invisible World. From there — into the real one, went through the ravine to Eden. I just decided to be alone — I was so tired of this Brotherly, stupid fuss! Stupid, useless! I wish I could leave here as soon as possible and never return. My soul was heavy, and Eden seemed like a quiet haven of peace and silence. Despite the soot, dirt, broken glass, stairs destroyed by time, broken walls — and the impenetrable, eternal darkness on the Black Staircase…



I entered the hall, looked around. An icy wind was blowing, it was cold. And scary. Broken glass was crunching under my feet, I couldn’t help but remember the failed spring sabbath, the Great Sorceress, the Massacre in the hall. I opened the volume of poems again, read a couple, took out my player and turned on the music, plugging in my headphones.



«Enigma»…



The unrequited love of the Light for the Dark is bitter, disgusting… The poem «The Coin» has too deep a meaning: deception, love, illusions and empty hopes, a cry from the cultural past. And you rolled into this life from the past, repeating yourself in the present. They tell the girl: «You have a mother, friends, a job, and if you truly love me, LEAVE ME, GO AWAY!» The unbreakable rule of falling in love and false, unreal love. The unfortunate woman suffers, cries, walks alone down the street. Asphalt underfoot. The sound of heels makes you realize that it’s all over. All the meetings, promises, kisses, hugs are false. A real deception, hypocrisy. The girl is sad: «Oh, why didn’t God give me a wedding fate?» He is angry because of resentment, hatred, which have replaced love. The beauty has noticed for a long time — his feelings have faded, his beloved constantly spends time with friends. He has not called for two months: he does not ask how things are, his health… They tell her: «Everything will be fine with you, let’s just remain friends. This is much better. You will still meet your The only one, and the pain will pass. A chill… No, not a chill — but a real cold, spreading throughout the whole body, pressing on the chest, not allowing to breathe»…



This is me remembering myself… She left. For all four months I was never able to truly love her. I was only sixteen, my beloved was almost nineteen. Quite grown up… I really spent more and more time with my friends, and not with the girl at all. Sometimes I avoided meetings, once I said: I’ll go to a monastery for fifteen years, away from all the vanity and bitterness of life. The reaction? She asked, «Why?!» We went to my house and talked. I suggested changing, I remade her at my own discretion — but it was all in vain. She remained the same as she was. I liked the beauty in her youth for this reason: quiet and thoughtful, never threw herself on anyone’s neck. And I fell in love. Thinking — this is forever. It seemed — we are ONE in everything. I read, even sing to music and think how stupidly the world is arranged. I sat down on an altar of concrete and bricks. Flipped forward or back a few pages.



Next… I write everything down in a thick notebook every evening, including poems! Don’t be surprised! Everything that I lack, that is happening and that can happen. My mobile phone beeped. I ordered it to shut up, barking: «Silence!» It was silent! For five minutes. Then — another call. I don’t want to talk to anyone. I want to be alone with myself.



He closed the volume and looked at the ceiling. Then at the altar. Suddenly he saw a fragment of a sword sticking out of a crack in the bricks. Beautiful, with a white ivory handle. He carefully pulled it out and placed it on his palm. He noticed another whole sword stuck in a crack in the floor. Katanas. How a monument to Retribution, the Vendetta of the Dark Ones — for immorality and violation of the Rules. Oh, what a fight it was… I will never forget! Where is Tilsirve? Where are you, Great One? A fragile, lovely girl took on the heaviest burden, thus temporarily ridding the city of the most malicious Dark Ones.



Where are you now, my dear?



The mobile phone rings again. Finally I can’t stand it any longer, I press the button to identify the number. I take off the headphones, turn off the player. And my eyes widen: QUAGGER! I wonder who dared to give him my phone?!



— I’m listening… — I speak formally and with irritation.



— Hello, Maxim? — Asked an anxious, frightened voice.



— Yes. What do you need? I have everything calculated down to the minute, tell me!



— Your boss gave me the phone.



— Yes. I’m listening. — I softened. — What happened?



— Your Chameleon got enough sleep.



— What do you mean, got enough sleep?



— Andrey couldn’t stop him, he ran away.



— What?! — My face fell. — Where is that bastard now?



— Andryukha said — he ran away to Chekanovsky. We ask for your assistance!



— If you ask, then don’t touch the black and white, got it?!



— Maxim, — the boss’s voice rang out, — the situation has gotten out of control. We’re all gathering at Anzebi station, waiting for you there in thirty minutes. Glomen asks for help through Quagger. You are our trump card — the Inquisitor for the entire region! Chekanovsky is now on the verge of destruction, the Darkness has overcome the Light!



— Okay. I’ll be there. Hold on! — I hung up.

NINE IN THE MORNING, THIRTY MINUTES. ANZEBI STATION

The Magi — Light and Dark — were gathering at the station. We were going to strike at the super-being, and thus incline him either to the Light or to the Darkness. Whichever side wins, that’s where Alexander will be. Just don’t kill him! But you can cripple him energetically.



I came out of the invisible World and barely held back a groan: the air itself was heavy and viscous, something was pressing on my back, chest. I step over the rails, trying to detect the mutant’s aura, but nothing works. The air with its energetic concentration resembled invisible cotton wool: it seems that if I add just a little more Darkness, it will acquire physical form. Then everything will get stuck in this strange hyperspace — like in jelly. The heaviness was pressing, turning everything inside out. I close my eyes, trying to relax as much as possible so as not to suffer so much. After all, now I began to feel quite real physical pain. You can’t breathe, you don’t think about anything. Except maybe about the feeling that spreads through the body like boiling water. Needles piercing the body. As if the most real inquisitorial tortures: you know — you can’t twitch or turn back — otherwise it will hurt even more.



The darkness presses — with a press, like a swarm of millions of flies, it tries to tear out a decent piece of the soul, in order to then blacken it, subjugate it, corrupt it. Therefore, unbearable torment is experienced by those who do not submit to the Darkness and its Dark side, who suppress inside itself, its voice, which tenderly says: «It seems like you will have everything, you have a girlfriend, but look: she prevents you from communicating with friends who try everything in the world. And when there was no beloved, I was free as the wind!» And a person, or a Magician, obey this whisper — breaking the lives of those who love them. Those who do not give in suffer from mental pain and ridicule of others day and night, unable to get rid of the thought: «I’m a bastard, a scumbag, no one needs me, why do I live in this world when everything is so unfair!» After all, a good person can no longer do Evil — he has freed himself from everything black. And the blackness tries to suppress his white energy.



In Siberia, especially in the Irkutsk region, there is plenty of blackness. Its first assistant is Degradation. The second is Drunkenness. Its brother is Drugs, its sister is Cigarettes. The mother of Degradation is Laziness. The right hand of Laziness is Indifference. Relatives are Fornication, Bullying, Diseases, Humiliation, Envy, Greed. The grandmother of blackness is Death. Although Death is not always black. If you mix everything up, it will become sickening. For most people don’t see art and kindness in their eyes — and if there is, then only a few have it. Because the balance of power in Bratsk is inclined towards Darkness. That’s why there are a lot of anomalies in Siberia nearby: flamingos have appeared out of nowhere in Novosibirsk, and pelicans have appeared on the Angara. As scientists have found out, the birds are LOST! LOST IN THE MIDDLE OF WINTER IN A SWAMP! LIVING IN WARM COUNTRIES!!! When I heard it on TV, my eyes popped out of my head. And in 1905, a giant meteorite fell in the Tunguska River area. Then, decades later, in Moscow they said that it was actually a spaceship with aliens. In Bratsk, they also created an anomaly — the largest in the world there is an artificial sea and a hydroelectric power station. Once Enerik accidentally mentioned a village of magicians and sorcerers in the Irkutsk region, where only non-humans live.



Gentlemen, shall we continue the list?



I forgot! Hereditary creatures have also appeared — Alexander. But I feel — this is far from all. Maybe there are five more of the same Chameleon s here? Well, two. Why can’t Illyo — the Light Mage with a dark past — be called a Chameleon? Let’s also remember the series «The X-Files» — in one of the episodes there is a story about how agent Mulder went to Krasnoyarsk to investigate UFO crashes in the forest. I will live here for a long time, I will see enough… Vacation will be in September. Or earlier.



I tried to imagine something joyful and kind that morning, sitting down on a cast-iron bench. At the other end, Glomen sat motionless. His gaze, cold and hard, piercing, was directed at the freight train arriving on the second track. I wanted to sleep. I myself was interested in how this mystical story would end. history. Indeed, why should Sasha run from himself? It is useless to hide — we will find him anyway. To protect ourselves, we need a hundred Great Light or Dark Ones. Someone touched my shoulder. A young Dark One named She-Wolf. She began to put forward hypotheses.



— Max, there are only twenty of us — both Dark and Light. There are very few strong ones — you and Enerik with Glomen. Now these two are acting together — there is no other way out. But even they will not have enough strength to completely drain the Power from Sashka. If we fail, we will have to sacrifice someone. If we put your boss against him, he will lose his Power for a hundred years. Glomen will also be cleaned out. Only you, Chameleon can’t kill or suck energy out — you are stronger than everyone, as the Inquisitor. It’s not that easy to beat you. Better hit yourself — a wet spot will remain. Or let’s click Illyo. After all, he is the same Chameleon: the Sorceress poured life-giving Light into him, eliminating the Dark Side. So the Light is lucky.



— Hmm… Eliminated? Oh yeah! — I raised an eyebrow in surprise. — Are you crazy! I won’t take the rap for all of you! Both Forces are merged in this boy — so you know! If we don’t hold out — the criminal will have a free hand. He’s already killed one thug, looks like we’re all in for a surprise.



— That’s it… — It was the Dark One speaking — the Werewolf, the Sorceress’s adopted brother. A kind guy, tall, looking remarkably like Harry Potter, wearing glasses. Tanned, the corners of his lips curled, and a cigarette in his teeth. He glanced at me innocently and sat down next to me.



— You really don’t care whether it’s Darkness or Light in front of you, Max? — He asked dejectedly.



— Not exactly.



— As long as Chameleon is against us, we are friends. As soon as he disappears, we will become enemies. A magical massacre is coming, and there will be casualties.



— You’re right… — I looked at the old-style settlement through the invisible World and almost screamed: it seemed to be captured by a swarm of midges, the houses were barely visible through the black wall. After all, all the Dark Bratsk had gathered here… They were pulling in from all sides, many were scared off by the Light. Finally, a strange dot began to blink in the distance. He had appeared.



Alexander goes straight to the station, on a bicycle. So, he is going to disappear to another city, the tickets are probably already in his hands. He calmly walked up to the tracks, stood opposite Enerik — on his knees.



What is this?!



The Archmage stood up fearlessly and approached the young man, who began to whine like a beaten dog.



— Kill me… I can’t live like this anymore! I came here to commit suicide, no one understands me! No one! This morning I tried to commit suicide — to cut my veins in the bathtub. But Andrey didn’t let me, he snatched the knife from his hands. I punched him in the face and ran away. I I don’t wish harm on anyone — neither the Dark nor the Light. Please, don’t pay attention to my age and send me to the grave forever! Because I am capable of committing monstrous and thoughtless acts at times — and then I switch off — as if nothing had happened! The Light completely erases memory. I can betray my beloved, yell at my parents… They are silent, but the truth cannot be hidden. I do not feel like a green teenager — on the contrary, a man! It is disgusting to be around peers — how stupid, naive! I also dropped out of school, Magi.



I spat on the road in disgust. You might as well ask for a pacifier! How naive, how primitive! A savage is a savage. Who will appreciate and love you?! You probably don’t even know how to peel potatoes! But the scene evoked laughter and a disgusting feeling: the dude is kneeling in front of Enerik, and Enerik is listening, looking down proudly, silently: so handsome and majestic, just like his father! Then The child raises his head and looks at the Bright One with sad eyes. Damn, he hasn’t even washed himself today! Ugh! Our boss’s jaw dropped. He expected anything but this! The Celt also knew that the Chameleon could be bluffing. And the Darkness began to push the Light out of the prisoner, surrounding him with a lush cloud.



Well, that’s it… Something terrible is definitely going to happen now. I was sitting on pins and needles, nervous, knowing that no one would listen to me. The Light Ones began to take out their amulets, Alexander stood up. What a bluff! Five minutes ago he was pretending to be poor — unhappy, and now there is no blood or emotion on his face — calm, clear eyes. Like a condemned man on the scaffold looking at the noose. His fists clenched and unclenched. He’s making fun of me! Amrod shouldn’t have overdone it, shouldn’t have!



Chameleon’s eyes widened, his mouth twitched. He began to tremble slightly, his eyes filled with blood. He began to turn into a bloodsucker. But Enerik was on his guard: he raised his hand, hit the boy with the Light Force, which glowed with a purple light. The fangs immediately retracted. Sasha grabbed his neck and chest with his hand. He rose, then fell on one knee, hysterically threw himself onto the asphalt, still begging kill him. Through the invisible World rushed heart-rending cries: «Kill me, kill me!» Torn clothes did not inspire respect: it was high time to put them in the wash. Then Glomen took up the matter — and the Light disappeared. The dark magician still sat on the bench and tried to pour in the Force to kill everything good. Darkness was everywhere, Light — almost like a drop in the sea, we are powerless to do anything. Meanwhile, the Dark Ones joined hands and thus cut off the Light Ones’ way back, closing the guy into a ring, saturating the mutant to the limit… But something clearly went WRONG. Either they didn’t understand who they were facing, or something else. I saw how one of my enemies fell and never rose again, then another one. They died. Became shadows. Is the same thing waiting for us?



Maybe they’re trying to stop the Light? No one will last long in this fight.



Here’s another detail that came to light during the brawl: dogs were howling all over the village. Long and unanimous, sensing the worsening situation.



Sasha arched his back, vomited bloody scraps — an overdose had set in. So, he would only take one side: the Darkness was no longer taking him. Strange! But my nerves were on edge too: I felt sorry for the unfortunate man, took a pistol out of my bag, wanting to end it all. After all, if the Darkness prevailed, the dam would burst, and that would be the end of the city. I couldn’t stand the pressure of the Dark Side any longer — my head was splitting from unbearable pain. But no — not all is lost yet, there must be a limit to something! Enerik looked at me with hope, dove into the invisible World. I — after, scooped up in the wilds there exactly as much Light as we could — even with excess. The time of Maxim — the Inquisitor came, I struck. I was surprised: the Dark breach was made.Another surprise awaited us — Chameleon stopped being Chameleon, and therefore blood started pouring out of his nose.



Yes!



The Dark Ones began to disperse little by little, taking the dead with them. They had it pretty good! The werewolf backed away in fear, whining pitifully and raising his muzzle to the sky. Sasha’s aura finally flared with scarlet fire, changing color to purple. He became Light, the city was saved! Cats screamed, dogs howled, clouds crawled over the village. That’s all.merged into a truly nightmarish picture. And the clock only showed eleven in the morning!



The boss and I scooped up the Light from space again, and we struck a second time. Glomen recoiled, and the teenager fell onto the asphalt, and never got up again. Even his face looked fresher! Is he dead?



No, just fell asleep. Fell asleep to wake up again and do all sorts of things. Coma. From a sudden change in Power. That’s how many people fall asleep, tired of magic.



«Great…» Glomen grinned, but was clearly displeased.



— Very good… — Enerik said contentedly. — With our confrontation we put him to sleep for about sixty years. Until this land goes under water, until the Darkness blooms and smells here — the boy will not wake up. When he wakes up, everything will start all over again. Bratsk will show us its face again. And even more.



We hid Alexander far outside the city — in an abandoned hut, put energy barriers around him. So that he wouldn’t escape if he woke up. We erased his memory and previous appeals to the Forces so that he wouldn’t get confused when choosing sides. People will avoid the Chekanovsky settlement and the nearest cemetery for a long time.



I close the notebook — it’s covered from cover to cover, I take out another one. Good night, Moscow… I turn off the lamp, undress, go to bed. I’m exhausted after the contraction today. I’ll gather my strength and wait for my vacation. At the moment, I look like Neo, sitting at a table in a room where there is disorder.



I sleep and see black and white dreams.

Bratsk, 27. O1. 2005

23 — 28 pm