Guardian Angel. 3. 0. Saturn in VIII

"A GUARDIAN ANGEL"
a mistical novel
by Alexandra Kryuchkova

PART III. 7 SECONDS

3.0. Saturn in VIII

a year before «A Guardian» and
a year and a half before «A Dreams Trap»


***
June 23, 2012
18:30
Library of the Universe


In one of the endless halls with bookshelves of varying degrees of transparency, there was a table covered with a snow-white tablecloth. There was silverware, napkins, empty glasses and empty plates, but no food or drink on it. There were no guests, because it had become clear in the morning: no celebration would have taken place that day.

In the darkest corner of the hall, a pale-faced Man of aristocratic appearance in black robes with a white collar was sitting in a rocking chair. His gaze was turned to the depths of the Universe, and he hold in his hand a book opened to the page «Saturn in the 8th Sphere». The Man pretended to read the text, although he had long known it by heart, «The situation is in any case dangerous. At best, after a long and prolonged illness, death finally comes as a release from suffering. People who are seriously engaged in the occult sciences are likely to have long-awaited success, which is the result of many years of effort and self-sacrifice. In the worst case, there is a high probability of a fatal catastrophe or, even worse, leading to irreparable injury or disability. In such a year, a person will experience a depressed state of mind, a feeling of futility of efforts and worthlessness of existence, which can give impetus to an early exit from life on own will.»

A woman with long hair gathered at the nape in a bun, who looked like a nun, in a black strict dress to her toes, was silently standing at the Window into the World, holding a ghostly cigarette in her transparent fingers.

A woman with short, disheveled hair, in a short sea-green dress that magically enhanced the color of her eyes, was nervously pacing back and forth between the bookcases and periodically glanced at the antique clock placed right in the center above the portal many centuries before by the guardian of Time.

The Green-eyed woman destroyed the afterlife silence, «39 minutes and she’ll be here!»

«38,» the Nun corrected, still facing the Window to the world.

There was a lead cloud outside the Window. It covered Nikolina Gora and was slowly creeping towards Zhukovka.

«Come up with something! Why are you both silent?» the Green-Eyed exclaimed, stopping in the center of the hall and slamming her fist on the table so that one of the glasses took off and flew in the air until it returned to its original position.

«Everything possible was thought up yesterday. The guardian sent Alice a writer from Gelendzhik, who repeated exactly today’s date several times in a row. Her coins were turned over in the air so that they fell on the 29th hexagram of the Space of Options according to the interpretation of the Book of Changes. This morning, for other signs not due in such cases, the Heavenly Guard imprisoned Alice’s guardian in the Dungeon of the 12th House until tomorrow morning by decision of the Council on Life and Death. What else can we do if everything, even the most impossible, has been done?» the Man asked, continuing to look somewhere outside.

«No, not everything!» the Green-eyed exclaimed angrily. «There are still 38 minutes and a lot of options in the Space!»

«37,» the Nun said with a sigh, «and only one option — she’ll come to us.»

The Man stood up from the table and approached the Window into the World. His gaze was still turned inward, but the light touch of his hand on the Nun made her turn to face those present.

«36.»

«Shall we block traffic on Rublyovka?» the Man asked.

«It won’t affect anything, Sasha… Alice won’t do what she should have done a long time ago and what only she can do, but not us,» the Nun replied coldly and turned back to face the world in the Window.

The Green-eyed glanced at the clock above the portal and asked, «Listen, where is her own Clock?»


***
18:32, Rublevo-Uspensky road


The traffic on the road was blocked right in front of my nose, and I obediently stopped. A lead cloud was slowly descending from the hill. Looking in the side mirror, I stated not without sadness, «Hey, cloud, you want to catch up with me.»

Flicking the radio switch, I searched for something close — to me? to the cloud? — until I suddenly froze to the sounds of a familiar song from the Past.

«Ray, the black magician who used to appear in my life only at the most difficult moments, you called me last night when I was returning from a conference in the Parliamentary Center. Why did you suddenly remember me, Ray? You wanted to say something, but didn’t. Why? Because it was yesterday that I got the 29th hexagram of the Space of Options of the Book of Changes? One of the 4 worst, „Crossing the Double Abyss“, saying, „Loss and defeat await you. You enter a cave in the abyss. Misfortune. Whether you come in or go away, there will be abyss after abyss. It’s dangerous, but there is support from Above. Inside the cave in the abyss, don’t act.“ Or did you look at my Clock There and see Saturn in the 8th Sphere and Pluto in the 12th? But this means death only in the worst case, Ray. And for people like you and me, it means a deep immersion into Another Reality and a significant progress in contact with the Other World, doesn’t it?»

The song sounding in my car on an undefined radio at a frequency unknown to me was a transit to the Past. I closed my eyes…


***
sometime in the Past, Venice


«Tell me a fairy-tale, Ray.»

«What fairy-tale would you like to listen to?»

«About Atlantis…»

«Do you miss Atlantis? So do I… And there was a City of red, white and black stone. And there was a Dark Tower in the field. A Magician lived in that Tower. He was a great astronomer of Atlantis and a true wizard. He knew the Word of the mysterious Cosmic Fire or Force, which could instantly pulverize entire cities and even destroy the whole world… What do you remember about Atlantis?»

«I’ve seen That City in my dreams since childhood. It was completely different, not like others on Earth. But it reminded me of the City-on-the-Water where we are now. I feel something very close and dear here. I’m drawn to come back here again and again. The Tower on San Marco, with the astrological clock…»

«Does it remind you of your Dark Tower?»

«It was very high, made of stones. One floor there was like two here, or even more. When I returned to the Tower in my dream, at first I couldn’t understand why it was so high. I realized it later, I had been then two times taller than now. So everything fell into place. There was a giant Zodiac Clock in the Tower, telling the astrological time. I was mesmerized by the clock, staring at it for a long time. Then, in those dreams, a Huge Wave used to come, too big to imagine it in reality. Everything died in it. I tried to run away, to hide somewhere, but there was so much water that I was drowning. The whole city was sinking in it. There was nothing and no one left. No one at all. At all…»

«It’s all already in the Past, Alice. Everyone has their own Dark Tower, but only the one who breaks the great power of its attraction can become truly happy. You’ll be fine, surely, I promise you.»

A soul exam, — it’s dubiously simple,
the gloomy depth of drowned coins dreamt.
A sleepy bridge is captured by the water.
I feel no room in Looking-Glass, but yet…

A cyclic turn, — like water, silent Darkness,
that came for me at the agreed of times,
attacks the Day, the outcome is ruthless:
you are yourself your enemy and friend.

The mists bewitch, my fantasy is drawing:
the mourning dance of gondolas and glass
is greeting with Murano fragile beauty
the tragedies the bridges lead us to.

Death never sleeps, but Venice is its home.
The Moon has moored, inspecting boarders posts.
A trap in mind is barely admitted:
my last refuge is water — off the bridge.


***
19:00
Library of the Universe


The minute hand reached its zenith. The library sank in the smoke of ghostly cigarettes. The Man coughs.

«Fine! Have you heard it? Her Time is running in the Dark Tower!» exclaimed the Green-eyed. «We need to stop it and change the Space!»

The Nun sadly looked out the Window at Alice, then slowly turned her gaze to the Man, «In 32 minutes it’ll stop itself. We shouldn’t stop it. We can only slow them down. Time will recoup on her later with a coefficient of several years, not hours or minutes. If this „later“ is still relevant…»

The Green-eyed stomped her foot on the antique parquet floor and said in a tone that didn’t tolerate any objection, «Sasha will go to the Tower to negotiate with the guardian of Time. You will organize a corridor in Space, and I’ll meet her here!»

«How many minutes to slow down?» the Man asked already in the doorway.

«Minutes?» the Green-eyed said gloomily, approaching the Window into the World: traffic had resumed, cars were moving inexorably towards the Moscow Ring Road.

«120 kilometers per hour», the Nun stated.

«7 seconds,» the Green-eyed recounted, scanning the Space.

«7 seconds to remember everything?»

«No, 7 seconds to remember everything and rewrite».

«No chance,» the Nun sighed.

«It’s a chance!» the Green-eyed said sharply, recoloring with her gaze the black color of the Nun’s dress into white. «Or do you really want your birthday to be the date of her death?»

The Nun looked at herself from head to toe, but didn’t recolor her dress back into black. The Man silently opened the door to the outside, forgetting from the severity of what was happening that he had had no need to open it for already 90 years.