The dim lights of candles snatched out of the darkness the wooden walls and the huge stove. On a table in the corner of the room, there were many clay and glass vessels, as well as several strange devices. The floorboards creaked under my steps. I very slowly carried a glass plate with two puddles of different colors, trying not to spill it, and put it on the table.

  I pulled one of the instruments towards me. Its wooden pipe looked directly at a clay stage covered with a mirror surface, and on its sides were two more small movable mirrors.

  I attached the plate on the pallet. With a miniature spoon, scooped up a transparent, viscous liquid from a glass vessel and dripped it into a small hole in a wooden tube. Then moved two candles closer, looked into the tube and, using mirrors, directed the light onto the pallet so that candles can illuminate the entire plate.

  The transparent puddle was all dotted with barely visible web-like lines. The thick dark yellow consisted of thick sticks that jerkily jumped away from the web, clustering as far as possible from it. In the place where the two liquids were in contact with each other, no visible traces of life were left.

  "I found it," I whispered softly, and then, laughing, I shouted, "I found it!"

  There was a knock at the door. Opening it, I saw one man right on the porch, and a dozen more standing at a distance. It was a cloudy night outside, so only torches lit them.

  "I found a cure!" I joyfully shared with them, expecting their happiness from the fact that the nightmare that has engulfed the whole world will finally end.

  The men whispered about something, after which they crossed themselves, and the one who stood in the aisle did the same. Immediately after that, he grabbed me, squeezing so hard that it was impossible to breathe. Everyone else immediately rushed to his aid, tying my legs and arms.

  “Hey, wait,” by some miracle I managed to squeeze out. “Listen!”

  "Enough of your devilry, witch," the man holding me said angrily.

  “You hangs around with demons and desecrate the bodies of the dead,” the one who tied my legs said no less angrily. “She herself cursed the village, but pretends like she cares!”

  “Shut her up before she puts a spell on us,” said in horror the one who was binding my hands.

  Someone pushed a rag into my mouth. Sickening smell.

  Having finished with the limbs, they wrapped the body as well. Wrapped in a good faith - I could not move a finger. The one who knocked on the door picked me up and threw me into the hut, afraid even to accidentally step on the door threshold. The sound of a door slamming, the sound of nailing into the door. What are they doing? Are they really that crazy?

  I looked around. Even if I crawl to the window, I won't be able to get through it - it's too small. Is there another way out?

  The nailing stopped. There was a soft crackle. So it's worse than I thought. Crawl like a caterpillar to the knife? Hell, I can't even move a little.

  It's already hot. Maybe at least one of them will feel sorry for me? There is no time and foolishness to hope for it. But I can't do anything either. I don't want to die, especially like this!

  Billions of knives pierced my feet. Mooing through the nose instead of screaming. Be patient! I've had worse.

  The rope with one of the knots finally burned, I felt that my legs were no longer tied. I tried to spread them apart, but they didn’t obey. The acrid smoke corroded my eyes and nostrils. I tried to wriggle out to see why it wasn’t working, but instead of legs I found charred meat, even slightly smoldering. What did I expect?

  A quiet whisper swept around. I listened in the hope that I would at least be able to lose myself in a hallucination.

  “That's not you. This is not your memory. It never happened to you, you were never here. Remember who you are and where you are before it's too late,” repeated in an endless stream.

  I don’t understand. What does it mean? Red eye. Huh? Directly in front of me, an eyeball hung in the air, with a loose nerve dangling. Familiar. At the same moment I noticed it, the world began to blur.