- I'll start from afar. What you saw and what called itself God is not like that. This is a demon named Deppart. He is the embodiment of chaos from illusions. He creates illusory worlds into which he sends people convenient for himself. He feeds on their suffering and becomes stronger because of it.
- Well,... why is his name Deppart? Quite a strange name.
- Is that the only thing that bothers you?
- Yes.
- In fact, his name is much longer, but it is very difficult to remember, much less pronounce.
- I will risk.
- Deppartsitahtdlroweht-…
- ENOUGH. Deppart will be enough.
- I haven’t finished. This world in which we are now is his second body, so to speak. Thanks to this, he has complete power in it. I suppose, you already noticed it. This is a small amount of the pile of information that your predecessors were able to obtain.
- What happened to them? Have they already reached old age and finally died fully?
- Died? Is this another nonsense of that demon? None of you died, you are most likely just in a coma right now, and your consciousness is now wandering in different worlds of illusions. Your predecessors have been here and fought throughout the years of this world. They did not age, they were always here in the same form, but in the meantime they got tired of fighting for their lives and simply left me, surrendering to Deppart.
- They left you? Wait, I don’t understand, why were you so important to all of them?
- My main ability is breaking Deppart’s illusions. In other words, with me, he will not be able to influence you and your environment. I could have dealt with him myself if I had been stronger and closer to the demon.
- What's stopping you?
- Lack of a carrier AND an obstacle between the world and Deppart.
- And now in more detail.
- A host like you is my source of strength. Your emotions: joy, anger, sadness and others are my nourishment. About the obstacle: it’s an obelisk standing somewhere in this world. If I open it, I might be able to get into Deppart's personal zone, where I can suppress him. But we need keys.
- Great! And what are these keys?
- These are artifacts created by Deppart in-house. Keys that unlock the obelisk. But they still need to be obtained.
- I'll interrupt you. Why did the demon create the keys for his own destruction?
- It's a good question. And there is an answer to it. These
keys are created for his followers. These people are just like you, but they
have given themselves to serving Deppart. They give him their faith and
emotions, allowing him a small surge of strength until he finds a new victim,
and also,
by exhausting his victims, they help the demon in
double. With the keys, once every thousand years they unlock the obelisk and
meet with him in person.
- Why then did the Father allowed me to visit the church?
- To make you one of them, of course.
- So, what happened to your other carriers, and where are these keys?
- Unfortunately, I am unable to answer the first question, since I myself do not know. Most likely, Deppart sent them to other worlds, or left them as they are - in a coma, unconscious. The keus are kept by the leaders of his cult - Father, Mother, Son and Daughter. Four keys - four sides of the obelisk.
- Okay, I’m ready to go with you, but how are you going to unite with me?
Without wasting a second, Malice flowed into David's shadow, shackled his body, and then crawled under his eyes, into his ears, mouth and nose. David felt incredible pain, as if boiling water was being poured into all of the above holes. These thirty seconds of “uniting” felt like an eternity.
- “Great, everything worked out. Now I am part of your mental body and mind. My voice will be heard by you in the same position, so don’t be afraid, no one hears me except you.”
- Understood. So what now, how to escape?
- “ Look at the wall to the left side of the bars. Find the twenty-first brick in the fifth from the bottom row. Pull it out, there will be a key to the prison cell behind it.”
- Wow, how did it get there?
- “It was created by the eleventh victim, he himself sat in this cell, after he made a key from scrap materials and, on my advice, left it here for the next ones, like you.”
- What if they put me in another cell?
- "Excluded. They don’t put marksmen in other cells, only this one.”
David began to count the bricks in the specified order, finally, having counted to the right one, he noticed that this one was not fixed with mortar, but was simply inserted, like a puzzle element. In addition, this brick protruded a little, so that it could be reached even with bare hands. Behind it lay a tool made from melted nails, wrapped wire and a couple of other junk parts that were impossible to identify due to the appearance of this key, which had clearly lain there for decades. Fortunately for David, the key fit and the chamber opened. He hurriedly put the key back into the hole in the wall, covered it with a brick, leaving it in the same position as it was, and then ran down the corridor in a random direction.
- “David, I checked your memory... you don’t know the layout of the prison.”
- You’re right, that’s why I’m waiting for your help, you’re crawling around here wherever you can... Wait, how do you know my name?!
- “I feel like I’m still going to have troubles with you... I read your memory, you signed yourself with this name in the guild.”
- So, where should we run?
- “Make a complete U-turn, run past your camera, then turn right, right and left and run until you get onto the balcony, and there you have to jump. Second floor, maximum, you will get bruises.”
- Without bruises - no way?
- "NO WAY."
- Okay, it’s clear, already running.
Turning around, David ran in the direction indicated by the voice in his head, not really understanding what was happening right now and who he was talking to.
- “I’ve already told you what is happening here and who I am. Why such stupid thoughts?
- Stop poking around in my head!
- “If I don’t do this, I’m afraid we won’t get along, since you’re pretty stubborn. I'm just curious how you ended up in a coma. Will you tell me since you’re running anyway?”
- Why don’t you read the memory, since you love it so much?
- “I cannot read your memory before entering this world.”
- Eh...my sister said that in the local lake there was a species of mushroom unknown to science, so I went to look for these mushrooms, but did not calculate the air and drowned.
- “Dumb, but ambitious. Anything is better than the third.”
- What happened to him?
- “He was so lazy that he didn’t get up from the couch in his apartment, even when he was insanely hungry. But he had to feed not only himself, but also his pet... In the end, the last thing that guy remembered was how his own cat started eating him. He passed out from shock, and then it was the same story as with you.”
-...can you tell me about the others?
- “Perhaps later, now is not the time.”
David finally ran out onto the balcony. Twenty yards down. Below were the guards who were entering the prison building - these were the last ones. Nearby, on the left, there was a prison wall, behind which ordinary people walked. The wall was wide enough that you could even walk on it without fear of losing your balance and falling. From the balcony it was about five yards away. David came up with a plan to get down and still remain intact.
- “Will you jump on the wall? Aren’t you afraid that you won’t make it?”
- Keep quiet, and I'm risking it.
- “Behind this wall, a cart with hay often passes by on its way to the nearest farm. Feel yourself like Altaїr."
- Are you really from this world...?
David climbed onto the balcony railing, holding on to the wall, since the railing was narrow and falling off it would be a piece of cake. Gathering faith and strength in his legs, he jumped from the balcony onto the wall, but fell short. He only managed to grab the ledge, after which, with great effort, he pulled himself up and, with a slight somersault, climbed onto the wall with his whole body. David lay on the wall and breathed heavily, this was the greatest achievement in his life, which was in any way related to athletics. A stream of adrenaline filled the mental spirit with strength, after which David stood up and ran along the wall, looking for the very cart that Malice had spoken about.
- “The cart is gradually approaching you, look forward, not down! And yeah, before you jump, make sure there are no pitchforks in the hay.”
Running to the edge of the wall, where the carriage was already passing, David jumped down with greater confidence, grouping himself in flight so as not to damage himself during landing.
This time the landing was better. David landed in the center of this spiky mass of dry grass and wheat stalks.
- “Yes, success! A successful prison escape! Now it's time to go in search of artifacts."
- How are you going to look for them when you don’t even know their approximate location?
- “Perhaps I know. The multi-border volume that you took from the head of the statue in the temple. This book seemed very suspicious to me, I want to take a closer look at it. Oh, by the way, here you can crawl out of the hay.”
David climbed out of the hay and turned into the nearest dark alley, away from the prying eyes of passers-by. Something grabbed the back of his trouser leg. David turned around, and a small cobalt was hanging on his trouser leg, looking into the guy’s eyes with alarm, but also a little joy.
- Haku! Sorry, my friend, with all this I completely forgot about you, sorry. – said David, after which he picked up Haku and put it in his hood.
- “And all this time I was wondering what source of life was pursuing us all the time... and it was your rat.“
- Haku is more than a simple rat! And by the way, since I’m so smart, the whole city will now be looking for me and I won’t get into the temple.
- “Try first, and then talk.”
- Looking for problems to me? Okay, I’ll go to the temple.
***
Making his way through dark alleys, avoiding meeting people, David finally found his way to the temple after half a day. Its territory was empty and that gardener was also not there. Approaching the front door, David opened it with a slight creak, looking inside through the narrow crack. There was also not a soul inside the church.
- Looks like a trap, I won’t go there!
- “Feel free to come in, there’s no one inside. I can feel it."
David opened the door, entered the building and carefully closed it very slowly and quietly, trying not to make loud noises, however, due to the creaking of the door hinges, he hardly succeeded. The ladder still stood behind the statue; no one had removed it. The guy quickly climbed up it closer to the back of statue’s head. The hatch was open, but after feeling the inside of its head, David did not find the book he needed.
- Disappeared! Great... And where to look for it now?
- “Previous carriers did not receive the keys, so I don’t have the slightest idea what they are and where to look for them. Listen, maybe your cobalt will help? They have a good sense of smell."
- Well, we can try... Haku, can you find the book?
As he said this, David brought Haku to the place where the volume had previously been lying. The rat sniffed this place, and then began to look down, sitting on David’s palm. The latter came down from the ladder and put Haku on the ground, after which it began to run around the entire church building, probably looking for a trace of the disappearance. Soon, it ran up to one of the curtains in the most inconspicuous corner of the hall, stopped and began to look at its owner.
- “It seems he found a book. Go check it out."
- What if this is just the last place where that book was, and they have already managed to move it somewhere?
- “Why jump to conclusions if you haven’t even seen anything? It’s like a student worrying that he got a «D» on an exam, when in fact he’s had an «A» for a long time.”
- I’ll ask again, are you really from this world?
- “ Indeed. I was with several dozen otherworlders just like you. In your opinion, there were no schoolchildren or students among them?”
David went to the place Haku pointed to. Having put the rat back in his hood, the young man pulled back the curtain, behind which lay that same book. David hastily unfolded it, but instead of those strange inscriptions that he had seen earlier, the book depicted some maps, signatures and formulas.
- This hasn't been here before.
- “Because I have already dispelled Deppart’s magic. And yes, that's really the key. And here there is a map of the cities where the remaining keys are hidden. Now get out of here."
David heard a strange click behind his head.
- You've taken the wrong path, boy. I'm afraid the noose doesn't suit you... Maybe a bullet will do?
Turning around, David saw a priest in front of him, a blond man with a slicked-back hairstyle. He looked with a soulless, dead look, like a fish's. In his hand he held a musketoon, which he was pointing at David’s forehead.
- “David, be careful, this is Rumier and he is much more radical than Father. I advise you to run."
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