As if reflected on a surface of water, Alexander watched the last moments of a person’s life. The fragments intertwined and flashed, every now and then confusing the guy, but some bright flashes were recognizable. Dark streets. The nooks and crannies along which a person moves quickly. Corners of houses, stone pavements, blurry figures of people passing by.
The panorama changes abruptly. View from above - perhaps the person climbed some high wall or tower. The feeling of speed as he runs across the rooftops. He turns around. A blurry figure of an enemy or pursuer, who is getting closer and closer. Dark hood, something glitters in his hand.
Desperate leap. Look down. A city square lined with people and market stalls. Everything is faded. A sudden fall, accelerating images of buildings flying past. The moment of collision with the ground, the last flashing image is the face of a surprised passerby. And suddenly everything ends, starting all over again.
While Alexander looked at the reflection in the blade of the dagger, his mind was filled with doubts and bewilderment.
- Why didn’t I immerse myself in these memories like before? Something went wrong? - he thought, trying to understand what happened. Alexander looked at the dagger lying in the pyramid. The feeling that something in this place was playing with his perception did not let him go. - Maybe we should try another pyromide? Perhaps this one was some kind of exception or just an inconsistency? I have to try again.
The young man remembered that he should not take other people’s memories into his own hands, as this will lead to a battle of souls. And in such a confrontation you can lose yourself. With these thoughts, he slowly got up and moved to another pyramid, which was nearby. His thoughts were scattered. He leaned over another dagger, peering into the cloudy surface of the steel.
At first, a faint image of a gloomy forest path shrouded in fog appeared before Alexander. It was so blurry and imprecise that Alexander had to strain to see the details. But then, suddenly, the sounds of wind and rustling leaves appeared. They seemed to penetrate his ears, and the picture became clearer.
Just a moment and he saw himself through the eyes of a young girl walking along a forest path. She had an old backpack on her shoulders and a heavy staff in her hand. There were traces of tears and dirt on her face. Her heart was pounding with fear and determination.
The scenery shook slightly. The girl was running from her pursuers, who were just a few steps behind. All the time it seemed that they had almost caught up with her. Her lungs ached from exhaustion, but she continued to move forward, praying that the path would lead her to salvation.
Suddenly she saw an old abandoned hut in front of her. Her heart beat faster with hope. The girl rushed to the door and quickly blocked it from the inside. She looked around for shelter and found an old basement under a wooden staircase. She hid there, trying to hold her breath.
The minutes seemed like an eternity to her. She heard the footsteps of her pursuers as they ransacked the hut. Her heart was beating so loudly that it seemed to be heard throughout the entire hut.
Finally, after the noise died down, the girl decided to come out of hiding. She slowly and carefully crawled out of the basement, trying not to make any noise. But when she opened the door, a terrifying sight met her eyes. Her pursuers were standing right in front of her. They were simply waiting for her, giving her hope that was not destined to come true. She was captured and tortured. All this was so scattered, as if the memories were bursting at the seams from horrors that the girl’s consciousness did not want to remember. The last thing he saw through her eyes was the wooden ceiling and the shadows of her tormentors.
Alexander found himself at the pyramid again, with heavy breathing and a beating heart. He tried to comprehend what he had seen, tried to understand what lesson he was meant to learn from this story. But as has often happened, the memory simply showed the horror of the last moments of the life of the unfortunate soul.
What Alexander saw in the blade of the pyramid was so powerful that it seemed to make the soul tremble. And then the strength came and it was like a healing balm. He felt incredible energy flow into his body. It was as if pure adrenaline was now flowing through his veins. His heart beat clearly and evenly, each beat echoing in his ears.
Closing his eyes, he began to track this energy. It pulsated like a living organism, flowing from his heart to his solar plexus, then into the branches of his arms and legs. Alexander tried to catch this power, hold it, bring it under his control.
Carefully, as if spinning the finest thread, he began to redirect the energy from the solar plexus to his right hand. He had to focus all his attention on this process, making every movement with special care.
And then something happened. When the energy reached the hand where the dagger was, it flashed as if lightning had struck a steel blade. The blade instantly changed, becoming a little longer and acquiring a strange gray glow, similar to haze. This radiance pulsated and moved along the blade like living water.
Alexander stared at the transformed dagger, wondering what he had just done. He felt the power he had just manipulated now become part of the weapon, making it even more dangerous and powerful.
Alexander raised the dagger, examining it. The feeling of power he had just experienced was so overwhelming that he could hardly believe that what had happened was real. However, deep within himself, he knew that he had opened the door to a new world of possibilities that was yet to be explored.
Alexander still looked at the dagger in his hand, feeling the energy of his newfound strength bubble within him. Every little cell of his body was filled with this power, and it seemed to him that he was capable of great things. But at the same time, he realized that such power also carries responsibility.
- Should we act at random? Is it worth the risk?
After weighing the pros and cons for a long time, he decided to test his abilities on a stone tree standing nearby. Swinging wide, he struck. The force of the blow was combined with the sharpness of the blade, and the smoky blade, like a hot knife, easily pierced the barrel. Alexander looked at the result of his action, and joy overwhelmed him. He almost forgot about his surroundings, he was so captivated by the capabilities of the new weapon.
But sounds coming from afar brought him back to reality. First there were screams, then desperate crying. Alexander tensed, trying to determine where these sounds were coming from. And soon I saw an alarming picture: a group of five men in rough prison uniforms surrounded a young girl. She was clearly scared and looked defenseless.
Alexander assessed the situation. On the one hand, his newfound strength gave him an advantage against these men. But on the other hand, it was unknown how they could respond to aggression. For some reason he remembered the girl from the lead and the horror that she experienced. Despite these risks, he decided everything for himself. The young man wanted to help the frightened girl and he began to act.
Alexander quickly but quietly moved to a small hill covered with dark stones and moss. From this point there was a good view of what was happening. He arranged himself so as to remain in the shadows and not attract attention to himself.
The men in prison uniforms were rough and menacing in appearance. Their clothes were torn in several places, and their faces and arms showed signs of days of scuffs and scratches. One of them had a spider tattoo on his neck, the other had a scar from his ear to his chin. Their gazes were cruel and cold, like those of predators hunting their prey.
They communicated with each other without hiding.
- Bro, who would have thought that we would dig ourselves out of that ass, huh? - began one with a spider tattoo.
“Exactly, everyone thought we were under a brick, but here we are, with such a stray bird,” the second one with the scar grinned. The others laughed in support.
The defenseless girl sat on the ground with her knees bent and her arms wrapped around them. Her long raven hair covered her face, but even so it was clear that she was terrified. Her clothes were simple but neat; she was probably a city dweller. The dress, which had once seemed snow-white, was now stained with dirt and dust.
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The men began to make fun of the girl, imitating her fear and panic.
- Hey, vagrant, why are you silent? Did you think we'd just fall behind? — one of them, the one with the scar, grinned evilly.
- Yes, she just went crazy with joy that she met such handsome men like us! - the other one laughed and started hooting, imitating the girl.
The others also supported him and began to laugh, loudly and roughly, not noticing the girl who was trying to cover herself with her hands in order to somehow protect herself from their ridicule.
Alexander, taking advantage of the moment when the bandits' attention was completely focused on their victim, silently crept up behind them. His dagger flashed smoky silver in the air, and like a scythe, it went through the three closest criminals, cutting them in half. So quickly and decisively that the others did not even have time to understand what had happened while their comrades fell to the ground. Alexander was amazed at how easily the bones and flesh were cut. He remembered that these are not real bodies, but only a spiritual incarnation. A moment's reflection allowed the criminals to move away from the horror of the death of their comrades. They rushed to the nearest bushes, hoping that the shadows would hide them from Alexander. One of them, thin, with unevenly cut hair, hastily pulled a short dagger from his belt, and the other, a heavyset man with a thick red beard, was simply trying to find a safe shelter.
However, Alexander had an advantage - speed and newfound strength, which he felt thanks to the dagger. With a quick, sharp movement, he attacked the thin man, and his smoky blade easily pierced his body. Redbeard, hearing the cry of his comrade, tried to turn around, but Alexander was already nearby. Cut off from his escape, the red-bearded man raised his hands in a defenseless gesture, but it did not help him. Death overtook him too.
As soon as the last of the bandits fell, their bodies began to crackle from internal flames. Light smoke rose, and soon the bodies turned to smoldering ashes. Like slowly floating clouds, the ash rushed towards one of the spatial tunnels, falling short of its black abyss.
Alexander felt a warm, electric wave of energy penetrate his body, sliding over his skin, muscles, veins, and directed into his solar plexus. The feeling was both unusual and blissful.
Alexander felt the warm pulsation of energy spreading through his veins, filling him with new strength and confidence. This rush of euphoria made him almost forget about the girl he had just saved. Only when the obsession passed, he was able to look at her more carefully. In front of him stood a young lady, whose dark hair, stuck to her forehead from sweat and fear, covered part of her face. Her clothes were tattered and stained, and her arms were wrapped around her waist, trying to find some kind of comfort.
She looked at Alexander with large, tear-stained eyes, full of gratitude and fear at the same time. Her gaze was so touching that Alexander could not resist offering her help. He was about to take another step in her direction when Cassandra’s gentle but persistent Whisper rang in his ears: “Beware.”
The sudden warning made him freeze in place, his heart beating louder from the tension. Gradually realizing that the danger had not yet passed, Alexander slowly and carefully pointed the girl to a sparkling portal to another dimension.
“There, at the end of that tunnel,” he began with a serious and decisive tone, “is your opportunity to return to the real world.” Don't waste time.
The girl looked at the tunnel with trepidation, and then again at Alexander, trying to read the sincerity in his eyes. Meanwhile, the guy turned his head, monitoring the situation.
Among the calm and bewitching landscape of the Edge, between stone trees and distorted spatial tunnels, Alexander glanced at the girl, making sure that there was no threat to her. He scanned the world around him, trying to identify potential danger, and his heart beat faster every second.
Suddenly it occurred to Alexander that danger might be very close. All the creatures in the Edge had daggers and potentially posed a danger, and who knows what could be hidden in the soul of someone who got here. Remembering Cassandra’s warning, Alexander frowned and slowly turned to the girl. His voice, sounding harsh and decisive, broke the silence:
- You must leave. Now.
The girl stepped back, looking at him in confusion. Her eyes, which had just looked gratefully at her savior, were now full of fear and bewilderment. With every moment spent in immobility, the tension between Alexander and the girl grew. She seemed frozen in place, losing her bearings after the experience. Her gaze, full of distrust and fear, was riveted on Alexander.
However, Alexander understood that he could not take risks. He slowly and confidently pointed his dagger towards her. The reflection of a smoky blade flashed in her eyes, and she, understanding the essence of the threat, turned sharply and ran towards the spatial tunnel. Its mysterious radiance illuminated her figure as she disappeared into its depths. As soon as she was out of sight and the tunnel closed, the tension in the air seemed to dissipate.
Alexander lowered his dagger and finally allowed himself to relax. He exhaled, feeling the pent-up anxiety slowly drain away, leaving him alone in this strange, unpredictable world of the Edge.
The young man was hoping to take a break when he spotted what he was looking for. The huge dark figure of the Skeleton Executioner loomed on the horizon, standing out with its high, sharp shoulder blades. The silhouette of this creature immediately caused a flash of determination in Alexander and he set off after him.
As Alexander raced with all his might, trying to catch up with the Executioner, he felt the haze around his dagger begin to fade. Each step he took became heavier, because his strength was drained into maintaining the shape of the blade. Alexander understood that with every second he was losing his advantage. The decision made to stop the flow of energy into the dagger required enormous effort from him. With each inhalation and exhalation, he tried to force the flows of energy to recede, or direct them the way he needed. With great difficulty he succeeded and the dagger took on its usual appearance.
For a while it seemed that the Executioner was out of reach. His bone legs moved quickly and decisively along the ground, almost without touching it. Alexander, on the contrary, felt fatigue in every muscle, every step became heavier. He felt his breathing quicken, his heart pounding in his chest, but he continued to run. However, despite all his efforts, when Alexander looked at the Executioner again, he was almost at the same distance as before. He moved only a little closer to him. This realization hit him for a moment, but he decided not to give up and continue the pursuit.
Suddenly, the light of the bloody fog slowly but surely swallowed up the entire space ahead. Executioner Skeleton stopped and the young man was finally able to catch up with this creature. Alexandra, breathing heavily, looked into the bony face. It was expressionless, but the Executioner seemed to be warily watching what was happening.
Alexander paid attention to the strange phenomenon. In the center of the valley, there was an atmosphere of horror, where a skinless man stood, his bloody muscles pulsating and emitting shades of red light. Everything around was filled with hum and whisper, as if many voices had converged into one loud echo. These were souls lost in the Edge. They circled around the skinless creature, obeying its will, creating a magnetic field of force and energy.
The bone cat, also noticed by Alexander, moved furtively, like a shadow among shadows. She avoided the skinless man's attention, disappearing and reappearing. With every move she made, it seemed like she was becoming even more elusive.
Alexander quickly turned his gaze to the Skeleton Executioner, looking for understanding and answers.
- Is this a lost soul? - he said quickly.
Executioner Skeleton nodded his head, his eye sockets emitting a dim light.
- The one I must punish is there. But I cannot approach him, I can only wait and watch.