The undead cat dispelled its shield and fell to its side, freeing Alexander. Rising to his feet, he looked around and couldn’t believe his eyes. Everything around was reminiscent of the epicenter of a nuclear explosion: the ground was dug up and turned over, stones and debris were scattered in a chaotic manner, and the air was filled with the smell of burning and destruction. Everything around seemed swallowed up in darkness and lifelessness. The guy himself was in the bottom of an incredible crater.

Alexander slowly turned his gaze to the undead cat. Her bones cracked and slowly crumbled, like sand through her fingers. He sat down next to her, feeling powerless in the face of her fading life.

- Maybe I can share my energy? Will this help you? - he asked, but the cat just shook her head in denial.

Then she slowly raised her head and carefully extended it to Alexander. At first he did not understand her intentions, but then he realized that she wanted him to touch her forehead with his. He leaned down carefully and pressed his forehead to the cat's forehead. In that moment, a strange but powerful feeling of connection arose between them. It was like a transfusion of energies, but not physical - emotional and spiritual.

Alexander ended up in her memories. He looked through her eyes and there, in the visions of an undead cat, he saw endless green fields, illuminated by warm light. He saw everything through her eyes and felt everything that was in her soul. He sensed her humanity, her dreams and hopes. The vision showed eight girls gathered together. They were sisters, each with their own unique beauty and character.

One of the girls, the brightest and most bewitching, was the one that Alexander saw at the entrance to the portal where he met the Skeleton Executioner. Her beauty was such that even now, through the fog of time and death, she continued to captivate Alexander’s heart. He was submissive to her then and now he could not take his eyes off her. The girls were talking at that moment, but he could not understand the meaning.

Suddenly the memories changed. Alexander saw the girl wandering around the Edge, carefully examining the lands where waterfalls could flow upward, where small streams of lava flowed right under her feet, but there was no volcano or anything nearby that could form them. At one point she meets a man - strong-willed, strong, sparkling with invisible energy and confidence. There was depth and strength in his eyes, and the girl, despite her strength and independence, realized that she had fallen in love. This feeling was strong and exciting, it enveloped her completely, making her forget about everything in the world.

He was broad-shouldered, with a bushy beard and soulful eyes. She could not take her eyes off, listened to his stories and speeches for hours. The voice seemed hypnotizing even to Alexander, who was floating along the flow of the girl’s memories. At one point, she asked:

- How did you get here? What happened to you? - He looked her straight in the eyes. His gaze was deep and penetrating, his voice low and melodic.

He talked about his death, describing it with unusual detail.

- It was in St. Petersburg. I remember how a warm summer day turned into my darkest night. That woman, I don’t even know what her name was. She approached me under the guise of a beggar and asked for alms. I started looking for a coin in my wallet, and at that moment she stabbed me. I felt the blade pierce my flesh. The pain was unbearable.

- Terrible, is that how you ended up here?

- No, you won’t take me that easily. I ran towards the house, but she did not leave me. She ran after me, wanting to strike again. But I managed to gather my strength, picked up the log and knocked the knife out of her hands. I remember how people shouted and how they surrounded me. She was beaten, I saw it, and after that they carried me somewhere and I ended up here. I think it's divine providence. It was the will of the creator. I was wounded, but my spirit remained unbowed.

- Sadly…

- I died without having time to do so much. You don’t understand, but my help is needed there... - he said sadly, his gaze was directed into the distance, somewhere beyond the limits of visibility.

The girl picked up two pyramids of ash that were lying nearby. With tenderness and care, she began to create amulets from them. She handed one of them, assembled with special care, to him.

- This amulet will allow you to find a way out of the Edge and you will always be able to return to your world, no matter how terrible death is. - she said quietly.

Then she took the second amulet and, plucking off a piece of his soul, connected it to the amulet.

- This one is for me. Now I can always find you, wherever you are. We will always be together. - she said with confidence in her voice.

The man nodded, his eyes reflecting gratitude and surprise. The vision has changed.

Another place appeared before Alexander’s eyes. It was the same girl, but in different circumstances. She stood at the edge of a dark forest, where the light of the moon broke through the dense branches of the trees, creating a dance of shadows on the ground. Alexander visited a similar thicket with Yulia.

The same man appeared from the darkness, his face illuminated by a soft light. He walked slowly towards the girl, and when they met, she threw herself into his arms. Their kiss was full of passion and hidden melancholy from such a long separation.

- You are the only one for me. Thanks for the chance to come back. But I have to go. You must understand... The fate of the state depends on me...

The girl looked after him with sadness in her eyes as he walked away and disappeared into the darkness of the forest. Alexander, observing this vision, felt sadness and regret that overwhelmed her. The man in the vision seemed torn between his responsibilities and his love for the girl.

The vision changed again, and now Alexander saw how the girl came to the place where she hoped to meet her lover. But this time, the scene was different: the man appeared for just a moment, disappearing as suddenly as he had appeared. There was not a shadow of a glance on his face directed at the girl. She was left alone, overcome by a feeling of deep sadness and disappointment.

A desire arose in the girl’s soul to learn more about the world into which he went every time. She felt that there was something more between them than just the attachment of souls in the Edge. It was something that made her heart beat faster even in this dark, chaotic world. She decided to take action.

However, her decision to break the rules of the Edge and confront Death itself was fraught with consequences. But she was ready to do anything for love. Using her powers, she discovered a creature from another world that she could inhabit. It would not be a person; searching for a person required much more time than she had, so her choice fell on the tiger. A powerful and graceful creature with exceptional strength and agility.

At that moment, the vision began to flicker and fade, as if trying to hide the truth of what happened next from Alexander. In these scraps he saw the manipulation of the soul for infusion. I saw the cage in which the girl found herself. I saw fragments of her escape. He saw the circus tents, and then the city roofs. The vision became less clear, as if events were mixed in the dance of time.

Further, the vision returned to normal. Alexander felt like a tigress, watching what was happening from secluded corners. He saw her man having fun with girls and women. How he deceived and killed. Her ideas about him were crumbling. But she could not leave, the Edge was no longer waiting for her.

The vision changed again and now, her beloved man met his killers - people in whom a mixture of fear, hatred and determination was seething. She could literally smell the death they spread. Alexander felt the heaviness in the air through the tigress, but she remained unnoticed, merging with the darkness. The vision seemed to focus on individual moments. First there was a feast where the man drank and ate. He continued to participate in the feast, as if he did not notice the impending threat.

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Then the frame changed and one of the conspirators shot the man. Alexander felt the tigress cower, ready to pounce, but remained in the shadows, watching. The man fell, but soon got up, his killers were overcome with horror and panic.

More shots followed, each of which the tigress felt like blows to her heart. Finally, the man was tied up and thrown into the icy water of the river. Alexander saw the tigress slowly approach the shore, watching as her lover's body disappeared into the cold waters.

She suddenly jumped into the water and swam towards him. He was still twitching in the last convulsions of life. A rebellious will to live, struggle and despair shone in his eyes. Alexander felt how the soul of the girl inside the tigress was filled with sorrow and sympathy for the suffering man. And then came anger, hatred. Everything was mixed up in my soul.

The tigress approached, and her mouth opened and from it burst out the green light of the power of death, the end point of the path from which there was no return. The man’s sigh was interrupted, his eyes went dark, and his soul burned under the pressure of this mystical power.

The people who took the body out of the water did not notice the tigress; she seemed to have disappeared into the muddy water. But even so, she listened to their words before dying in this form. “Has Rasputin finally died?” And then there was the Edge. She appeared in a new form - as an undead cat. Having lost her human body, she retained the memories and feelings of a person.

The visions continued. The undead cat, alone and desperate in her struggle to survive in the Fringe, was forced to hunt Horrors - skinless creatures shrouded in the power to raise the dead to their final march. Each soul she absorbed was like a sip of water for an exhausted traveler in the desert. But the price of this life was high: with each soul she lost a tiny part of her human self, her memories became foggy, and her emotions became more and more illusory.

The sisters, like all creatures of the Edge, were subject to the inexorable laws of this world and the will of Death. The lost sister, who stepped over the line and broke the rules, became the object of the hunt. Executioner Skeleton, executor of the will of Death, was sent to restore order and balance the eternal balance.

Alexander felt his heart clench with pain and sympathy for the undead cat. She, persecuted and condemned, but still possessing a spark of humanity in her skeletal chest, fought not only for her existence, but also against inevitable oblivion. She was a symbol of lost innocence and an endless struggle with fate, which was doomed to failure.

The visions are over. Alexander slowly raised his eyes, meeting the fading lights in the eye sockets of the undead cat. Feelings were raging in his heart - a mixture of sadness, compassion and an enduring desire to live happily.

“You’ve been through so much...” he said quietly, turning to the creature whose story was so tragic and complex.

The undead cat seemed to be on its last legs, its breathing was weak and infrequent, and its bony body was barely holding itself together. Her eyes suddenly glowed brighter, as if she was trying to convey her last message to Alexander. This look contained both acceptance of fate and a silent request.

- Free me...

- Do you want to free yourself? To die... - Alexander realized, feeling the weight of this moment on his shoulders. He knew what he had to do. It was the last thing he could do to help this exhausted creature.

Carefully, with respect for how much this soul had endured, he raised his blade, infusing it with his soul's energy. The light blade glowed softly, as if reflecting his inner struggle and compassion.

- Farewell, and may your path be bright. Thank you. – he whispered and carefully lowered the blade, freeing the soul of the undead cat from its torment.

The undead cat's light-eyed eyes went out, and its body fell apart, no longer supported by the power of its soul. Alexander felt a surge of strength from the death of the cat, but there was no joy. Two luminous spheres burst out of the pile of bones, the same ones that Alexander saw in the vision. These were the compressed souls of the Edge accumulated by the undead cat.

Alexander stretched out his hand, and both spheres responded to his call. They quickly absorbed into his body, causing a surge of energy and power, filling him with strength that seemed endless. A second of euphoria passed, and the guy himself thought that he didn’t even recognize her name. She remained a lost soul.

Suddenly, the cat's skull began to twitch, deforming in an incomprehensible, threatening manner. Rusty sticks began to grow out of it, forming something resembling an anti-tank hedgehog. Cassandra's whisper sounded in Alexander's ears, like an echo from another world: "Shroud of the Lost."

- Shroud of the Lost? – Alexander repeated, feeling how unusual energy began to gather around the remains of the cat. He instinctively took a step back, watching as the ancient skull transformed into something new, mystical and powerful. - It looks like the thing that Julia swallowed...

Alexander cautiously approached him, holding out his hands. He felt the aura of the object electrify the hair throughout his body. And when he touched, he felt the radiation of cold but calming energy. As with Yulia, his veins turned black, but he was not afraid. He just closed his eyes, tracking where the power from this object was directed. He followed the trail that led him to the heart. The light echo of the Veil took its place in the very center of the heart muscle. He also felt another echo of unknown origin, but he could not feel it and understand that it was it. It was a slight vibration that was in his head, but sounded throughout his body. How he had not noticed this before, he did not understand.

- This is a gift from her, the last thing she could give me, apparently. – Alexander said thoughtfully, again listening to his heart.

Suddenly there was a thunder, and the figure of one of the sisters, whom Alexander had seen in a vision, appeared in the sky. She seemed to tower over the entire Edge, like a majestic, mysterious deity. Her features were graceful and noble, her hair flowed smoothly behind her back, creating the illusion of a starry river. The sister's eyes sparkled with a deep, immense light in which one could drown, forgetting about time and space.

The girl slowly moved her gaze, seemingly across the entire territory of the Border. Only when her gaze reached Alexander did she stop. It seemed to the guy that gravity began to press on him in an enhanced mode. He couldn't breathe or move. Her words, like musical notes, echoed throughout the Edge, enveloping every corner of this chaotic world:

- Rejected, your time has come. Death no longer has power over you, you are free to do what you want. All paths now lead to the real world. But know, Rejected Ones, that from this day on, not only can you return to the real world, but also the rest. They don't have bodies, so don't lose yourself in this race for life.

With these words, the girl slowly raised her hands to the sky, and throughout the Edge, in every corner, in every secret hidden crack, pyramids with daggers began to transform. It was a sight that could not be put into words: mystical structures that emitted cold light were replaced by living figures of people from different times and cultures. They still stood with their eyes closed, but each had a dagger in his hand, shining with starlight.

Some of them were dressed in ancient armor, others in elegant costumes of past centuries, while others wore clothes typical of very recent decades. They slowly came to their senses, looking around in bewilderment and amazement, and then their gaze began to harden. It seemed that the meaning of what had been said began to dawn on them. Some of them ran into the portals, which accepted them, but did not let them into the real world. They stood at the end of the tunnel, in front of a wall of light and could not go further.

After the last figure took on human form, the girl said quietly:

- Now you are truly Rejected by Death! - her voice was full of triumph and tragedy at the same time, as if she was freeing them.