Leaving the sound of the waterfall behind, Alexander headed towards one of the many structures scattered across this strange landscape. He walked towards a small pyramid, at the top of which stood a dagger, from which a thin stream of smoke rose, indicating a safe tunnel leading to reality. Walking on the unusually soft ground, he cast glances around, trying to absorb his surroundings.

There were other carelessly scattered fragments of reality around: here, a piece of dense, evergreen forest, there, a fragment of a city with tall buildings, the facades of which reflected the unknown light of this world. All this existed in a chaotic neighborhood, creating an outlandish collage of scenes and landscapes. Here and there Alexander saw groups of people or lonely wanderers, they wandered, not knowing what to do, every now and then hiding behind the uneven terrain. He even saw other people with their parishes, looking at the sky with empty eyes.

Underfoot, shadows ran from time to time, caused by the movements of elusive creatures hidden among distorted plants and upside-down worlds. The air was filled with many smells, from fresh and clean to strange and incomprehensible, which kept him in constant suspense.

As he approached the pyramid, he noticed that the ashes seemed old, but not worn out by time. The height was small. Stones with strange symbols were scattered around, glowing and pulsating with a soft light. The thin stream of smoke wafting from the dagger made a faint, barely perceptible sound, like a whisper. Alexander approached carefully, feeling his heart begin to beat faster in anticipation of the unknown.

Alexander knelt in front of the pyramid, his eyes glued to the dagger protruding from the top. The steel of the blade seemed unusually dark, as if it was absorbing all the surrounding light. He brought his face closer, and images began to flash in the reflection. At first it seemed to him that it was just a trick of the light, but soon the pictures became clearer, as if someone was playing a short film directly on the surface of the dagger.

He saw a man fighting for his life in conditions of extreme danger. The scenes were intense: chases in dark streets, explosions, a feeling of the inevitability of the impending end. Alexander not only saw this, but also began to smell - smoke, blood, metal. The sounds became louder - screams, shooting, the roar of explosions.

Then something strange happened - as if reality had melted away, and Alexander found himself inside this chaos. He was no longer an observer, he became this person, felt his fear, his determination, his pain. Every breath, every movement, every thought now belonged to him.

The last moments of this life were full of adrenaline, the struggle for survival, until everything suddenly ended in one moment. Alexander felt life slipping away, leaving him with a feeling of incredible emptiness and at the same time peace.

Suddenly he was back on his knees in front of the pyramid, sighing heavily, sweat dripping from his forehead. His heart was pounding wildly in his chest and he tried to collect his thoughts. It was so real that for a moment he forgot where he was. It took him a few seconds to realize again the reality of this strange world and the fact that he had just experienced someone's last moments with such force as if they were his own. And then warmth came and strength filled his body.

Alexander froze, trying to redirect his attention inward. This moment of experiencing someone else's death, the power he felt, was unlike anything he had ever experienced. His heart was still beating wildly, but he gradually began to calm his breathing, focusing on the sensations inside his body.

He felt energy flowing through his veins with every breath he took, pulsating through his muscles. He tried not to think, not to analyze, just to be, to feel, to understand. Where is this power? Where is she going? What is she doing with him? With every second he plunged deeper into his consciousness, opening new layers of sensations.

Suddenly he felt something change. It was a subtle, subtle change, but it was there. The power he felt seemed like some kind of external charge, but now he began to feel it as part of himself. It flows in him, filling every cell of his body. He couldn't explain it in words, but he felt that he was beginning to understand its nature. It was not just physical strength or energy, it was something more - a connection between his soul and the soul of that poor fellow who died in gang warfare.

“It’s enough to feel the story through the blade of a dagger, and you find yourself there, but without the need to fight. - Saying this, Alexander watched as the weapon turned into dust and scattered in the wind. Suddenly, he realized that air currents carried the ashes to the desired tunnel, but at the same time greatly narrowing the search area. - At one moment you begin to hear sounds, and then you find yourself there.

Roman nodded, clearly feeling nervous. There was a gleam of determination in his eyes as he stepped towards the next pyramid and stared at the dagger that crowned its top. As the seconds ticked by, Roman remained motionless, his gaze fixed on the steel. Unlike Alexander, he did not flinch from the visions, his breathing remained even, and his face did not reflect other people’s memories. As time passed, it became clear that his experience was radically different. Finally, he retreated, his gaze filled with disappointment and confusion.

“I don’t feel anything,” he said, his voice sounding discouraged. - No sounds, no smells. It's... it's just steel with fragments of life in it. Nothing more.

- It doesn't work like that for everyone, Roman. Maybe you just need more time, or... - Alexander stood next to him, trying to understand what the difference was.

No! - Roman interrupted him, even greater determination flashed in his eyes. - I feel... I feel that she is there, inside the dagger. Force. Soul. And I have to fight her. Gotta get it!

The decision was made, and the atmosphere between them became tense. Roman touched the hilt of the dagger and instantly sank into himself. His body miraculously moved on its own until it assumed the pose of a drug addict catching the arrival. Alexander, just in case, moved a little further and began to wait. At that moment, out of the corner of his consciousness, he noticed a change in his surroundings and turned to the east. Goosebumps appeared on his skin faster than he understood the reason. And Cassandra’s whisper whispered in my ears: “Horror.”

Alexander flinched from the unexpected whisper, sounding as clearly as if Cassandra were nearby. He looked around, but there was no one else with Roman. His gaze glanced at the fog-shrouded ruins, feeling a vague uneasiness growing within. "What does she mean? What kind of horror is this?" - flashed through his thoughts.

He turned back to Roman, who was still in a strange trance, his body trembling involuntarily, as if under the control of some invisible force. Roman was clearly uneasy, but he held on steadfastly, and Alexander realized that he could not leave him alone now.

However, the painful feeling continued to grow. Alexander tried to focus, listening to the surrounding sounds. The silence around him seemed abnormal, too deep, except for the faint buzzing that began to penetrate his consciousness. It intensified, becoming more and more noticeable, until it acquired the clear contours of a whisper... thousands of whispers, intertwined into one inarticulate murmur.

And in the distance he more clearly recognized the creature that had caused the first disturbance. He was a man by anatomy, but his appearance chilled him to the bone. He had no skin at all. The movements were broken, and the muscles bled with every step. A trace of blood was also visible, spreading in different directions. And the pyramids that fell into the area of the liquid dispersed into a fog that began to thicken and, as if driven by someone’s will, spread around the area.

Alexander felt the skin on his hands begin to break out in goosebumps. The whisper was everywhere, it came from the ground, the air, even from the fog itself, which began to slowly but inexorably thicken. Suddenly, he realized: these are... souls. Souls consumed by the daggers, souls imprisoned in this territory, and now they were awakening, attracted by a creature without skin.

- Novel! - he shouted, trying to break through the wall of sounds, but his friend was too absorbed in his internal battle. Alexander realized that he had to protect them both - run or fight. The first was not considered due to the fact that he would not be able to carry away a comrade, and it was not in his rules to abandon him. Therefore the second.

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He closed his eyes, concentrating on the energy pulsing within his body. Alexander called out to her, running through memories and sensations, clinging to the last opportunity. A thin thread, the guy grabbed it, feeling the will and strength of those three people that he had already absorbed.

Holding tightly to this energy, he allowed it to grow, spread through his veins, filling him with the strength of previous souls. When he opened his eyes again, the dagger shone with a new light and he raised it, feeling the power flow through him. He fell to his knees from tension, but he had only one thought: to protect. As if understanding what was required, the energy burst from the edge of the blade and swirled, creating a protective dome around them. If the guy had seen himself, he would have realized that he had turned pale and was holding on to his will alone.

The souls screaming in the fog hit the invisible wall, creating whirlwinds and sparks of energy, but were unable to overcome it. Alexander trembled, but held on, realizing that Roman was continuing his struggle inside his own consciousness. Alexander had to hold on.

The skinless creature continued to move, its steps causing the ground to tremble, and the trail of blood behind it expanded, as if alive. It was obsessed with some goal, unknown to Alexander, but dangerous, he felt it with every cell of his body. The monster's every movement was echoed with anguish in the whispers of thousands of souls who seemed to be trying to convey something important, but their message was lost in the chaos of sounds and emotions.

Under the pressure of painful memories and the energy of souls, Alexander’s protective barrier began to crack. He felt his strength leaving him, but he persevered, calling on everything that made him human. He couldn't remember his past, but he had others'.

Roman, meanwhile, continued his internal struggle. His body trembled with tension, his face was distorted either by pain or determination. At some point, he stopped, frozen, and Alexander noticed how his friend began to slowly raise his hand, clutching a dagger in it. With a slight delay, the guy opened his eyes and almost ran out of the protective dome, scared.

- Stay close!

Alexander, through glimpses of the fog, saw other Castaways who did not have time to escape. The fog from their souls swallowed them up, and then, as if in delirium, they ran to their comrades, attacking them. Pure chaos began. The young man looked at the bloody monster again and noticed how a strange creature that looked like a bone cat was trying to get close to him. Small in size, slightly larger than a dog, with gray bones that protruded and had hooks at the joints. It was barely noticeable and only an accident determined Alexander’s opportunity to see the new essence of the Edge.

The young man felt that his protective dome would not last long. Every second of fighting wore him down, causing his strength to drain faster than he could replenish it. The creature, similar to a bone cat, moved quickly and imperceptibly, it avoided gaze, as if it was made of shadow. In his presence, the bloody monster seemed even more furious, its steps became firmer, and the blood on the ground darkened, as if confirming the threat posed by the newcomer. They were getting closer, there was a maximum of five meters between them.

Alexander realized that his strength was melting away every second. The protective dome trembled, cracked, and through these cracks the cold horror of the Edge penetrated. He couldn't leave Roman, who seemed to have just snapped out of his nightmares, returning to reality.

Through the noise and chaos that reigned among the Rejected, Alexander heard screams, pleas for help, and an ominous chuckle that seemed to come from the cat-creature. It was something unimaginable, but he understood that he had to act. Looking at Roman, he saw determination and fear mixed together in his eyes.

“We need to do something,” he breathed, trying to shout above the chaos around him. - This creature... I don’t know what it can do, but we must leave.

- To the temple? - Roman’s voice trembled, and his head was turned to the buried ruins of some ancient structure, visually similar to a temple. There was a gap in the roof dome that they could try to squeeze through. - Come on, I'll help you...

At that moment, when Roman tried to lift and pull Alexander away, the guy himself could barely think. His mind clung to the image of a cat suddenly attacking a skinless man.

The undead cat charged at the skinless monster with unexpected aggression and speed. Her razor-sharp claws pierced the monster's fleshy flesh, causing horrifying screams of pain. The animal seemed to jump high, and then began to fall like a hurricane on the person. In response, the creature seemed to ripple as everything around it mutated. The entire clearing was pierced in a single rush by a thousand bloody spears. The undead cat froze, impaled in an unnatural position. The squeal of the monster could be heard even where Alexander and Roman were. The souls that were circling around reached out to the man without a code and the cat trying to dodge and get out of the trap.

The scene was so shocking that Alexander momentarily forgot about his exhaustion. He watched with bated breath as two monsters, seemingly from different worlds, fought each other in a brutal dance of death and chaos. The monster's blood turned into a black mist, drawing everything around into its whirlwinds.

- This is our chance! - flashed through Alexander’s head. Taking advantage of the moment that the souls retreated from them, he dispelled the shield, rose to his feet and, with the support of Roman, ran towards the temple.

Faster! Faster! - Roman shouted, his voice barely audible against the background of this apocalyptic battle.

They ran, avoiding the bodies of the Rejected and the rubble of the ruins, each step was difficult, but fear and the instinct of self-preservation drove them forward. On the way to the temple, they had to run away from possessed people who, like zombies, were rushing towards them. Once they reached the ruined entrance, both looked back to see the battle had ended.

To their surprise, the undead cat stood over the monster's skinless body, its muzzle covered in black blood and its eyes blazing with wild rage. She turned her head in their direction, and for a moment Alexander felt that her gaze was absorbing him. Goosebumps ran down my spine. But then she disappeared into the darkness, leaving them incredibly confused by what had just happened. Following her, the souls that spread around in fog settled to the ground, leaving behind pyramids with ash and the constant daggers at the top.

Breathing heavily, they awoke to the ruined temple, seeking shelter and a place to catch their breath as the possessed were still a threat. And it didn’t hurt to try to comprehend the chaos that they had just experienced. The world around them seemed to have gone crazy.

They fell into the shadows of the ruins, where the air was cooler and the world seemed momentarily quiet, save for the distant echoes of screams and moans. Alexander leaned on one of the walls, trying to stabilize his breathing. Roman sat next to him, his head lowered, and he tried to recover from the madness that they had just seen.

- How could this happen? What other creatures live in the Edge? And how was this dead cat able to defeat that creature?! - thoughts were spinning in Alexander’s head.

He remembered again and again the moment when the cat looked at him. There was something in her eyes... almost human, but at the same time something wild and unpredictable. His heart was still pounding from adrenaline, but he tried to calm down the fear and panic so he could think rationally.

Roman suddenly looked up at him, his eyes filled with concern.

- Alexander, what should we do now? We can't survive here on our own. We need to find others to be on our side, or... or some way out. We need to get out of here. - Alexander saw that Roman was starting to have a natural hysteria, which could have ended badly, given the dagger that the guy was holding in his clenched hand. Smiling slightly, he walked up and simply slapped his comrade in the face with all his heart. She was loud, but effective. The young man seemed to begin to come to his senses, and Alexander wondered where he got the knowledge that this could sober a person.