I don't know how long it took us to see... the lake.
A big round lake in the middle of black sand. I wiped my eyes without trusting my eyesight, but then Xenia asked me confidently:
- Am I the only one who can see it? Is there water there?
- Water... - Solmeya whispered.
It was as if everyone had gained strength, and we went faster, almost ran, stopped on the shore, looking at the lake with astonishment.
- Rion, is there any water in the Devil? - I asked uncertainly, like everybody else, not daring to touch such an enticing iron. He shrugged his shoulders, sat down, watching carefully the mirror of such a beautiful lake, which smelled of mud and fish, pulled freshness, and we gladly set the breeze on our dusty faces.
- Yes, why did you freeze? - Danila marveled, bathing! That's lucky, we went out to the lake!
- Wait," said Rion and Solmea at the same time. The mermaid frowned at us.
- I can't feel the water," she said slowly, "the eyes see, the ears hear, but I can't feel it.
We froze in disappointment. It would be foolish not to trust a siren for which water is the essence.
- Well, what is it? - I'm tired of asking Shyder.
- I think I know," Antashar surprisedly said, "it's the entrance to the Fringe.
I squatted, looking at the mirror of "water". There, on the other hand, was what I thought was algae and fish: dead wood and shadows floating by. I pulled back sharply.
- Yeah, well, it's a good thing we didn't swim in that water," Shider whistled, "in the Hell, you can't even trust your eyes and ears.
We hurriedly pulled away from the lake, sighing away. We stopped a few steps away. The fatigue was making itself felt.
- How many spheres were left? - Spider quietly asked.
- One at a time," Antashar replied.
I was desperate to see the sparks of force that circled in the air like crazy fireflies, or the confusing lights that come to the swamps and lure the wanderers into the swamp. Maybe those sparks are just deception.
The archpriest took my hand, confidently clenched it in his palms.
- Chickenpox, you are doing everything right, don't doubt - and he turned to the others - come, let's not waste time.
A few hours later we were again attacked by snakes. This time the battle was longer, everyone was tired. We managed to fight back without losses, but after the battle we sat on the sand, feeling almost like the killed monsters. The devil was pulling the last of us out. We crushed the remaining spheres in the palms of our hands, trying to cheer each other up with smiles and to hide despair. As far as the gaze was concerned, there was only black sand and gray fog moving in shreds like ghosts. And there was no sign of the notorious Tree of Life... The line is huge, and does not obey the laws of our reality, it is quite possible that if there is a primordial source somewhere, we will not get there...
The archharrion held my hand, supporting me and not letting me fall, stubbornly moving forward, still looking carefully at the sides. His dark eyes were calm, but after a while he slowed down a little.
- Vetriana, do you see the threads?
I nodded tiredly. He stopped.
- I'll turn around now," he said, "I'm stronger in demonic essence and I have wings. I'll have to leave the rest here.
- No," I was afraid.
- Yes. There is no way out, Vetriana. I offered to take the Devil's Trained Demon Squad with me. Though some of your friends are good for you," he said for a moment, "the darkness crawled, changing it," time is running out, Vetriana. We must use it. We must leave the rest.
I watched him change in silence, turning to the demon. Spider came closer, the others sat on the sand again, taking a break.
- You gonna fly? - Lord Darrell asked, looking into Archharrion's yellow eyes. The demon nodded.
- That's right," said Shyder quietly, "I believe you can still find this tree, I believe in you. I should have done this before the spheres were finished.
I tried to hold back my tears and not think about the possibility of seeing my friends for the last time. I guess I was wrong, though... Saying goodbye to no one was too hard, and I wasn't even able to do it. I nodded at Shider, turned my back on his gaze, which was now so much outright love and longing that he no longer saw the point of hiding. Even Rion hadn't said anything about that look, just hugged me, pinned me down and opened his black wings. And we soared into the misty veil that replaced the sky here.
And already on the flight I thought it was our first flight, Rion had never done it before, and it's a pity, it's so beautiful... Even in that terrible moment, I couldn't help but enjoy the delightful feeling of soaring up, feeling the power of the black wings and the strong hands that held me. I held on to Rion tighter, wrapped my legs around him.
- Chickenpox," he grinned, "you're... distracting me. Look at the sparks.
I took my gaze away from his eyes and tried to see beyond the mist of the thread.
- I can't see, I have to fly lower.
He stooped obediently closer to the sand and the wingspans became slower.
- If I had wings," I said dreamily, "I would fly all day under the sky...
- Then we will," Rion said, "fly all day long...
- It's a deal," I whispered.
After a while, Rion's wingspans became heavier, I felt he was tired, too. As strong as the demon is, the Devil is stronger. And at some point, one wing seemed to break, and we fell sharply down, losing altitude. He leveled the flight almost at the sand itself, pressed me tighter, the vertical pupil trembled in yellow eyes.
- I'm sorry.
- Rion, come down," I said with concern, putting my hands on his chest, trying to pour my power into him.
- Stop it," he barked, and soared up again. He no longer asked if I could see the sparks, and I realized that the Archarrion was just trying to get to the ground. But there was only fog and sand, sand and fog around... infinity... I had a strong feeling that we fell out of our reality, because on the map Devil looked like a line, and there was no end or edge, no immensity and vastness...
The archpriest squeezed his teeth and rushed forward, the black wings whistling through the air, he breathed heavily, but did not shrink stubbornly, knowing that we will not walk for sure. My eyes were tearful, and I could hardly see anything, only glimpsing circles and colored threads...
- Rion," I whispered as I opened my eyes and looked up, and then I screamed, "Rion!!!
For the sparks suddenly merged and stretched out, wrapped in tight spirals and sparkling iridescent threads. Strong, strong, beautiful, with all the colors: and green Riverstein, and red Chaos, and shimmering White Tree Elloar, and blue, and yellow, and blue ... And dozens of different colors and shades ...
And up ahead... I felt like I was seeing trouble, illusion, because I couldn't believe we really found him. I cried as Archarrion sank down on the black sand, and walked, without letting go of my hands, to the place where the grass was green, the water of streams was noisy, and where the crowns of a mighty tree were spread. The primordial spring of the underworld, the Tree of Life.
And there were also people running towards us. And Rion didn't reach them at all, he tripped, fell to his knees and kept squeezing me in his hands. Falling into oblivion, I saw his yellow eyes, and then they were blocked by others, blue. Because the people near the Tree of Life were not people. They were gone schemata...
* * *
I woke up and lay there for a while, looking up at the sky. A normal sky, with clouds and sun, even clouds seemed to be gathering. Then I remembered where I jumped, looking back. And immediately I was pressed by the strong hands of Archarrion, and his lips began to greedily cover my face with kisses.
- Rion, wait! I couldn't stand it, we must find the others! Where are we? What...
- Quiet," he kissed me again and let me go with a sigh, "you haven't been well for a long time, even though Laran said you were fine and just sleeping. But I was worried," he said. The others are here, too,
and they've gone quite far from where we left them, by the way, I could barely find them," Rion shook his head, "all alive and well and as careless as ever, don't worry. Solmeya is splashing in the water, Antashar is faithfully waiting for her on the shore, the others are wandering somewhere. Shider crawls like a crazy bug in the Tree of Life, studies.
I giggled, imagining this picture.
- So we did find it," I gladly extended, "and we found the original source!
- You found it," he said tenderly, and kissed me again.
- And who is Laran?
- Come, you'll meet him," he said, smiling, "and you'll like him. And as far as I understand... He's your grandfather, Vetriana.
I froze, looking unbelievably into his eyes, with sparks of laughter dancing in them. And suddenly they were gone, and there was anxiety. Rion pressed me against him, stroked my head gently like a little one.
- Chickenpox, don't you ever cry again," he said.
- If you do, I remember," I muttered through the tears.
- And I've already told you that I know more interesting classes.
I laughed and finally looked around. We sat on a small terrace, and Rion sat there holding me in his arms. And there was a beautiful view of a mighty tree, under the crown of which you could build a small settlement. Only part of the branches were dried up, and unfortunately, it was a big part.
The tree stood on a small hill, and a blossoming garden spread out around us, where you could see the straw roofs of small houses. Somewhere in the distance, the mirror-like surface of the lake was shining, this time the real one.
A gust of warm wind came Echo, wrapped us in the scents of flowers and herbs and again went somewhere, rascal.
- Laran is waiting for us, Vetriana, shall we go? Scheets come here every half hour, they want to meet you and I'm tired of kicking them out.
I got off the knees of Rion as soon as I could get my hair and my clothes straightened.
- If you want, they brought clean clothes for you and there's a thermal in the house.
- I'd like to," I answered seriously, "but then. I've waited too long for this. Let's go. It's just...
I ate my lip and I was embarrassed.
- What? He was worried.
- Hold my hand," I said quietly, put my palm in his hand and turned away so as not to see his eyes. But he only held my palm tighter.
- I won't let go," he said quietly.
* * *
We came out of the terrace, went down the steps to the white stone path and walked past the blossoming garden to the Tree of Life. There were people standing by it and everyone looking at me so that I wanted to cry again, but I just held Rion's hand tighter. There was love in the blue eyes of the schemists... For me. And it was so strange to see in the eyes of strangers, so sincere and deep feeling as if they had found their lost relative. However, in a way, it was.
A tall old man came to meet us, stopped looking at me and then gave me a hug.
- Tyara, my girl, how you look like your mother," he said with a smile that made good wrinkles run through his face, "she's just as amazingly beautiful. My name is Laran, I am the keeper of the source.
I nodded, smiling with sincere joy.
- What is the name of this place?
- Alarania, in the ancient language of the Shiths, it means "beginning." This is where our whole world once began.
- So I get it right, the Devil is designed to protect the source?
- That's right, Tyara, thousands of years ago, the scheets surrounded the Tree of Life with a shield and over time, feeding on the power of the source, this shield grew and became the Devil. The more threat there was in the outside world, the more powerful the shield became, snake monsters and traps to protect the tree from external threats appeared in the sand. Even the transition to the Shadow World opened up. The devil began to live by himself, hiding Alarania and the Tree from the rest of the world.
- But then what happened, Laran? - I asked, I can see the tree drying up. That's why all the springs started to fade too, isn't it? The primordial Source fed them all.
The old man nodded sadly.
- Eight centuries ago, when we noticed the first signs, all the scheets went to Alarania to hold on to the Source. We are the only ones who can give their strength, each one of us can chart a small source, we can nourish the tree, we can keep the balance. But unfortunately, the process is irreversible. Everything in the world has its time and nothing is eternal, not even the Tree of Life - he put his hand on my shoulder - come on, Tyara, we will answer all your questions a little later. It's a pleasure to see you, we didn't think the children of light were left in the underworld. The archharrion told us how it happened, sorry, we just tortured him with questions while you were sleeping.
The old man stood there looking at me with a smile.
- And I would be glad if you could call me grandfather," he confusedly said, "your mother, Karia, was my daughter...
- I'll... try," I mumbled uncertainly.
The old man nodded and pulled us to a place where the schemes were already looking at impatiently.
* * *
After a couple of hours, my head went round and round with different names, happy smiles and blue eyes. There were about four dozen sketches gathered, they were elders and honorable citizens of Alarania, though, as I understood, there were no special authorities here. The Shiths will be overcome with conflicts and strife, and all of them are united by a great goal, which is so important that it throws away any troubles. It has always been warm here, and the residents have worn loose light clothes that do not embarrass movements. We were joined by my friends, Xenia and Danila, who hugged me for a long time, telling me how they went somewhere in the sand looking for us. Then they took me away from them Solmeius and Antashar, but the Faceless Rion pulled away his shoulder and did not let them touch me. And yet I hugged Shaider, short and fast, and looked with a smile into the nutty eyes, which were now glowing with research interest. And I took Rion's hand again, and I looked at his guilt. He raised his eyebrow mockingly.
- No, but why can Shader be hugged and I can't," Antashar stretched out a little offended and restrained Solmea suddenly stepped on his foot with a vengeful smile. The faceless man wailed, dazzled, looking at the siren, which now smiled serenely.
- Chickenpox, you have no idea what a lovely lake this is! - The mermaid sang. After long acquaintanceship with the sketches, and delight at the meeting, we were seated at the tables, and after everyone had eaten, Laran invited us into a private gazebo. A few more schemtists came with us, Elder Alarania, but I didn't remember the names.
- Ask," said the keeper, sitting on a bench with a carved wooden backrest.
- Are we still in the underworld? - Antashar asked.
- Yes. But Hell has another property, the distortion of space. In fact, Alarania is bigger than Rainbow Empire and Chaos combined.
We looked over in astonishment, though I suspected something like that.
- How long ago did the Tree begin to fade? And why did it start? - Spider asked.
- Everything has its time, as I said," Laran sighed, "even the Abyss is not forever. The seed of the Tree of Life brought thousands of years ago to us and it became a source, a primordial source, so powerful that it filled different objects in the world with power. The Tree at Elloar, the labyrinth at Chaos, the Underground Grotto at the Free Mountains and all others. The threads of power entangle our world and the schetes see them, know how to redirect the power where it is needed more or weaken too strong a source that it does not burn out. But when the Tree started to dry up, we all left here. For centuries we've been able to maintain the Tree, but alas...
- So, what do we do now? - I asked the main question.
The elders looked over and I got nervous.
- You see," Laran said uncertainly once, "the Tree had given several seeds in its day. And now there's only one way out, to plant the new Tree of Life," he said, "and there are no other options, unfortunately.
>
- So what is the matter," asked Solmei, "let us plant it!
The elders have glanced again.
- You don't have these seeds," I said quietly.
Laran nodded.
- Thousands of years ago, the seeds of the Tree of Life were distributed among races. Demons, elves, dwarves, sirens, humans, orcs, and the rest had one seed each. And when the scheets went to Alarania, we tried to collect these seeds...
- Say it was stolen," Xenia snorted, and Danila shoved her elbow. The guardian bowed his head.
- Well, you could say that. Unfortunately, no one kept the heritage of the Tree, the Underworld was shaken in wars, races divided territories and completely forgot about the main thing, what is really important. The Tree of Life became just a legend, a forgotten fairy tale about the creation of the world, which not even everyone believed in. We decided that we could do better with the seeds.
- But since we're all here, something didn't work out for you," Shaider said thoughtfully.
The elders nodded harmoniously.
- Unfortunately, they did. We weren't able to get all the seeds, some just got lost in the thick of the ages, we had six, and we were confident of success. There were runes left that describe the process, but... None of the seeds had sprouted.
- But why not?
- We don't know. We felt like we were doing the right thing. The basic condition was a true fusion of light and darkness, each seed we planted on a day of sunshine darkness, which happens very rarely, once every hundred years. It's a day when the sun turns black. But the seeds still didn't germinate, alas... Perhaps we were wrong somewhere...
They shut up looking at us for their fault. I sighed.
The Wind of the North Page 77