speed, constantly changing direction. It was
hard to keep track of what was spinning around him, but when
he looked closely, he could make out leaves,
branches, scraps of newspaper, and black sticks like the one
stuck in his leg. Any change in flow direction
16
it could easily cause one of them to stab him
right through. The blood began to pound in his temples, and fear came over him again,
and then he saw bodies flying in the distance, just as he was.
All of them were scratched and wounded, punctured
black sticks, large and small, seemed
lifeless and flew motionless, caught
up in the current.
Looking at the bodies, the open empty eyes, the terrible
wounds, Keijigen realized that the sticks were not rebar,
but spears and arrows and their fragments. They were such a deep
black color that it was as if the void itself had taken
shape. It was cold and hard to breathe. Was
the flow really running out of oxygen? Or maybe he didn’t notice and was
poked by another piece of black arrow? Keijigen
tried not to move, trying to figure out what he could
do to get out of the vortex, but his thoughts were slow
and nothing came to mind.
Another change in the flow direction significantly changed
the positions of flying objects. It hit him on the head
some newspaper. He decided not to take it off, because the extra
movement caused pain. But then something soft bumped into him
.
«Green Alley, find Reana,»
a low voice told him.
With his good hand, Keijigen tore the newspaper off his face
and saw the angel that Milo had been
talking to outside the hunting lodge a few minutes ago.
He smiled to himself. Yeah, compared
to what was happening right now, the conversation was very nice.
Keijigen tilted his head and looked at him.
It was difficult to call him an angel now:
a black arrow was running through his chest from right to left, and his left arm, broken
in the shoulder and forearm, hung unnaturally down. His face
was scratched and covered with blood, and his white clothes were no
longer white, covered with dirt, blood, and dirt.
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«This is a meeting,» Keijigen said softly.
Without opening his eyes, the angel repeated in a barely audible voice, «Find
Reana.» Return stone… around your neck…
It was hard for him to speak, the black
arrow in his chest moved with every word, something gurgled, and
blood came out of his mouth. He hung up. Or died.
Keijigen struggled to think through his words. His thoughts flowed
like jelly, and he didn’t know if seconds or minutes were passing
,hours or days. «On the neck… what’s on the neck, what’s on the neck?…»
As luck would have it, the angel landed on the side of the burned
palm, and Keijigen had to roll
over to reach the unfortunate man with his good hand. A groan escaped
his mouth as he grazed a piece of black spear sticking
out of his leg, and for a second he lost consciousness. «Where am I? Who am I?»
When he came back to himself, he remembered why he had rolled over.
«Come on! he groaned, holding out his good hand
.«Got it!»
Keijigen found the chain around the angel’s neck. It was rather
thin and cold, and it slid between his fingers, and he
turned it over and over until he found a small
,rounded object in his hand.
– And what’s your activation code, light ones?».. he
sighed. «I hope you don’t
change the factory settings either…» and pressed a certain
sequence of runes located on the stone.
At the same time, a blue beam from somewhere below caught
the angel, and Keijigen wrapped his arms around him as best he could, and an unknown
force pulled them out of the stream, and everything around them flashed
like rainbow sparks, and they plopped down on the grass, wet
from the recent rain.
Keijigen fainted again from the pain, and a piece of the black
spear clattered and almost flew out of his leg. Opening his eyes at
last, he got up, took off his half-torn
jacket, wrapped it around his arm, and pulled out the hated fragment.
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Blood immediately filled the wound. He tied it up with the same
piece of jacket and got to his feet.
It was dark and quiet. People were sleeping. Next to it was a white
two-story house, surrounded by bushes and flowers, smelling
of roses. A dim streetlamp illuminated the street. In the dark sky
there was a moon and a few stars. Keijigen took a deep
breath. Life seems to be getting better, he thought,
but then he remembered his companion, who was lying
unconscious on the bed. His chest was slightly raised,
which made him assume that he was alive, and decided to walk around the house
to see where they were.
A few meters to their left,
a gate and porch with a white wooden door appeared behind a large rose bush
.On the mailbox, Keijigen read: Green
Alley, 7, Reana Dammer. «Oh,» he said, «it looks
like we’re here.» Then there was a commotion and he hurried
back.
On the other side of the house, there was a glass-enclosed
porch and another door that Keijigen hadn
’t noticed at first. It opened and a girl ran out
He was wearing bare-footed sneakers, casual clothes, and a striped
zip-up jacket.
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CHAPTER 5. THE FIND
Lina ran as fast as she could without stopping until
she was almost out of breath from running. «It seems to be over… Today
this