The girl's scream immediately drew the attention of nearby people, who began looking around anxiously, whispering amongst themselves.
At that moment, someone firmly grabbed her by the elbow and pulled her toward the exit through the crowd. Her vision whitened, then blackened; nausea rose in her throat. She didn't immediately realize that someone was forcibly leading her away from the fair. The voice still echoed in her ears, but now it was joined by a feeling of inexplicable fear.
Looking with pain-blurred vision at the hand of the person leading her away, she shuddered and stopped sharply, causing the person shrouded in a light coat with a hood to turn and look at her.
What she saw shocked her—under the hood, there was no face, only a black miasma, emitting a smell of decay, covered by the thinnest veil of gray mist.
"No!" she shrieked, shaking off the gripping hand and dashing away, through the outskirts of the tent camp, not watching her path.
Stumbling and slipping, she ran into an area designated for storing goods for those who couldn't keep everything in one wagon.
Tearing the hem of her dress on some low shrubs, the girl, ignoring the pain in her legs, vaulted over a low fence.
"Stop! No outsiders allowed!" shouted a guard, running out to meet her, blocking her path.
Not slowing her pace, she darted around him and another man who tried to help the hapless guard catch her, knocking over boxes in her path to hinder her pursuers.
Primordial horror filled her body, leaving no chance for a calm assessment of the situation.
"I feel it following me through the shadows. Quickly, I must reach the open field; it won't be able to catch me there!"
Driven by fear, she flew at full speed past shelves covered with tarps and the few people present.
"Stop, you devil!" the guard shouted after her, hopelessly falling behind.
Realizing he could never catch her, he took out a whistle and blew into it with all his might, accompanying it with shouts:
"Officers, officers! Alarm! Unauthorized entry!.."
Seeing the girl rushing toward them, chickens released by someone scattered right from under her feet, clucking disapprovingly.
"Hey!" Barely avoiding a collision with a man carrying wooden crates, she ducked under a large awning where large items were stored.
Gasping for air, she slowed her pace slightly, turning around and seeing no one, then ran into an improvised section for large musical instruments. Nearly tripping over a cello's leg, she recoiled into a row of mirrors someone had set up.
Some were uncovered. The moment she glanced into a reflection, she screamed, seeing a girl with disheveled hair in a torn dress running, and right behind her, just a few meters away, a hovering hand wrapped in mist, with no hint of the rest of its flesh. The skin on the hand was covered in sores, with signs of decay. It kept making grasping motions toward her.
"Get away from me!" In tears, she grabbed a figurine that happened to be within reach and threw it over her shoulder, but there was nothing there.
Only in the reflection of a glass cabinet could she see that something unimaginable continued to pursue her, getting closer.
Then, from under a pile of things, two green eyes gleamed. Glancing at the girl running past, the creature fixed its gaze on something behind her.
At that same moment, a bright flash erupted behind Alexandra, but fear prevented her from turning around, and her legs carried her further away.
Running out from under the large storage awning, she heard one of the officers nearby call out to her.
With her last strength, she jumped over the fence again, nearly falling into the hands of the officer and his assistant, who tore another piece of fabric from her already ripped dress.
Diving into a nearby grove, she pushed through the trees, constantly scratching her hands and face on the ubiquitous branches.
Tripping over an old stump, she tried to regain her balance and suddenly crashed into something soft.
This soft thing turned out to be a person's embrace.
Startled, she screamed again until she looked at the face.
"D-Darrell?.. W-what's wrong with you?" Stunned by the sight before her, she suddenly forgot about the terrifying pursuer, staring wide-eyed at her foster brother.
Tears streamed down Darrell's face; he looked at Alexandra with an expression unimaginable for his usual demeanor.
"Sister, praise the Almighty Guardian, I found you."
Staring at the young man, Alexandra tried to extricate herself from his embrace, but he unexpectedly held her even tighter.
"I won't let you go again. Never." Saying this, he gently touched her cheek, tracing her skin with the very tips of his fingers.
Then he leaned down and, pressing his lips to hers, kissed her.
At that moment, the girl was simply speechless. When he pulled away, she couldn't tear her gaze from his eyes. Though they had been brown all her life, at that moment they sparkled with blue veins.
"..."
Just then, a shadow emerged from the trees behind the young man.
Alexandra's eyes widened; she forcefully broke free from the embrace, trying to pull the strangely behaving Darrell to a safe distance.
"Watch out!" she cried, but it was too late—the black shadow touched the young man, dissolving behind him.
"A-A-A!" Darrell screamed in an inhuman voice at the same moment, doubling over. "Get away, this is my body now!"
An invisible battle raged inside the young man, and Alexandra, not knowing how to help, could only stand there, hiding.
Then his body calmed down, and the hunched upper torso straightened sharply.
Shuddering, Alexandra covered her mouth with her hand to avoid screaming again—instead of eyes, Darrell now had two gaping chasms, black like the bottom of a bottomless well.
Alexandra turned to try to run, but the creature possessing Darrell gave her no chance.
In an instant, Alexandra was grabbed, and the creature, contorting her foster brother's face with a smirk on its lips, said:
"Hah, this body is perfect for the will-subjugation technique. Caught you, little bird, you won't escape me again."
The grip was rough. Alexandra's heart clenched in fear.
"Who are you? What do you want from me?"
The brother's body laughed coldly; the sight made her break out in a sweat.
"How long I've searched for you, Second Shard, if only you knew! I didn't expect your loving parents to think of tossing you here, into a world where the flow of true chaotic energy is so slow it's almost unnoticeable. Ah, well, it doesn't matter now. We must hurry before the local Guardian notices the energy distortion. Judging by what I've seen, the third shard will soon come running to find you itself and just fall into our trap. How perfectly everything is turning out. The Great One will surely be pleased with me, heh-heh."
Bursting into wild laughter, while emitting something black from the mouth of Darrell's body, he shoved the frightened girl hard in the chest.
Without even having time to take a breath, let alone scream, it seemed to Alexandra that at the moment of the push, her soul separated from her body and began falling endlessly into some abyss, from which cries and wails echoed, stickily enveloping her body in darkness. An abyss equal in depth to those black, cold, lifeless eyes that radiated an impenetrable gloom and decay that made her skin crawl.
As she fell, the jade pendant under her clothes flew up, flashing green. In response to this flash, something dark with two green dots shot from the crown of a nearby tree straight toward the girl, meeting the green light.
The trajectory of the fall changed in an instant, and instead of something sticky and enveloping, Alexandra's gaze was filled with the glow of myriads of stars.
The fall seemed an eternity, ending in a single moment.
Flying for some time, the girl crashed with full force into something icy. Before her eyes appeared a floor covered in marble with an intricate pattern. The sound of a dull impact immediately echoed through the unknown chamber.
Slowly raising her head, first examining her fingers, which seemed semi-transparent, ghostly, she stared ahead.
The floor and walls sparkled with a detached, almost ghostly radiance. There was no ceiling—instead, wherever she looked, a starry sky stretched across the entire breadth.
Beside her, with a slight rustle of garments, landed a creature resembling a human in form, only very tall (in Alexandra's opinion, who was a full 170 centimeters tall, which was considered rare for a girl her age in her parts), with skin so black that the gloom itself would shudder at the sight. High cheekbones, a sharp nose, and thin eyebrows framed eyes glowing with an inner white light, which seemed filled with the unprincipled essence of being.
The creature's hair, like silver threads, fell, drowning in light-looking garments the color of gold. The contrast made her eyes swim.
The creature looked at her surprised and gestured for her to stand up.
Waiting for her to assume a vertical position, it examined her from head to toe.
Under such a piercing gaze, she immediately wanted to hide somewhere.
The creature, showing no hostility, seemed to sigh and gestured for her to follow.
Hesitating slightly, the girl, driven by immense curiosity, followed the strange creature.
"Is this the place souls go after death?" Alexandra thought.
They walked along a seemingly endless corridor without windows or a ceiling. Lit solely by starlight, it stretched into an unimaginable distance.
Like the ringing of bells, it chimed in her head:
"Welcome to the Boundless Abode of All That Is, the In-Between. We are in the abode of the Greatest Chronos, one of the mighty Guardians of Balance, a contender for the post of Ruler of the In-Between. You have been granted a great honor with an audience with a being whom you mortals embody as God. You are accompanied by the magnanimous assistant to the Guardian, Tempus."
Not believing the absurdity of everything happening, Alexandra could only manage:
"Forgive my ignorance, I understand nothing. Is this Purgatory?"
A flicker of irritation passed over the creature's face. And in a voice like frosty stillness, it enunciated:
"At present, we are in the World above all worlds—the In-Between. The primary ruler here is the Master of the In-Between, followed by the twelve Guardians of Worlds. Each Guardian oversees the balance of the worlds entrusted to them and their connections," then he muttered almost inaudibly, "Though, of course, the main grunt work is on us, the assistants..."
Clearing his throat, he continued in his previous voice:
"On par with the Guardians are the 13 primary constellations and 71 secondary ones, which are as important as us, the assistants. Purgatory of souls has nothing to do with it. That's the short version. Clearer, mortal?"
"But what does this have to do with me?"
Tempus wanted to facepalm; how long had it been since he communicated with a low-level entity, and a child at that? He couldn't remember. Perhaps never.
"At the request of the emissary Lady Cassiopeia, you are granted an audience with the Honorable Chronos, Lord of Epimetheus. In the opinion of her Ladyship, who is bound by ties of friendship with my Honorable One, you have some relation to the prophecy uttered during the enlightenment of the current Master, concerning the fate of Epimetheus."
"May I know the content of this prophecy?"
Tempus gave her a sidelong glance.
"Unlikely you'll understand its deep meaning, but why not. At least you won't appear utterly ignorant before my Honorable One."
After these words, he stopped and, extending his hand, touched the girl's forehead with his index finger.
Images flashed before her eyes, quickly replacing one another. A small point that exploded, giving birth to a murky halo that began to melt before her eyes, turning into nothingness, toward which a bright light flashed, expanding and stretching itself around the halo, preventing it from completely dissipating.
Gradually, the light faded, revealing surfaces of fertile lands, seas, and oceans, where strange creatures roamed and unusual plants grew, until something black fell there from the boundless cosmos, infecting everything it touched like a disease.
As she saw this, a voice spoke in her head in a recitative:
"...The hour will come, and the World woven from sacrifice will fall under the onslaught of the oppressive Blight, reviving from the Chaos the darkness that was sealed there... Only Three Shards of a Pure Soul, united as one, by the sincere will of their bearers, can cleanse the heart of Epimetheus, returning freedom to the imprisoned for joy and suffering there. When..."
Suddenly, an interdimensional explosion interrupted the stream of words, fully returning the girl's consciousness to the strange creature, which tensed like a string, peering into the stars.
Though a million questions swarmed in her head that she still wanted to ask, feeling like she had found herself in some strange epic she had only read about in books on mysticism, she had just opened her mouth when another explosion, occurring right above their heads, shook the walls and floor of the unknown place Alexandra was inclined to call a castle.
The creature calling itself Tempus wanted to scoop up the girl, but was a few moments too late.
Alexandra's ghostly body flew up several meters and, like a falling star, shot out of the corridor illuminated by the light of ancient luminaries.
"What the?? What the ****?! Kidnapping... This is unheard of!" was all Tempus managed to swear before a stream of interstellar profanity poured from his thin mouth. In the sky above his head, a meteor—another beam—shot in the direction where the girl had flown.
"Honorable One... You deal with this ****!" And he raised his hand to the starry sky.
Meanwhile, in a state of weightlessness, somewhere on the border of the In-Between, a real battle between two super-beings—entities beyond the understanding of an ordinary human—was taking place, of which our heroine became an unintentional witness.
One entity represented driven light—something spinning inside it incessantly; the other—the impenetrable darkness of space, like a black hole trying to suck everything into itself.
Feeling like a punching ball being rudely tossed around by attracting forces during a relay race, she began to feel dizzy. She didn't understand who these Entities really were, which side she should be on, or why she was involved at all.
Parallel to being tossed from side to side, amidst flashes of colliding force of unknown power, she, like a speck of dust wrapped in a cocoon of the finest threads, watched explosions accompanied by the brightest flashes of sparkling light and subsequent shockwaves hissing, scattering particles unidentified by her in all directions.
One such flash spun her so much that everything that had happened before seemed like a gentle sea sway.
At some point, several more figures appeared on the battlefield spread out in the midst of cosmic space.
Her spinning stopped immediately, stabilizing her location.
Looking in her direction, one of the arriving figures traced a symbol in the air with a wave of its hand, causing the girl to be sucked into an abyss the next moment, like a black hole formed from the remnants of colliding streams of immeasurably powerful energy, pulled by some force.
Defying it, another figure directed a beam of light edged with barely discernible script toward Alexandra.
Colliding with the cocoon in which the girl sat, it pushed her away from the vortex forming beneath her. The feeling of attraction immediately weakened. Exhaling, she mentally thanked whoever had returned her to a stable state.
Then the two central figures collided right next to her, and at that same moment, everything suddenly cut off for her. A vacuum of impenetrable darkness flooded her consciousness, and a fall began—but not like the earlier transition to the In-Between; no, that had been a light stroll on a cold winter day without a hat or mittens.
Now it felt like she was falling straight into Hell. Her whole body burned; it felt like her flesh was being torn apart by unknown beasts and then put back together, then the cycle repeated again and again. It was agony beyond perception.
Meanwhile, countless worlds seemed to flash before her eyes.
"I want to die, to be annihilated, please, I beg you, someone stop this," Her cry pierced the surrounding space, and for a fraction of a moment, she saw a light like flame, but it didn't burn; it lulled, so tenderly, like a mother her child.
At that moment, the jade pendant on her chest exploded into tiny pieces, embedding themselves into her but causing no pain.
"Centauria... Please remember... Your name is Centauria... Only by reclaiming all you have lost will you be able to..." a woman's voice sounded around the girl before being sharply suppressed by something.
An impulse from below shot toward the girl at supernova speed, piercing her through.
It was too powerful, and Alexandra's self-awareness shut down completely and irrevocably, plunging into darkness.