Бесплатный фрагмент - Kill me with your love

Iggy Joutsen

Love Me To Death

(fantasy)

I dedicate this piece of work to my dear friend Nick Trapp (Great Britain), who became my first reader, and two friends from Lithuania, Goda Juškėnienė and Janina Leskinien (Janina Lesnickiene), thanks to whom I have fallen in love with the country of action of the events of this work.

Contents

Part I Emilius

1. Special

2. Ema

3. Secret

4. New I

5. Mentor

6. History Lesson

7. Surprise

8. My Nature

9. Initiation

10. The Council and the Beginning

11. New Mystery

12. Unsolved Problem

13. Talking to myself

14. Not An Easy Replacement

15. Austeia

16. Spells

17. Summon

18. Fate

19. First Victim

20. Angel’s Death

21. One Step Closer to Reveal the Mystery

22. Unpleasant Confession

23. Kayus

24. Fatal Mistake

25. Rite

26. Dominikas

27. There is no Way back

28. Cruel Choice

29. In Search of the Truth

30. Lost in Memories of the Past

31. Third Seizure

32. Second Victim

33. Third Victim

34. Too Long and Difficult Day

35. Lessons from the Past

36. Farewell Speech

37. Deception

38. Old New Friend

39. There is no End to Evil

Part II Sophia

1. Special

2. Farewell

3. A Guest from the Past

4. The List

5. Who is the Traitor

6. Omens

7. In Search

8. Talking with The Book

9. Labyrinth of the Past

10. The First Attack and the First Suspicion

11. Not Easy Confession

12. Secret Society, or Conspiracy

13. A Serious Talk

14. Farewell, My Dear Friend

15. The First Suspicion

16. A Strange Dream

17. Anticouncil

18. New Acquaintance

19. Traveling back in Time

20. Three Men

21. Attacks

22. Mistake or Right Choice?

23. At Least One Secret Has Been Solved

24. The Unexpected Help

25. There is no End to Evil

1. Special

When they have been keeping saying all the time since your childhood that you are special, you unconsciously begin to believe it. Such remarks are especially characteristic of loving parents who tell their beloved offspring. Of course, one’s own child will always be unique. No wonder they say that love is blind.

As for me, everything was “even worse.” I was considered special even when I did not do anything outstanding. I had been praised, cherished and idolized since the moment I was born into this world. Day and night, I heard words of support and approval.

If something did not work out or went out of hand, they kept repeating to me: “You can do it, just give it a try. You’re smart and resourceful, and you’ll always find a way.”

I was so inspired by that kind of “super-support” of my parents, who really made me believe that everything was in control. Of course, later life taught “my Majesty” many instructive lessons. I realized that no one needed me in the world; that most people did not care about me and I was not special at all, but quite an ordinary person with own failings.

Who would have thought that many years later, when I had long ago come to terms with the essence of an ordinary person, an unexpected ability woke up in me.

I was devoured by curiosity, but they said “everything in good time.” Life went on as usual, but the secret would never be revealed to me. “Probably they lied to me. There is no “family secret at all”, I thought, until I completely forgot about it. The mystery unfolded by itself one rainy June evening.

As always, on Friday, my friends and I got together to play Mafia in one of the cafes of Kaunas. I really liked this game because of its fun and unpredictability. In it, as in life, you never know who is hiding behind the mask of indifference.

My friends were quite ordinary people, all with college degrees and decent jobs. It is nice to spend time with them and talk on a variety of subjects, but this is not about that, but about the game.

Everything was going smoothly, fun and at ease. We were laughing a lot, drinking alcohol and exchanging jokes, sometimes obscene ones. Suddenly, after another joke, I accidentally showed my card and did not even notice it, which resulted in my merciless “murder”.

Of course, I considered what happened to be an injustice and got terribly upset. I got so angry that, jumping up from the table, exclaimed “May the thunder strike someone on the head!”

I did not know why I shouted out this particular phrase, which had no meaning, but immediately after that, the thunder really struck and with such a noise, that glass flew out of windows all over the neighborhood, and the lights instantly went out. Frightened shouts were heard from everywhere and when, sometime later, the power was on, we got shocked by a scene before our very eyes.

In the corner at the entrance to the café, a man was lying with a smashed skull, from which a grayish liquid was flowing out, as if someone had hit him hard on the head with a heavy object.

2. Ema

A few days later, I was walking down the streets, immersed in thoughts, and did not notice anyone or anything around. Something told me: that incident in the café was not an accident nor a coincidence, as it might seem at first glance. It was all my fault, although it did not look like that at all.

Despite my unstable inner state, I felt fine physically. Some unknown force was spreading through the body like a burning stream. I felt it with every cell of my being. The effect of that force did not bring a relaxing effect, but, on the contrary, drove to an even more anxious feeling.

Mental throwing did not give me peace. I felt like a wild animal trapped in a cage and did not know what to do and how to accept a new “essence” in a new inner “appearance”. There was no doubt that I had been changing. We always accept any changes in ourselves last of all: only after everyone who knows us recognizes them. My friends realized it, and it took them a moment.

Emilius! Emilius! Emilius! How could this even have happen? Was that the secret, which my parents had been mentioning all my childhood? Something in me was evolving and evolving at a terrifying speed that could not be stopped and reversed. But I didn’t need any changes. They might spoil everything: the usual routine of life, everyday habits…

“Emilius! Emilius! Wait a minute!” A familiar female voice forcefully broke into the swarm of thoughts that drowned out all the sounds from the outside world, and “woke” me up. I turned around and saw Ema (one of my best friends) coming toward me at a fast pace, almost running.

She was out of breath; it was clear that in an attempt to catch up with me she had been running for some time. Her long fiery red hair fluttered in the strong wind, and her open cloak, like wings behind her back, gave the appearance of an angel descending from Heaven to Earth. Seeing this fragile girl, anyone could think of her being ideal: her figure, face, character, but her life would not seem enviable at all.

She lost her parents at a young age like me. An early marriage did not bring the happiness she had dreamed of. After a few months of marriage, her husband found out that he had a serious form of leukemia, which turned out to be incurable. His days were numbered. But suddenly, unexpectedly and to the delight of everyone, and especially Ema, one day he was getting better out of the blue. Unfortunately, Ema’s happiness did not last long. In six months, the disease returned and took such a merciless and cruel form that it killed its victim in a few weeks.

It took Ema several months to get out of depression and came back to normal. The most amazing thing was that she coped with grief on her own, without the support of close friends. Only a truly strong person in spirit and body is capable of such a thing. Although there were moments when it seemed to everyone that she was ready to commit suicide because of an irreparable loss. Still the girl managed to resist the misfortune. Therefore, I looked at her with great respect and endless admiration.

Although our friendship seemed strong, I still felt like Ema did not let me get close enough to her, so to speak, keeping her distance. Her actions as if were saying: “When I’m ready.” I didn’t insist, even though I didn’t understand what she meant.

“How are you?” Ema asked me.

“I want to know what the hell is going on with me?” I blurted out, again not knowing why. I looked straight into her eyes, and they seemed to encourage me to open up and not be afraid of the consequences.

“All in good time,” replied Ema, coming close to me. Despite the gusty wind, I could feel her hot breath and the scent of perfume.

“Did you know everything? But how?” I was amazed at the discovery.

“I was just waiting for your time to come. It remains to wait just a little bit more.”

She put her arms around my neck. It seemed that we were about to kiss, but it turned out to be just a friendly gesture. We never gave each other a reason for intimacy, even though I always wanted something more.

“Don’t think about anything right now. Forget what depresses you. Go home and get a good night’s sleep. Tomorrow we’ll meet and you’ll be ready for a new stage of your life. Believe me it isn’t gonna be the same as before.”

After giving me a peck on the cheek, she took a step back. I noticed how her eyes sparkled with a green light. Maybe I was dreaming. I was at sixes and sevens at the time. Nevertheless, Ema’s words had a calming effect on me: thoughts stopped getting confused in my head; anxiety receded. I suddenly felt sleepy, and I staggered home, not remembering how we said goodbye.

3. Secret

I had no idea how I ended up in my old house where I spent all my childhood and part of my youth. However, there was no doubt that I got there. I recognized the family estate by the interior. Paintings by numerous artists of various eras and trends decorated the walls of all rooms. They even hung along the hallway and stairs leading upstairs.

The floors, covered with Persian and Uzbek carpets of bright colors, resembled lawns and meadows in the height of summer. They were made by hand, so I was strictly forbidden to run around the house in shoes: only barefoot or in slippers.

Curtains made of delicate silk of different colors covered the window spaces from the ceiling to the floor, barely allowing sunlight to get inside.

In general, everything here suggested that the owners, who were well-off, did not know anything of “design” since the atmosphere seemed rich, but tasteless. At first I thought that half of the house seemed to be missing altogether. It was only later that I realized: I saw only what was most firmly fixed in my memory. In other words, I found myself in my memories, and not in reality, because the family hearth sank into oblivion along with my parents.

After their disappearance without a trace under strange and unexplained circumstances, the house burned to the ground along with property worth millions of litas. Intuition told me that I was not here by pure chance. Something or someone deliberately brought me here. I was responding to the call, it sounded both in my head and from the outside. They were not words, but a completely different, incomprehensible feeling that cannot be explained but only experienced.

From the wide hallway I entered the living room, filled with Chinese porcelain vases, statuettes made of silver and bronze, rare books, furnished so closely so the was no room to swing a mouse. While I was looking around, examining familiar objects, the doors leading to my father’s office opened by themselves, and two silhouettes appeared before my eyes, shrouded in the rays of the bright sun.

After I came into the room, I recognized them as my long missing parents. A childish feeling of immeasurable joy suddenly came over me at the sight of my loved ones. I rushed to meet my parents, founding out that I was in the body of not an adult, almost thirty-year-old man, but a twelve-year-old teenager. I returned to the age when I saw them for the last time.

Now my father and mother appeared in front of me and looked very alive, as if they had never disappeared anywhere. If it was a dream, I wish it had lasted forever. My father, as always, dressed in his favorite strict classic suit (as I remember him most of all), with his coal-black hair combed back and piercing eyes like a southern summer night. He was strict, reserved and outwardly showed little emotion. Although I knew that deep down he was very worried, just by his nature he did not know how to show his emotions.

That was the way he was raised, so he just shook my hand and gave me a little hug, patting me on the shoulder, as he liked to do. My mother, on the contrary, did not hide her feelings: she hugged, kissed, stroked me for a long time, hugging me tightly to her chest, and did not want to let me out of her warm and tender embrace. Tears, without ceasing, flowed from her big blue eyes, brown hair carelessly scattered over her shoulders, and expensive perfume intoxicated me with an unearthly fragrance. Finally, we reluctantly freed ourselves from the embrace and pulled back a little to get a better look at one another. For a while, my parents looked at me with looks filled with love and sadness, understanding all the suffering and deprivation that I had gone through, having lost them during the most difficult period of my life.

“We know what you’re thinking, son,” the father began first, “but please don’t blame us and don’t blame yourself for what had happened. You know what will be will be. What is destined to happen cannot be avoided.”

“I just want to know the truth”, I replied with a hint of teenage protest in my voice. “The truth about what happened to you. The truth about who or what I am becoming or have already become. Moreover, is that connected somehow with the family secret that you have not revealed to me?”

At that moment, I was not an adult. Becoming a teenager, I behaved like a teenager: overwhelmed with emotions and feelings of indignation and pain, barely restrained myself from bursting into tears.

“We are hereditary Bernauses”, said my mother, approaching and taking my hands in hers. It always had a calming effect on me. She knew how to curb my violent temper. “Which can be translated from an ancient magical language (which you will have to learn) as ‘sorcerer, wizard, magician’. There are both positive and negative sides to this. The power that you already possess makes you a god among people. You are able to decide the fate of the world, to see the moments of the future, to control all the elements of nature, but the price for this is too high: none of the Bernauses does not live to old age. Each of them is destined to die young. The duration of life depends on the time of acquisition of power. The earlier you master it, the fewer years you have to live”.

There was a moment’s silence. It took me a little time to digest the given information I got. I just could not believe my ears.

“But if I don’t want these powers, can I refuse them?”, finally, I broke the silence.

“Do not fight against who you are by nature, but resist what they want to make you against your will. You have been given this gift, so use it. As for death, everyone will die eventually”. My father did not change his favorite manner of appearing to be a strict parent, although I guessed how hard he had been struggling against it.

“You see, Emilius, the Bernauses do not have magical powers from birth. They come to us over time, years later. If this happens, it means that we are ready to accept them, although not without a share of confusion and doubt. It is impossible to renounce the gift, but anyone can refuse in favor of another Bernaus only on one condition: if you have a premonition or you are sure of death in the near future. Most of us, however, will never know the hour of death, because it always comes unexpectedly without sending warning letters, and it is always tragic”. I felt how difficult it was for my mother to reveal this terrible secret, but there was no other way out. She let go of my hands and returned to her husband.

“You will have your own mentor. Usually the one who you are already familiar with and who had mastered the powers before you becomes them. The Bernauses are very closely related to one another on an intuitive level, so they choose only people of their own circle as friends and partners and do not let strangers into it”. My mother calmed me down by sweetening the bitter truth with an optimistic ending.

“However, you’ve known him, or rather her, for many years,” my father winked at me, smiling. Ema, I whispered. My parents exchanged looks as if they had read my lips, but did not say anything. Suddenly, their images began to fade away quickly. Their clear figures started turning into barely distinguishable silhouettes. An unknown energy seemed to grab me and pull me back into the darkness.

“Will I see you again?”. I shouted to my father and mother.

“We have fulfilled our mission and now, son, you have to live for us”. Their voices sounded in unison in my head.

“Are you real or just my imagination or my dream?” I was moving away from them further and further, and they were becoming more and more blurry pale spot.

“Yes and no. Knowing that anything may happen to us, we created a spell in the form of an illusion, which you would have to see when your powers came to you. Now it is losing its effect, because it has fulfilled its purpose. Goodbye, son! Be strong, and don’t say “no” when the moment comes to say “yes”. Their voices merged together, so I couldn’t distinguish one from the other, as if they were uttering by one being, and not by people of different sexes. The last phrase remained a complete mystery to me. The darkness pulled me into a funnel, and after a moment, I woke up.

4. New “I”

I understood that what had happened was not just a spell, but also a kind of initiation that I had to pass before joining the circle of the chosen ones in order to finally take my rightful place in this hidden world. Although I did not still receive answers to numerous questions, but something told me that the secrets would be out when the right time came. In the meantime, I had to study myself anew. I clearly realized that the new abilities could not only make life easier and bring many unforgettable adventures, but also complicate it, given my unrestrained temper. I was too hot-tempered and arrogant by nature. Regardless of that I quickly moved away from resentments. However, sometimes I spitted out what was on my mind or, on the contrary, I spoke out without thinking, so I made a lot of enemies because of that.

Of course, I didn’t think of myself being aggressive, but there was room for improvement. Having such powers and being agitated were a dangerous combination that could lead to very disastrous results. It was not difficult to guess where all this was coming from. The sudden loss of my parents and a drastic change in lifestyle left a long-term psychological trauma on my personality. I went from being a deity to nonentity. For this, I “thank” the orphanage which did not give me any life lessons, on the contrary, it ruined my self-esteem and self-importance my loved ones so carefully had been protecting.

Five years spent in that educational institution made me intemperate, anxious, overly touchy, but not vindictive to my surprise. Befriending me was hard. Nobody could not find a way to get through me either. I never obeyed to injustice and preferred being a loner most of the time. To be owned to someone was beyond me. I strictly had followed this rule until I met Ema.

In her person I found a soul mate, which I had been dreaming of for so long that I had already stopped believing I would find. Loneliness will surely break even the strongest ones, and there will undoubtedly be a “hunger” for friendly support and heart-to-heart chats. That was what happened to me: getting to know Ema changed everything. Despite her age, (she was a couple of years younger than me), we had a lot in common: under mysterious circumstances, both of us lost our parents; both of us were considered unsociable and lonely in life. Even our personalities resembled. Is that not what they call a coincidence?

I was 15 years old then, and I had been in that infamous orphanage for 3 years already. I will never forget the day I saw Ema for the first time. It was a sunny hot July evening, which was a rare thing there, given the elevated humid climate. Therefore, everyone, for sure, spent their time outside and they minded their own business. I can’t remember exactly what I was doing at that moment, when suddenly a shout flew around the area of the orphanage at the speed of light that newbies had been brought. Naturally all the guys, including me, consumed with curiosity, rushed to the main gate, through which a minibus passed and followed to the administration building.

The doors swung open and Ema got out first straightaway outshining with her beauty others whom I no longer paid any attention to. She was tall, slender, red-haired, with a freckled face and bright green eyes. This girl drove all the boys crazy. It was impossible not to notice her. Her grace attracted the admiring glances of the guys. The girls surely got envious. She looked around indifferently and blankly until her eyes rested on me. It was as if lightning flashed between us and left a slight trace of contact, which we never lost, even though we knew each other in person only a month later. It is all because of my shyness or pride, or all of them put together.

Our acquaintance happened under curious circumstances however. Once we were assigned to be on duty in the garden (by a lucky chance she was enrolled in my group). The duties included weeding and watering the beds. I was focusing completely on hoeing carrots, when suddenly the scream of Ema brought me out of my reflections and concentration on work. An unusual scene appeared before my eyes: a fragile girl was bravely struggling with a watering hose, from which a powerful stream of water was pouring to the fullest.

The sight was so eye-catching that I couldn’t help but laugh. The hose under the pressure of water kept popping out of Ema’s hands, flooding everything around, including the poor thing herself. Instead of letting go of it and turning off the faucet, she courageously and persistently continued to fight with it, trying to pacify the “ardor” of the hose.

I burst out laughing. Ema did not expect such impudence from me. Instead of help she got ridiculed. Indignation got over her what gave the girl strength to hold the hose jumping in all directions, hurry toward me and aim the whole jet of water at me. The pressure knocked me off my feet and threw me a couple of meters away. Angry but not feeling pain I ran up to her, tore the hose out of her hands and began to pour Ema from head to toe. Laughing and pouring water on each other we did not notice how one of the educators turned off the water and cursed us with words which “pigs” and “bastards” would be sounded the most polite and decent. Nevertheless, this episode became the starting point of our strong friendship.

Although Ema had platonic feelings for me, I fell head over heels in love with her. When she met Kayus, who was not a Bernaus, I had to put some distance between us, but we still did not break contact for good, because we were closely connected by a magical thread peculiar only to Bernauses. Once we find a soul mate, we cannot lose her or him anymore. Ema turned out to be just such a person — the closest of all. Her pain became my pain; her joy became my joy. We could not and did not want to violate the established order of things that existed in our kind, about which I still had to learn a lot.

My head was about to burst because of all these memories and the illusion I had experienced. My eyes were burning and seemed ready to pop out at any moment. In short, I was in such a state as if I had been partying all week long without getting sleep and having food, and for several days I had been suffering of the hangover. I barely forced myself to get out of bed, hoping that a cold shower would bring me back to normal.

I waddled into the bathroom and started splashing some water on my face. The light turned on (thanks to the automated system), and my eyes fell on the reflection in the mirror above the sink. What I saw shocked and scared me to death. From a brown-haired person, I turned into a blonde one. Actually my hair got whiter than snow, my skin became so transparent that I could even see the muscles of my face distinctly, and my eyes burned with red fire literally speaking. It was as if I transformed into a comic book monster. Out of anger and frustration I hit the sink with my fist, forgetting about my magical power, which splashed out of me like an invisible wave, smashing it to pieces along with half of the bathroom. A broken mirror, cracked walls and floor seemed to have fallen victims to an earthquake, even the lime fell from the ceiling. I closed my eyes trying to forget myself, when suddenly at the same moment someone persistently and continuously began knocking on my apartment door, ignoring the doorbell.

5. Mentor

Ema… As soon as I heard that name, I pictured the sounds of the sea in my mind. The sea, whose quiet waves in calm weather peacefully break on the rocky shore. Its salty air refreshes not only the body, but also the soul and the thoughts. Its sunsets make you love life and never cease to delight over and over again. However, as often it happens with the weather at sea: it is unpredictable. Calmness abruptly gives way to a storm, and there is no mercy for anyone who stands in its way. This is how my childhood friend seemed to me. A fury in an angelic image. She suddenly burst into my life, turned everything upside down in it and left no stone unturned, while promising nothing and giving no chance for a future together. Although I kept waiting and believing. The door swung open by itself before I opened it. It was Ema. Apparently, not expecting to see my unusual new look, she just stared at me without saying a word. There was an awkward silence between us. It lasted only a few seconds that seemed like an eternity.

“Have you decided to change your style, Kaulakis? It’s about time. I can even give you a compliment: it suits you!” Finally, she was the first to break the uncomfortable silence with sarcasm in her voice. Coming in, an unexpected guest slammed the door behind her without touching it.

“It’s not funny at all, Butkute,” I muttered in response without moving.

We often liked to address by last names to tease each other.

“You would have put on something at least, unless you were lost to all sense of shame. Is it in this outfit that guests are received nowadays?”

Only now I did notice that I was standing naked. Before I had time to think about what she said, the boxers and pants themselves flew into my hands, with the help of the friend’s telekinesis.

“What would I do without you?” Now it was my turn to say something sarcastically.

“Don’t worry about your look. It will go back to normal over time. After you take your powers under control, your inner self that has showed up now will fade away. It happens to everyone. You may call it as a kind of transition period. When you get used to new powers, learn to control them and feel comfortable with the energy in the body, you will never want to return to the previous state. Believe me. I know this from my own experience”.

“I didn’t know about your transition. What did you look like?”

“You don’t want to know. I went through it. No one is an exception to the rule. It happened the year when you served in the army. Thank God! I’m glad you didn’t see me then: I was a terrible bitch”.

“I think you had been a bitch before that”.

We laughed heartily. I felt a little better. I wanted to enjoy my life again.

“You still have to learn a lot. The transition is just the beginning. There are many sorts of rules and restrictions that you will need to learn by heart. The most important rule you should know right now is that under no circumstances should you ever use your powers in public. They may forgive violations of some laws, but that one is punished with the death penalty only. In the entire history of humankind, only two Bernauses had committed it, but I’ll tell you about them later. Now let’s do yoga, because there is no better way to find the shortest path to harmony with yourself and the world around you. Besides, you can’t go out like this. We’ll wait until dark. I’ll also tell you a brief history of our kind. There’s no future without knowing the past.

6. History Lesson

“Millions of years ago, a meteorite had fallen on Earth,” Ema began the narrative and, after a moment of intriguingly pausing, continued. “Its fall neither had brought any destruction, nor any changes to the place where it had found a “peace”, only had illuminated the whole area with an unearthly light and had gone out. No one still knows how big that meteorite had been and how it had looked like at all. Several million years had gone on and there had been no trace of the funnel left by it. It had been covered with many layers of soil. The surface had been overgrown with unpassable thickets and swamps. It had not been possible for any living creature to pass through these dense thickets. Even birds had avoided flying over them in the sky. As if some unknown powers had been guarding the peace of the mysterious meteorite, which now we call “Almighty Stone’.

After people had settled the neighboring areas, they had started making up many legends about that mysterious place into which no animal would have dared to enter and no bird would have dared to fly into or over it. Many brave men had challenged their gods (in the ancient times they believed that deities and other supernatural creatures inhabited in that forest, so all mortals were not able to come in there neither during their lives nor after death). All attempts to penetrate through the dense thickets had ended up in failure. Some had gone mad, some had disappeared and some in a kind of madness had given themselves injuries that had not agreed with life, but still the majority had never come back. As a result, the thicket had gained infamy among the tribes living near them. Humans had gradually begun to desert that area.

The reason for that had not been the cases with those who had been trying to get into the forbidden zone in spite of taboos, but strange and inexplicable visions and sounds that had not caused any harm yet, but frightened anyone who had faced them. Shamans, so called witch doctors, present in every tribes, had asked the spirits of their ancestors for answers, which had turned out not to be good. So the peoples had decided to leave their native lands, inhabited for many centuries. They had believed that the angry gods had been driving them out of there for some inexplicable reason. Although in fact it had been only the first signs of awakening of Almighty Stone.

People are always inclined to give negative interpretations to strange phenomena for which they cannot find a logical explanation. It took another thousand years before the Almighty Stone had finally woken up. By that time, almost everyone had forgotten about the thicket, since the locals had left all the surrounding areas many years ago. The trails had been overgrown. The rocks had surrounded it with dense walls. No one had tried to conquer those thickets anymore. However, the legends that had long turned into fairy tales had still lived among peoples. When the right time had come, Almighty Stone had awoken fully. The forests had opened up. The rocks had parted, crashing down on each other. The earth had engulfed by earthquakes as in a fever, and covered first with small cracks, then with large ones, until finally, Almighty Stone had freed from the forced captivity of many years. Having shone with a bright blue light it had poured out energy that had scorched everything around with fire and left behind only dead soil. A pillar of light rushed to the sky. Those who had witnessed that had thought that the gods themselves had descended from heaven and began to flee from the strange glow and noise.

The most amazing thing was that there had been those who had not run away from awakened Stone at all, but, on the contrary, had rushed toward it. Enchanted by the call, some people of all walks of life, nationalities, faiths, ages and sexes had embarked on a long and difficult journey. No one can know how many of them there had been, but many had died on the way. Not everyone had reached their final point of destination. The brave men and women had been walking through ravines and potholes, rivers and swamps, fields and woods, mountains and flatlands, stopping at nothing. They had died of hunger, cold, heat and dehydration. Behind them they had left their loved ones, their homes and everything that had been the dearest of all. No obstacles could have halted the unwilling travelers. They would have rather accepted death. Among them there had been kings and slaves, servants and nobles, soldiers and nurses, who had been then equal before the magical power of Almighty Stone. Those who had reached the place rushed into the newly formed funnel, from where light had been bursting out. The seething and burning blue waves of the sea had swallowed them.

As soon as the last victim had jumped down, Stone had burst into a bright fire, illuminating nearly half the world with its unearthly light so the night had turned into a day, and then had gone out, never to light up again. Almighty Stone had disappeared, and Almighty Book has remained in Its place. After awaking the first Bernauses, It had read them a set of rules and actions and, closing itself, fell into the arms of the king of some southern lands, Arecu, who created the Council and became its first Dapirul (that is, chairperson or Supreme Leader). Almighty Stone gave everyone certain powers according to their personal qualities, character and temperament. Since then no Bernaus has been like any other in his or her magic. Everyone is unique.

It is also considered surprising that all mentions (direct or indirect) about that meteorite were erased from the memory of humankind in the literal sense of the word. Often it had to be done with fire and sword. Rock carvings and written sources were destroyed and eventually forgotten. Those who continued, despite all the prohibitions, to spread legends about the witchcraft woods did not escape the fate either. The talkers were exterminated cruelly and mercilessly. Thus, Almighty Stone was displaced from the memories of the past, and Book containing all the wisdom of magic has been kept by the Council and carefully passed down from generation to generation as they say.” Ema got up from her chair, making it clear that the lecture was over, and went to the window. The rays of the setting sun played on her hair, reflecting with reddish shades.

“What is necessary to become a member of the Council?” I asked, admiring my best friend’s youth and beauty.

“You need to challenge one of the Council members and win in a fair fight. The winner gets fame and a place on the Council, the loser must…” again making an intriguing pause to follow my reaction, Ema continued, “… die at the hands of a winner”.

The Sun disappeared below the horizon. The twilight of the night was rapidly advancing on the town. In an instant, clouds covered the entire sky, and rain poured down on the busy streets.

“This is your doing, isn’t it?” I asked Ema, no longer surprised by anything.

“We don’t need any witnesses. By the way, it’s about time to hit the road. I would like to introduce you to the others. I promise you will be pleasantly surprised”.

“Who doesn’t like surprises?”

7. Surprise

I didn’t like surprises, but most of all I hated rain. It was pouring cats and dogs, nonstop for several hours. It was enough for us to make our way through downtown to one of the abandoned buildings by the river. Although the streets were still crowded, no one paid attention to us. Everyone was trying to search refuge from a sudden shower of rain, which poured down on everyone indiscriminately. As for us, we did not escape that fate either, but thanks to the magical tricks of Ema, the water dripped on us without wetting a single fold of clothing.

“If we are so powerful, why make up all this fuss? Wouldn’t it be easier to teleport?” I shouted to my friend, barely keeping up with her fast-flying pace. Going out in public did not give me any pleasure at all. I would have preferred to stay in, so my voice betrayed me with irritation, which I wanted to hide. Ema, half-turning, shouted back, trying to sound louder than the noise of the downpour:

“If I had the powers of teleportation or at least knew someone who was gifted with it, then as they say, be my guest. In the meantime, we will act in the old fashion way: witching, so to speak, and all that jazz.

“Now I get it. All the legends about shamans, high priests, fortune tellers and psychics are not fiction, are they? Do all roads lead to Bernauses?”

“That’s right, although there have always been charlatans and scammers, both in the past and nowadays. However, most of the magical community consisted and still consists of “us”.

“Isn’t it forbidden to demonstrate your powers in front of people?”. I couldn’t help getting confused.

“Who says that they demonstrate them? It is not forbidden to help simple people. After all, they do not show their powers openly, but they pretend they do. Here we are.”

Before our eyes appeared a huge, abandoned building of a former television and radio factory from the late 80s, which had been functioning as both a civil and military enterprise (in Soviet times, almost all factories that were officially civilian, secretly worked for the “defense industry”). Its huge empty windows and high walls set an atmosphere of gloom and mysticism throughout the area. Usually at this time of the day you could meet “representatives” of different subcultures there. As if reading my thoughts, Ema convincingly assured me that there would be no one else there besides us: it had already been taken care of. So that no one would accidentally wander into the area of the factory as the guys had put so-called magic locks, which gave a feeling of unbearable fear to anyone who would be trying to approach the forbidden place without an invitation. We went inside and found ourselves in the lobby of once one of the largest, but gone into the past of the country’s enterprises, which ceased to exist along with it.

Glass and frames were missing throughout the building. It became clear that the factory was pulled apart piece by piece. In some places, you could even notice holes in the walls, which indicated that the building began to be dismantled into bricks. In general, the place was depressing and it did not fit in on the map of the rapidly developing Kaunas. But soon the gloomy thoughts about the factory receded into the background, and I began to reflect on the meeting that lay ahead. Who did I expect to see? What was in store for me there? Above all, what was the surprise? I didn’t like being talked to in riddles. After passing through the hallway, we went out into the corridor, at the end of which a faint unearthly light was shimmering. The closer we got to the end, the brighter it became and the clearer I began to understand that this light was not of natural origin. I felt its magic with every cell of my body. From the corridor through a wide passage we got into the former dining room. In the middle of an empty room, a group of people stood in a circle, and a certain sphere hovered in the air above them, from which a soothing and enchanting light radiated. As if hypnotized, people were standing and staring at the ball burning like the Sun, only with many different colors of paint. None of those present noticed our appearance.

“This is their common powers. When several Bernauses gather, they can combine energy into a single whole and get to the height of pleasure. If you look for a suitable comparison, then it’s like nirvana for Buddhists. Only those need to spend their whole lives on meditation, for us it is enough to unite some of our magic”.

We got even closer, and I could easily make out the faces of the wizards. I understood why Ema warned me that I would be surprised. Those mysterious magicians turned out to be the people I knew. They were all of my best friends: Lucas, Matas, Gabrielius, Emilia, Liepa and Leia. By and large, no strangers to me at all. I had met each of them at different periods of my life: in school or college years or after graduation. Ema had introduced some of them to me. Even before I got the power, I already knew how to choose people for friendship. “Everything is predetermined” some unknown voice sounded in my head. That thought was definitely not mine. The ball gradually went out and, finally, attention was paid to us. Not believing their own eyes that I turned out to be the new Bernaus (I must give a credit to Ema: she skillfully kept it a secret from them), the guys rushed to meet me and began to hug tightly.

When at last everybody calmed down, being a little embarrassed I said:

“I understand that I am the last among us who has gained the magical powers. Weren’t you ashamed of yourselves not to wait for me?”

Laughing is the best therapy for any stress, and I still had a lot to worry about.

“So it is. We were waiting for you, although we were not sure that it would be you specifically. We just felt the birth of a new energy. The Bernauses, you know, are closely related to one another,” replied Lucas, the quietest and shiest friend from our noisy and cheerful company.

Despite the fact that Lucas was 24, he looked like 17 years old. They even refused to sell alcohol to him in stores without an ID. His unruly brown hair was always up on his head and his ears were like an elf’s. With his big blue eyes, Lucas would have easily become a prototype for Japanese anime. In addition, he was incredibly thin and hardly weighed more than 110 pounds. Girls always found something in him, although he was not so handsome as other men. Like Ema, Lucas had the powers of suggestion, but unlike her, he could hypnotize any living being and control it to fulfill his goals. He also knew how to create an illusion of reality, that is, a false idea of an event that happened, which in fact did not exist at all. Our friend demonstrated this clearly by the example of an uttered word: “sea”. The surrounding reality immediately changed before our eyes. We found ourselves on the coast of an imaginary sea. The waves broke peacefully on the shore, seagulls screamed and with a warm breeze we felt the aromas and taste of salt water. Peace took control of us, the bodies relaxed, surrendering to the warmth of the setting sun. Another moment and the illusion disappeared, as if it did not exist at all, and everything we saw seemed like a long gone dream. The sea was not around us, but the gloomy walls of the abandoned factory stood instead. We applauded our friend passionately as a sign of admiration.

Liepa was standing next to Lucas. A 28-year-old fragile and graceful girl with golden hair like the sun and a shapely waist. She was distinguished by a very cheerful and never depressing disposition, as well as full of energy and life. Liepa was able to get along with any person. She was always active, had a lot of actions, ideas and plans in stock. Deservedly, we called her an “Angel”. Besides, she was the only one from the company who had already managed to become a parent. Our “Angel” had a son, whose father remained a secret for everyone, carefully guarded. Even her closest friend Leia didn’t know him. The powers granted to Liepa were opposed to her outward appearance. She could move huge objects over long distances. In the blink of an eye, the ground beneath us trembled, and we realized that the building was slowly rising. Plaster fell from the ceiling and walls. It seemed that everything was going to collapse and crush us to death with its weight, but a few minutes later we safely got down on the ground in one piece.

The next went 28-year-old Matas who had the gift of mind reading. He could also predict the thoughts and ideas of people, even if they hadn’t thought of them yet. He probably knew more about us than we did ourselves, but he never used that information as a weapon and politely concealed it. By appearance the guy looked like a giant: tall and large, but gentle and kind inside as a kid. Although he was not particularly lucky with girls in life, but he did not despair and believed that his day yet to come and he would meet his soul mate sooner or later. Matas showed his powers by reading the thoughts of each of us, which caused more discontent than joy, but no one got really offended.

Emilia, a 27-year-old black-haired and brown-eyed beauty, was standing next to Matas. Maybe because the girl used to work as a police investigator, she looked stern, strict and unapproachable. She did not like the weaknesses in men. Her temper was considered quite complicated. Going through her was not an easy task. She could not stand criticism and all sorts of coddling. She always spoke to the point and appealed only with facts. Nevertheless, the girl managed to harmoniously blend into our company and make everyone fall in love with her own nature, although she was perceived unanimously obnoxious and unbearable due to her temperament. Emilia, or, as we called her among ourselves, Milie could heal any wounds and injuries on the body: both external and internal. She also possessed the powers to resurrect from the dead, although it is more accurate to say from the “half-dead”. If the victim’s brain had not died and his activity, even in the form of weak impulses, remained active, then healing would not have been difficult for her. Using the example of cuts on the arm of Gabrielius, who volunteered, she showed her powers clearly. Today Milie was in a particularly good mood: she was planning an affair with an unknown Bernaus, so we were all looking forward to meeting a fan of such a difficult tempered friend.

Everyone knew that this affair haunted the 25-year-old Gabrielius, because our friend liked Milie very much, and he never tried to hide his feelings. That’s just the girl did not pay attention to him and was not serious about his pick-ups, putting off with fun, which brought me very close to the guy because of a similar situation I was in. Gabrielius was Chinese by mother and Lithuanian by father. Because of that the nature gifted him with a beautiful and unusual appearance, which attracted the eyes of many girls. He had a rare power, even more frightening than exciting: Gabrielus could communicate with the dead. It was enough for him to approach the corpse so that the image in the form of a soul appeared before him and answered all the questions put to it. Sometimes the dead came to him by themselves. The guy did not know the reasons for that, since ghosts disappeared as suddenly as they appeared. Of course, he refrained from demonstrating his powers to us, and it was not physically possible.

Leia was the last to complete the circle. She was 29 years old at the time, but looked older. However, the girl was not shy by character but not relating to her appearance. Being overweight, she compensated with charm. Everyone loved Leia. We adored her for sense of humor, the ability to support at any moment and a smile that could cheer everyone up. She had the powers to walk through walls, to return to the past (but not change it) and to foresee the near future thanks to short visions lasting from one second to several minutes. She demonstrated her powers: guessed who would say exactly in a couple of minutes. It happened so.

Finally, it was turn of 27-year-old Ema. Ema commanded natural phenomena (caused precipitation, winds, heat and cold), moved small objects over distances and possessed the gift of suggestion, but only for a short period. What would I be able to do? What would I be capable of? This was still to be found out after I got harmony with my energy. So far, it seemed to me chaotic and uncontrolled movement of particles. Since only Ema was immune to my unbridled powers during mentoring, the others decided to leave after a short conversation to give us space to train and not get hurt themselves. Saying a warm goodbye, we agreed to see one another again soon.

8. My Nature

“Now it seems to you that the continuous chaos has been inside. It’s like the energy flows randomly through whole body, and there is no end to it. In fact, this is a natural process. You just don’t know how to manage your own powers yet”.

Ema was standing in front of me a few feet away looking straight into my eyes. I couldn’t concentrate, thinking only about her: how beautiful, smart and brave she was. She was driving me crazy.

“How did you know that you would be my mentor”?

“It just happened. Of course, it is impossible to explain. You’ll understand when you have completed the initiation, and such questions will disappear by themselves”, she replied in a tone as if she expected to hear it. “Well, enough questions for today! Let’s get down to work”!

Ema moved away, still maintaining eye contact. Suddenly, a lot of small and medium-sized objects (various debris, fragments of bricks, glass, bags and so on) in the blink of an eye rose from the ground and began to whirl in a blizzard above us in the air. That lasted for a couple of minutes before all this junk began to take some forms, creating images of animals or words. Here was a running herd of gazelles, which gradually turned into a flock of flying cranes, and those in turn transformed into the words “no violence”. Here was a tornado swept by, sweeping away everything in its way, later it became a couple dancing waltz.

“Wow!”. I couldn’t help but exclaim.

“Now it’s your turn. Try to support my energy without dropping a single object”, my mentor shouted, passing me the baton.

I tried to get into a comfortable position, stretching my arms at my sides like a soldier and clenching my hands into fists. I closed my eyes and focused on the energy, but various thoughts crept into my head, preventing the magic power from being released outside. After a long time of trying, something started to come out. Feeling Ema’s energy, I intercepted objects floating near the ceiling and even circled them a little in the air, but then they fell down with a roar in the form of rain. If it were not for the protective shield in the shape of an aura, which my mentor had previously set around us, we would not have gotten away with injuries.

“Yeah,” Ema mumbled thoughtfully, stroking her chin. “It’s going to be harder than I thought. Apparently, telekinesis is not your thing. Now you have to learn how to be able to push all else from your mind in the first place. They will never let your power be released, instead will keep it inside like in captivity”.

“But how do I do it? It doesn’t make any sense. I can’t stop thinking at all, can I?” I got confused.

“Everything is possible if you want that, especially for Bernauses with their limitless potential. You need to put a barrier between your energy and emotions so that they don’t overlap. Try to understand, Emilius, if you, by using your powers, let your feelings take over, then everything that happened to you during this time will be repeating constantly. It’s enough one emotional thought to destroy everything around you, even that one what is dear to you. If you fail to contrast magic and feelings, do not draw a clear line between them, you will never be able to control your energy, and it will spill out along with your negative emotions. Magical energy and mental state are not the same thing. They should function independently of each other”.

Ema instructed me like a teacher, putting her hands on her hips and pacing from side to side. She went on after a little pause: “Whenever you use your powers, you must shut your feelings. And vice versa. It is on this that we will be focusing our efforts, and the powers will take the necessary form themselves”.

“How much time do I have left?” I asked uncertainly, not really wanting to know the answer.

“You will pass a certain stage when you feel harmony with your own energy. You will feel ‘you and it’ as an inseparable wholeness. This feeling is unmistakable. Then your former appearance will return. Everyone has their own transition period in duration. No one will be able to determine the exact time. In general, if we count the average period, there are two or three months give and take. At this time, you stop contacting everyone around you except me”.

Such news both pleased and disappointed me. The thought that I would have to spend several months in isolation was depressing, but the fact that I would not part with Ema made me happy to some extent. Generally speaking, I was sad and happy at the same time.

“Before we finish for today, let’s do a little experiment. Do you want to see all your power with your own eyes? Remember that powers do not depend on the sex, but they affected by genes and both mental and personal characteristics. In addition, there is no black and white magic. There are Bernauses who use absolutely neutral magical energy for their own good and or bad purposes”.

“What will happen to those who fail to put a barrier between magic and emotions?” I thought I already knew the answer to this question.

“They will be eliminated,” replied Ema firmly, as if she herself took part easily in such an action. “We do not need uncontrolled individuals who are unable to put their temper under control”.

I wanted to ask something else, but my mentor beat me to it:

“Release your energy and look at it from the inside.

“Won’t I destroy anything here?”

“Release its non-destructive part. You know what I mean”.

“Yes, I knew. I closed my eyes and focused on my powers. I don’t know exactly how much time passed, but when I woke up as if from meditation, a sight of amazing beauty appeared before me. I was floating in the air. My eyes were burning with a bright fire, and the energy, emitting heat of all shades of red, spread like a Magellanic cloud through the premises of the former factory cafeteria, which became the Universe for a moment. Below me down there Ema stood dumbfounded by protection of the aura. There was extreme admiration in her eyes. With the help of telepathy, she conveyed a thought to me (the first such attempt of our mental contact):

“Now I know what you are. You are the one who is destined to destroy and create”.

9. Initiation

It took me a long time finally to take my powers under control, subordinate the energy to the mind and turn off emotions and feelings when using them. All that was not easy. It also was not easy to change my own temper to suit the circumstances. After I learned how to control the gift, my former appearance returned, and I stopped looking like a zombie from horror movies about the Apocalypse. The world appeared to me in a completely different light. My eyesight stopped deteriorating and even improved so much that I could distinguish the smallest details in the pitch darkness. The hearing problems disappeared too. It used to cheat me before. Now, like a cat, I could make out the quietest noises and knew who or what they belonged to. Someone, maybe, would say that such hypersensitivity was not good and that it would interfere with a full life, distracting attention to all sorts of little things. Yes, on the one hand, they would be right. It was hard at first. When it became a habit, it was perceived as second nature. Of course, I didn’t want to think that I would have to pay for everything in this life. There is not such thing as a free lunch. Everything has a price. And for the new powers an early and unknown death awaits me ahead. I could only guess what fate would be in store for me. But in the meantime, it didn’t matter. The past cannot be changed, and the future cannot be prevented. It remains only to enjoy the present. It is that decides what will become of us tomorrow.

“Today you are about to get acquainted with the set of rules on ‘Bernausism’, created by Almighty Stone. The language in which the Book is written defies researching even by us. It can be learned, but used only in special cases, for example, when communicating with Bernauses of other nations and performing spells. This will be the last test before the meeting with the Council. The Council is just a formality. It officially accepts newcomers into the chosen caste,” Ema solemnly declared, as if she herself was an honorary member of the Council.

“So I can’t refuse, can I?” I asked with a hint of displeasure and disappointment, since I didn’t particularly like such gatherings. Being in the center of attention and shining in front of strangers was not my cup of tea.

“Of course not! Refusal condemns you to a life of outcast. You become a Bernaus after the approval of the Council and adding your name in the annals of our kind. Enough questions for today! It’s time to finish what we’ve started”. The former mentor interrupted the meaningless conversation and headed for the exit.

Ema looked amazing as always: she was dressed in tight leather pants and a jacket that clearly outlined her waist and hips; her hair was loose (I always liked girls with loose hair). Either Ema didn’t like messing with it, doing different hairstyles, or she just liked to feel free. I noticed a long time ago that if she was in a good mood, she let her hair down, and if she was in a bad mood, she tied it with a ribbon or elastic band. While agitated, she had a habit of combing them to the right side. I knew my friend like the palm of my hand. Sensing that I was watching her sideways, Ema stopped and gave me an appraising glance, and then rolled her eyes.

“Kaulakis, you’re not going to go out in this outfit, are you?”

“What’s wrong with it?” I gave a glance at myself: a blue T-shirt, khakis and white sneakers. I looked fine.

“You don’t know how to dress at all. Live and learn.” Ema came up to my closet, went through some of my stuff for a couple of minutes, took something out and threw it to me. “Here you go”.

There were a white shirt, dark blue jeans and a gray windbreaker.

“At least you look now like a human being.” Ema concluded with satisfaction when I appeared in front of her in a new guise, “unbutton the top of your shirt”.

“Yes, Ma’am!”

If a woman commands you, either she is your boss, wife, lover, or just the one you love unconditionally.