The Black Stone

I awoke in the morning, which met me with rays of the sun hitting my eyes. I can not stand the awakening because of the overheated throbbing body. I even had difficulties trying to figure out the side I wanted to lay on.

Also this smell of burnt tree...

Verily, great fortune falls from the sky. But in my case, a failure hit me from the sky and I was lucky to survive it.

When I tried to get up, I felt a rush of pain in my left shoulder and back. It was skin-deep, as a burn. I twisted my neck in an attempt to see what was up with my shoulder. I saw a red mesh of patterns that stretched to the forearm. Apparently, I had the same thing on my back.

Grunting through my clenched teeth, I began to collect my scattered things, and there were too many of them for some reason. Huh? What I took yesterday for rubbish turned out to be quite a decent thing. Someone arranged a cache in the tree?

I discovered objects of everyday life in a heap with fragments of some wooden construction. There were plates and dishes, fragments of ceramics, dry remnants of some kind of fruit, some sort of rot ...

Nah, it turned out to be rubbish.

I found another piece of a sword after digging a little in this pile. It was a hilt and half of the blade. It's useless, but ...

By the way, isn't it time to do a stock control and see what's in the box? It might be all empty.

Taking it out of the bag and laying it on the floor, I looked closely at how to open it. There was a small keyhole. Naturally, I didn't have a key. So I'll have to use the lever method.

I picked up a piece of a sword. That'll do.

And placing the jewelry box sideways, I thrusted the broken blade deeper. I saw sparks and a small flash of light. Doesn't matter. Time to tear.

Taking the construction more comfortable, I pressed on the handle. There was a click and the lid slided from the grooves.

Inside of it was a red velvet fabric on which lay a perfectly round, muddy stone. I carefully took it with two fingers and brought it to the light. There was a slightly pulsating black dot in the center. I continued to stare at its pulsation. It seemed that it was expanding. Soon the whole stone became black.

Fascinating.

I wanted to put it back, but my fingers numbed, and I couldn't unclench them.

I was stricken by panick as the numbness spread and I jumped to my feet to fall a minute later when it reached them.

Soon it spreaded to my throat and stopped for a moment, as if it was gathering strength for the last jerk. I was gulping the air like a fish, unable to move.

And then goose bumps began to run over my face, and my thoughts began to slip away from me.

I lose conscious way too much lately.

---

Black whirlpool circled in front of me. A figure of a man stood in the midst of it.

As soon as I thought about it, I approached him.

He was a thin man in strict clothing of black shades, stitched with red threads. The bottom of his body was hidden by a mist, emanating from a black swirl beneath him.

I looked up and my gaze met his. His eyes lacked pupils, one solid black iris. He did not have eyebrows and his delicate features and slicked-back hair created a fascinatingly frightening picture.

"You..."

A creaking voice came out of his mouth.

"That black spark that you saw ... You managed to kindle it."

I was surprised.

"You better not, I was watching with your eyes."

What is he talking about?

"I even helped you more than once. Your methods of solving problems, of course, are original, but at some moments you need to act more ... radically."

He smacked his lips, uttering the last word.

So he was in my head? Since when? How?

"Haha!"

The laughter was impressive and creaking, just like his voice.

"I noticed you the moment you first woke up. Yes, yes, it was then, when you were a chained slave."

?

"How do I read your thoughts? Well ... you do not defend yourself. So I have the remnants of the forces that have not yet been pulled out of me to establish a mental connection ... You do not even have to think out loud, I already know your next questions."

He smiled and for a moment paused, making it seem more dramatic.

"You see .. Once upon a time I was .. how would you explain ... "captive", deprived of the shell, and they made an "energy generator" from my spirit, which local clumsy women are lacking..."

Now there was a tangle of various questions that I could not unravel.

"Haha, oh yes, I know. But listen further. Do you remember that black point in the sphere? This is all that is left of the once raging sea of ​​my energy. That point is my quintessence, the almost extinct nucleus of me and my personality, and you so successfully ignited it.."

I felt cold and danger presence coming from him. But in response he only smiled.

"Don't worry, I have firsthand knowledge of honor and gratitude."

I would love to believe that.

"So, after seeing you and your potential, I decided to bet on a black horse. Yes, on you. I helped you to get out, not to become a slave and a cash cow of these ..."

He made a wry face. And I looked at him with expectant eyes, which were actually not there.

"Since we have a frank conversation here, I confess I influenced your consciousness. I could not spend much energy and limited myself to subtle manipulations. Throwing all sorts of ideas and thoughts, I evoked in you the right kind of emotions, blocking unnecessary ones sometimes ..."

I was dumbfounded and just continued to heed what he would tell me.

"It's all about the energy around you and your inability to hide it. It forces you and the opposite sex to behave inadequately. If you would have known, how many foolish things are happening in the city. Just sexual insanity in every home."

I got it. What was happening in the last house I went through...

"You remember the maid?"

Of course I do.

"So, I spent a lot of energy then ... My influence on you was weak, and I ... did not expect such development. Causing anger in you, you pounded her, I agree, qualitatively. So I had to put her to sleep, and you got a fanatically chasing girl who wakes up in a couple of days, so run away."

I became confused. There are certain things I would have been better off not knowing.

"How skillfully did I brainwash the security guards who arrived, eh? Not to notice someone who so casually dived into the water ... Absu-u-urdity, isn't it?"

He smiled maliciously, apparently hearing the echoes of my emotions.

"But the most interesting was later, when I led you to take away the stone. I am the stone you're holding. You percieved my thoughts in your own way.. And decided to steal them. Because of that I ran into that sheep with which I had to fight hard on the mental front. But she's so half-educated ... And I already knew how to influence you."

His lips dissolved in an evil smile, and his eyes narrowed.

"Otherwise, you're a fine fellow, you knew how to act. Hit one with the jewelry box on the head, and move sideways-sideways from the others. And now you're here. Cool, yeah?"

He spread his hands to the sides, as if inviting me to embrace.

"So you owe me ... as I do to you. I have an offer."

I pricked up my ears; he spoke like a hardened banker proposing to take a life loan.

"The banker? Who is banker?"

Yeah, it seems there is a limit to his influence.

"Of course there is! I only interact superficially with you. For example, I do not have access to your memories!"

So what is he driving at?

"Swallow the sphere. I promise to help you get used to the world, and in return you will help me change the shell. If I stay in the stone, we will soon be found, but I do not want to return to them."

Talk about fishy.

"I swear, I will not infringe on your body. I'll just borrow a liiitle corner, I'll help you and tell you about the world, and when we find a suitable vessel, I just move into it, and we break even. Deal?"

I frowned. He's talking way too cheesy. What prevents him from deceiving me, plus his influence on me... I braced myself.

"No no no! Notice, you now doubt! Exclusively for our future relationship and trust, I stopped influencing you while we talk and you make this decision!"

..?

"What are you going to do now, if they find you by the stone?"

"I would rather abandon you."

He grinned in response.

"If you do that, what's stopping me from giving you away? And according to the juice tracks leaking out of you, it will be easy to find for you."

He sighed dramatically.

"Look, neither me, nor you have a choice...

He's right in some aspects.

"Now, come back and decide."

He slowly raised his thin hand and waved at me, beginning to distance himself from me. Or am I gaining the distance from him?

...

I woke up in the same spot, laying there with the stone, clenched in my hand.

What am I supposed to do now?