Part 1 - Chapter V. Kingdom Of Shadows

Constantine was walking through the shroud, and he lacked air. It was as if he was passing through an artificial veil that would not let him in and would deprive him of air. But suddenly it was over and he literally fell on the evening meadow on the hill. Below was a mysterious city he had never seen before. He stared wide-eyed, at the majestic stone walls, the tiled roofs, and the high towers of the far castle.

There's a stillness. But suddenly he heard a growing sound. Whisper. Thousands of whispering sounds. His blood froze in his veins; his heart was racing. He didn't understand a word, he was afraid. And then, in the setting sun, he saw darkness descend on the city and shadows rise from it... Terrible, shapeless, whispering... They were far away, but the whistling whisper clearly reached him. The city seemed to be teeming with dark smoke.

A strong wind blew, cold and icy. Costa felt a light touch on his leg, it was the wind brought some paper, and it just stuck to the jeans. He bent down and picked up the paper. It was a torn page from an old book. There was an antique, openwork lantern, in which a snow-white candle burned. There were instructions below, but Constantine couldn't make out what language they were written in. The feeling was that he knew the language, but the letters were not familiar. He folded the paper in half, put it in his front pocket, and looked around.

Where is Nea? And then he saw! Far below, at the foot of the hill, a small figure was slowly walking. Constantine smiled and quickly went to her. But suddenly the shadows around the stone settlement perked up: giant tentacles grew. They are like lightning went to the girl with dyed blue hair. Constantine rushed to her and opened his mouth to shout Nea to warn her, but the boy was knocked down and clamped his mouth. Nea grabbed the tentacles of a giant shadow and dragged her into the city. The girl screamed, struggled, tried to unclench her tentacles, but her hands went through the smoky twilight. She couldn't do anything. Costa tried to loosen his grip, he began to resist furiously, but heard a whisper in his ear: "Don't make a noise, kid! Otherwise we both die. We can no longer stay on the surface, we must run to the shelter. You can't save her if you get caught."

Constantine ceased to resist. He realized that this man is an adult, and he knows much more about life here. He nodded and felt himself being released. The boy turned to see the Savior. It was a man in his 30s or 40s, he had dirty dark hair. The stubble of many days on his face was thin and spoke of the many hardships and hardships he had endured. But eyes... His eyes were bright gray, silver and even as if burned by an unknown fire. The man made a sign with his hand, and they crawled to the side, going diagonally from the main gate. After 20 minutes they reached the dried-up bed of a small river that went under the walls of the defensive wall of the city. They crawled to the thickets on the bars that protected them from the entrance to the city. To Constantine's surprise, the stranger lightly pressed the grille, and it rose silently up. Behind her is clearly someone cared, and thickets hid only is well maintained, the operating mechanism. They crawled under the fortress walls, the man again pressed the bars, which immediately fell silently. In the dark tunnel bed, hiding down the hatch, disguised as a river stone. The man easily slid down, Constantine, gathering all his will in a fist, did the same. As soon as he landed on something soft, the hatch closed from above, and the boy was enveloped in utter darkness.

The stranger whispered:

- "Take my hand or you'll get lost in the dark. There's only a little more to the shelter. You can't talk here. Shadows can hear."

The man took Constantine by the hand and confidently led him down the corridor, navigating freely in the darkness. They walked down the sloping tunnel, deeper and deeper. The air became warm and musty. Soon they came, probably, into the room with high arches, from their steps there was a booming echo.

"Here we are," - said the stranger softly.

- "Albert, who did you bring? Is this another alien from another world? He's dressed so wonderfully..."

- "Yes," - said the stranger, and turned to the boy. – "My name, you understand, is Albert. And you?"

- "Costa," - the boy answered mechanically . He did not understand how these people can communicate in complete darkness, how to navigate?

- "Costa!" - A woman's voice cried out. –"Are you of Royal blood?"

- "What? No!" – surprised boy. - " What makes you think that?"

- "Your name has five letters. Who wears short names up to five, are representatives of the Royal family!"

- "Well, first of all, in our world, it doesn't matter how many letters there are in a name. And, secondly, if you would be so easier, my full name is Constantine, the coast is abbreviated."

- "Strange, you have two names?"

- "No, this is how we do it – to save names for simplicity."

"Zila, leave the boy alone," - said an old voice. – "He needs to get out of here."

- "I can't! My friend was taken by smoky tentacles. I'm not..." - Costa paused, remembering the names short and feeling something was not right, recovered. – "I'm not going anywhere without her."

- "Why should we risk our lives for aliens?"- Zila protested.

"I'm not asking you to risk it," - Costa snapped. – "Get me out of here and I'll do it myself."

"Don't get excited, son," - said a voice that no doubt belonged to Albert. – "Zila, the guy is not to blame for the veil anomalies. It's the fault of our world, our magic and what we did to her! I'll help, but you need to wait for darkness tonight is the night to be moonless, and thus, shadows will be powerless. I know where the dungeons are. We'll go over there, pick up your friend, and head straight to the Golden well portal."

- "Do you have a Gold well here too?" – surprised boy.

"Of course," - said another voice, an old man. – "There is a well in both our worlds. It is a one-way portal. From our world to your world. The main thing is to know how it works."

The old man cleared his throat and turned back to the boy.:

"You and Albert will save your friend, and then he will lead you to the well. We keep his whereabouts a secret so the enemy won't know. I'll be waiting for you at the Golden well."

Costa sensed, that someone took his hand something and has invested. It was Albert.

- "Put these glasses on, they'll help you see in the dark."

Costa obediently, to the touch began to wear leather glasses with dark glasses, as the pilots in the last century. And he saw about 12 people. The whole picture was blue, the people were brighter, the surroundings were darker, but everything was clearly visible. Then the old man came up to him, and Costa opened his mouth in amazement. He was tall, with strong muscles, under a cotton shirt. Hair was long and white.... As the Nea... The old man resembled the posture of a king or a great Scandinavian warrior. He walked over to Costa and shook his hand.

- "Arthadern," - the old man smiled. – "That name suits me very well. That's the nickname they gave me here. From the ancient dialect of this world, it translates as crazy old man."

- "This world?" - Costa asked in surprise. – "So you're not from this world?"

- "What's that? From this, " - said the old man. – "Many inhabitants this world are gone to live in your the world. It's quieter and safer. I, too, have lived all my life in the safety of your world. But in his old age came back here. Not of his own free will, but still."

- "So you just got back here?" - Costa suddenly began to guess who is in front of him.

"Yes," - the old man looked suspiciously at the curious boy.

- "My friend, the one who needs to sleep," - Costa said in a low voice, and noticed that the people in the shelter were doing their own thing and not listening, he continued. - "Recently gone missing grandfather. Except I didn't think to ask her his name."

The old man froze in his tracks. He leaned close to the boy's ear and whispered. :

- "Wait a minute, boy, does your friend have long white hair and bright blue eyes? Her name is Nea?"

- "Yes," - Costa said in a whisper.

The old man's hands were shaking, he suddenly hunched over, and all his become was gone.

- "Oh gods! It's trouble! She can't be in this world! And the Shadows have captured her, and it may be that the Dark Queen is on her way here. We're all lost!"

- "I don't think Nea will find out so soon. As I understand it, it can give white hair?" - the boy asked.

- "Well, Yes."

- "Before the occasional trip here, we played with colored clay in Chingis. Her hair is blue now, but not for long. There's still time to get out of here."

- "There's time..." - the old man sighed with relief. - " Yes, you're right. I can't go to the well. You can't let Nea see me. I can't leave here, my granddaughter will never leave me here alone. Did you come here by accident?"

- "Yes," - said Costa, - "We were listening to the tales of the Golden well, and suddenly the fog crept in."

- "God, how did she get into Chingis? What the hell? Constantine, you must keep the meeting with me a secret! I'll give you the stone that activates the portal."

Arthadern gave Costa a silver watch on a chain. Opening them, the boy saw a small triangular stone with some symbol. But the glasses were hard to make out. The boy didn't know what color it was. Costa closed the watch and put it in his pocket, tying a belt chain on his jeans to the loop. They won't get lost that way.

Grandpa Nea, and it was he, pressed a finger to her lips and went to talk to Albert. They opened some scrolls and conferred. Zila called Costa. Despite the unfriendliness, it was a young, strong girl with a pleasant face. She was wearing leather pants, a shirt and a vest. Glasses it is difficult to accurately determine the age, but the coast seemed that she was not more than 16 years. Costa approached her, she pointed to the chair. The boy sat up, his hands immediately put a plate of hot liquid. It was soup, and the smell was very appetizing.

- "It's moroses soup."

- "What?" - Costa was surprised.

- "Soup of the Moros."

- "What is it?"

- "It's just a plant that gives edible seeds. Moros growing rhoeas and when cooked, increasing in size. Only this food is available to us. And once upon a time... ..."