24

 "He disintegrated into tiny particles. Self-execution... out of despair." Explained Riu. "We have no concept of death, only a change of shells, consciousness is immortal. We are all parts of one spirit, its consciousness. He creates us and gives each of us individuality and charisma..."

"So what now?"

"Nothing... now you won't see him for a long time... maybe millennia, if he wants, he will be incarnated... someday again."

"No... no... no," Kiri screamed, covering his eyes with his hands. "What have I done? I killed him! I didn't know this was possible!"

"Don't feel guilty," Riu began to reassure him. "These are his problems, he just didn't want to live without you, he couldn't cope..."

"Is there no way to return it?"

"You can only be born again from the flesh of the earth's inner... nothing else. Why do you want Ingris back? To apologize? Not worth it! He caused you a lot of suffering! He owes you!"

Kiri doubled over, continuing to sob.

"So... you love him if you cry like that. I don't know how to console you... But now you are free!"

***

Mali, keen on receiving clients to connect with the spirits of deceased relatives, noticed out of the corner of her eye a stranger with dragonfly wings, frozen on the threshold of the house. What kind of creature visited her and for what reason? Having finished the session with a successful solution to the problems of her visitors, she suddenly realized who had come to her.

"Kiri!"

She threw herself into the arms of a thin creature with large dark blue eyes.

"How did you recognize me?" he spread his wings, stepped back and turned around his axis. - Do you see what they did to me?"

"I see!" Mali nodded sympathetically, shedding tears and continued hugging him. "Well, it's not that bad... you look very exotic... We finally met... More than a year has passed. You won't disappear anywhere, will you? I really don't know how our parents will react: there's nothing left of former you..."

"What can I do, but I'm free now... and I can do what I want. Fly, travel long distances... quickly glide through space to any place on earth..."

"But you are no longer human..."

"I've already gotten used to the new look... and being a forest spirit has its advantages."

"Oh... Have you grown fangs!?" Mali shouted in amazement, seeing her brother's good-natured grin. "For what?"

"I accidentally became a vampire, but don't worry, I don't bite people... only my own. This is nutrition... the exchange of vital forces."

"Where is Ingris? Did he leave you?"

"He died…"

"Can a forest spirit die?"

"However, its dense shell no longer exists," Kiri noted with sadness in his voice. "He seemed to explode when I rejected him... crumbled into tiny dust." If I had known that this would happen, I would not have allowed it."

"So... you regret rejecting him?"

"An ambivalent feeling... both yes and no... Still, I suffered a lot in his captivity... But his ardent passion for me does not allow me to forget about him... my heart seems to be poisoned...

Sometimes I feel regret that he is not around. If I could talk to him, it wouldn't hurt so much."

"What did Imralin say to this?"

"Do you know about her?" Kiri was surprised.

"Yes... I visited her in my dreams... she gave me the honor of becoming her subject, but I refused, rejected the proposed groom..."

"What? Groom?" Kiri smiled. "You didn't like him? Too exotic?"

"His name is Adlar... He is good-looking, like a human, he takes care of me, but I have no time for that. Assertive, he says that he fell in love with my independence and love of freedom."

"All forest spirits are persistent... I felt their obsession myself, because I am popular among them, as a celestial and beloved of Ingris. So you became a shaman?"

"Yeah... because of the poisonous mushrooms... They revealed me to the spirit world after trying to contact you and free you. Now I am a link between two different worlds, heaven and the core of the earth... accepting visitors with their problems as gifts and helping the return of lost souls stuck between the spheres. Your case is special, you have merged with the energy of an inner super being and he is not going to let you go. This consciousness is stronger than you..."

"Someone should help me leave this world..."

"Do you really want that?"

Kiri was confused, lost in thought.

"Ingris... he still won't let me go. Sometimes it seems to me that I hear his breath behind me and smell him, but when I turn around I don't see anyone. The Queen Imralin forces me to summon him for birth... admits that she misses him... For this I have to ask him to return..."

"And you will do this?"

"I already did... called him, said that I love him."

"In this way, it is impossible for you to leave the spirit realm. A declaration of love is like shackles. And how will Ingris be reborn?"

"If he wants to... from the inner earth... it's really not difficult. Matter is very obedient for assembling the required body, people simply do not know how to control it, and spirits can condense at will."

"Since Ingris has not yet been revived, it means you seriously hurt his feelings," Mali suggested. "Such a conclusion..."

"I intend to wait for him, no matter how much time passes..."