On the stone road

The car continued to drive straight through path, approaching the dark bottom of the mountain, with pure white tips, the ends of the mountain hadn’t been seen. They were somewhere in the clouds.

– So we almost don’t sleep, well, that’s… that’s great news, don’t say anything – sleep deprivation meant for Eric loss the only possibility at moment to disconnect from the madness, which had seized him. – Tell me something else. What’s more, I no longer need? What’s on the air through? Surely we don’t need … – Suddenly, Eric had an idea. – Don’t answer, I’ll check! – Immediately he said.

Eric hold his breath, he pressed his lips and blew out his cheeks. Anders saw, as his eyes were bulging and blushing and interrupted silly experience.

– Stop it, without air, we can’t do. In order to spare you the cost of precious time, I’ll try to explain it all at once, – hurriedly said Anders. —By air we breathe, by water we quench our thirst and we inhabit the land, and by the energy we live. All of the above are attributes, without which the existence of the carriers is impossible. Don’t worry about anything else. Well, about almost everything – his bristly face broke into a smile.

Baring white teeth, Anders replaced mercy to anger and slammed on the gas pedal: the car roared, increased speed and raced forward, easily climbing a steep slope. Eric, who was sitting next to him, was a little nervous, though, he was trying not to show it.

– When you said that we would go to the north, I didn’t think so literally! Why do we climb the mountain? – Eric asked, not taking his eyes from the window.

They continued to move up, moving on a winding trail. Incredibly, the cobblestones, which were lying on the path jumped to the side as soon as the wheels of the machine approached them. It seemed that they were ordered to clear the way and they obeyed unquestioningly. The trail narrowed, leaving to a steep cliff. Sharply turning, the car raced along it, and almost gathered down.

– I live here, – said Anders hurriedly.

Here, on top of the mountain? – Eric was amazed, still glancing out the window at a frightening precipice, which was fenced by miserable rotten fence. It’s like closing a lion into a brier cage.

– No, at the foot of the cliff, with the adjacent upland – Anders pointed to the mountain, which looked like a giant tower.

It was unclear: how he was going to get there? Indeed, in order they could get to it – they must overcome very wide gulf between the snow tower with a mountain on which they are moving right now.

The engine was almost silent; there was only the sound of the tires, which run into little pebbles, and the roar of the wind, which was wafting everywhere. Without dropping the speed, passenger transport continued to drive tailwind: the trail began to zigzag, leaving to the right. After closer inspection, Eric noticed a huge overhang in front of him, which stretched to the rocky snow tower balcony, to the mountain – where was a house of Anders.

– No! – Eric shouted, recognizing the obvious.

– Don’t worry, it’ll be great!

Surprisingly, but Anders glowed with joy in anticipation of the upcoming flight. But Eric on the other hand, wasn’t amused by the coming leap across the chasm. He thought again about the mental state of a new friend, whether he did the right thing, when he trusted him?

Jumping on a horizontal platform, Anders put pressure on the gas again and steered the car straight ahead! Frozen in time, the guy with the gray hair looked the icy desert, so large and incredibly beautiful and then he jumped from a hard landing on a nearby ledge. There was a quiet rasp of metal, most likely the bumper suffered from the crazy jump. Eric hoped that this single race stopped on it: of course he was wrong! Absolutely indifferent, with the same crazy mood – Anders continued to pull the transmission lever, picking up more speed. The car flew faster than the wind; this time is not up, but down on the uneven rocky path, leading through the cleft. The pile of blocks of ice on the rocks eerily evoked a deadly threat because of its massiveness. In the fear of being walled by avalanche, Eric clenched his fists in fear, trusting in the mercy of heavy depths. He worried that any movement of the car will cause an avalanche.

As a result, it ended without incident; the undulating trail cleft brought them out of the clutches of the stone to a spacious terrace of a snowy tower. The brakes squealed, and the car slowed; Eric decided that Anders was lost, that they fell into a dead end. Instead of obstacles they had a clear path to the mountain terraces. And when he realized that the car was still moving, albeit slowly, but moving – fifteen years old guy howled in displeasure.

When they reached the cliff, the black car slowly banked, allowing passengers to admire the breathtaking view from the top. The rear wheels came off from hard stone and the car flew down. Eric cried aloud, looking at the tip of the hood, which was rushing into the snow. No matter what was down there: if the car collapsed with such a great height, the car wouldn’t had chance to survive; Eric and crazy Anders had even less chances. But Anders, apparently, didn’t care about it.

Before they had to stick into the ground, like a knife through butter, the car stood in the air, in inches from the frozen surface. When the car stopped, Eric with all the dope hit his nose on the dashboard: the blood immediately gushed from the reddened nostrils.

– Oh, yes … – Anders said, looking at Eric, who was trying to stop the bleeding by means of his sleeve. – Don’t worry, our wounds heal very quickly! In no time!

The trunk has lined from hood on one level, after which the car fell to the snow-covered ground, but at a much lower altitude.

Chapter 4

The squall of incredible feelings of joy and excitement overwhelmed Eric at the sight of endless spaces, which were hidden from the high mountains of the horizon. Snowflakes quietly fell from the sky on stony ground, which was covered with a white veil, where the sharp spears protruded out of depth.

– That’s my house – Eric heard a peaceful voice of Anders behind.

When Eric turned, he couldn’t see the Ander’s mansion: hid home was disguised as a rock, which was strewn with non-viable land, gravel and snow. Among the natural grandiose construction it was impossible to see the elements of an artificial construction.

In the distance of a slate landscape could be seen a sparse forest. Its sparse vegetation situated on a hill at the foot of the mountains.

– Are we on the edge of the world? – Eric marveled.

He had never seen anything like this. Previously, he had only hoped that in the near future he will be able to see the world from various angles.

– You can say so!

Going down from desert slope, Eric landed in a deep snow. Eric startled by the sudden collapse, he immediately rushed to get out of the quagmire of snow, which was concomitant with an unpleasant feeling of snow by the collar. Frozen icicles didn’t burn with cold fire. Eric hasn’t felt the icy touch, if only a touch of snow on the skin.

– Something is wrong? – Asked Anders with a serene expression on his face, when he drew attention to the thoughtful Eric.

– I don’t feel it … – indifferently said Eric, looking at snowflakes on his hands.

He felt by skin was, how chilly air, which was rushing around the body, was.

He felt its icy ferocity, but he still only felt, but he didn’t feel truly at its touch.

– And you won’t feel until you have an extra energy. Cold is one of the items in the list of unwanted feelings. The extra energy will protect its carrier from everything, except itself. And of course, it won’t protect of clumsiness – Anders added.

– But it is not the protection; it is deprivation of liberty, the senses! Am I not right? – Indignation captured the young man with gray hair.

Anders looked sympathetically; at least, he has tried to portray compassion, then he moved on to the valley, which reflected the night light by thin coat of frost.

They stood counterpart: at such a close distance Anders seemed even higher. It was quite funny to look at a man, which was dressed in light clothes in the middle of the mountain cold. The fierce blizzard, which suddenly appeared, has mercilessly blinded Eric and his friend. Finally, the weather taunts ended: snowflakes didn’t stop falling, they just froze. There were so many that they closed all around; Eric and Anders stuck in its web. Some later snowflakes budged, but in the opposite direction. The frozen fluffy drops rose skyward. A layer of snow underfoot was reducing; it climbed to the top, followed by the rest of the crystals. The rate has increased, Eric looked at his feet – he almost saw the earth, which was hidden from the eyes by the snowy mass. When Eric looked around, he didn’t see anything, even Anders, he saw only a continuous dark veil.

– Oh wow…! – he amazed.

It couldn’t fail to impress!

Eric heard a sniff of Anders. All the snow, which took off, instantly fell back to earth. After a few seconds, Eric brushed the pilings up of snow from his head and squinted grimly at Anders. The dark veil has disappeared, and then he could see the bristly beard: they once again stood on the flat valley, which was dotted with snow. – Very funny, I hope you will show me not just tricks – although he liked the focus, but that moment it wasn’t important. – You’d better to tell me how you control it, how do you manage it?

– First of all, you need to realize and accept the existence of energy in your body. Only after that, you can manage it. All the necessary levers for this are here – Anders touched his index finger to his temple. – Your mind controls the energy.

– That is, the energy takes whatever came into my head? – Eric tried to understand. – Energy is not a magic pollen, which grants wishes – said Anders, assumed a mine. – With the help of the energy source we can manage any matter, without touching it. We can move it, or break apart. Our mind works on the subject due to the energy source, but for doing this it needs to know and understand what a given object, how it works, what it consists of. Without this knowledge it is impossible to control the subject – he walked away and leaned on a small boulder, – he hid his hands in his trouser pockets.

– Really? What a shame, and I was hoping that you can get it by clicking fingers – Eric upset.

– Not so easy.

The silence lasted just a minute, and then Anders said:

– Come on, try something!

– Do you want me to repeat your trick? – Eric shrugged. – But I have no idea how to do it. And I don’t understand what I can do? What is our strength in?

– In a move – pointedly said Anders.

– Manage your power in the same way as the parts of the body. Send commands from here – Anders again tapped his index finger on his temple – use your imagination.

Eric began to think, what he would try to make. He didn’t try that did Anders – it was unlikely he will succeed; probably he won’t manage to do anything. Eric shook his head in different directions; his attention caught nothing. Then he just decided to lift into the air a small clump of snow. Moreover, it was a very simple task. After all, according to Anders, he could use his energy on the sole, whose nature was known for Eric. And what was the snow – Eric undoubtedly knew, like any other!

Mentally Eric began to present the outlines of a lump of snow, its size, how it was raised. Nothing happened. Even when Eric pulled his hand in front of his imaginary lump – the result didn’t change.

“If only my friends have seen me… they would have a good laugh!” – Self-doubt didn’t leave him for a moment. Discarding the thoughts, he began to concentrate all his attention only on the snow pile again. Eric began to imagine how cold and light it is, as he takes it and lifts. He began to feel it; he believed that he could do it: thus, Eric believed in himself.

Something moved. Noticing this, the young man tried to focus even more. A little snow separated from the land and then headed straight into his face.

– Damn it! – Eric angrily cursed. He had to shake off the snow again.

Suddenly he heard a laugh, Eric stared at Anders, but he just gazed peacefully somewhere in the sky.

– Just don’t be so; I know it was you laughing! – Eric angrily uttered, wiping his nose.

In fact, the failure of Eric looked very funny, but the laugh Anders teased him, as it was with any other laughter, which was directed at him. He hated to look foolish. He always tried to avoid such situations; they are unbearable for him.

– I have no idea what you’re talking about?! – With a straight face Anders rejected Eric’s accusations in schadenfreude.

Of course, the teenager didn’t believe him. Eric definitely heard his laugh, and he didn’t doubt it, although Anders tried to portray apathy.

– Well, you already have at least some idea of how your energy works, and how to use it, – Anders summed up the success of Eric.

– Probably, – he mumbled doubtfully.

He really managed. The main thing was that a little result happened. A little snow really took off the ground; and though it subsequently flew straight into the nose. By the way, Anders was not lying – the nose quickly stopped hurting after hitting the bar, and since then, it was no longer bleeding.

– Try again! – Anders ordered.

– I should to pick it up in the air again? – Eric said, turning to him.

– Try… to give it a shape.

Eric nodded.

“If only I knew how!” – In addition to this, Eric began to think, what kind of form to give a handful of snow. The choice fell on the most common variant – the ball. The main difficulty of this assignment was completely different.

“To believe, you just need to believe, to perceive your ability seriously” – it was not the easiest task, especially for an uncertain person. The thoughts of madness were constantly wandering somewhere nearby. Sometimes it was hard to resist.

Eric tried to abstract from all those things and focus on the goal. Little by little he began to do it. Snowflakes whirled one after the other at a small distance from the ground: they chased faster and faster. When one overtook the other, snowflakes combined, and then the new players joined the chase. It lasted until the snowball didn’t appear in front of Eric. He was of small size, below the knee.

Happened! He did it! He did it, he did it deliberately, controlling entirely the whole process.

– Okay, you’re done! – Anders immediately praised Eric, when he saw the embodiment of his efforts. He didn’t even stinged with the approving smile.

– I don’t even know what to say … – Eric was glad and he could hardly talk, he was amazed by himself. – Is that the control of which you spoke?

– No, – cut off Anders. The smile on his face disappeared. – Control – this is not a skill to sculpt a snowman, it is much more. – Anders took a couple of steps forward.

– Then why am I doing this? – Erik immediately got angry. He didn’t want to waste his time.

– This is the path to what you really must do.

Anders came to the stone, reminiscent of the parapet, and raised his left hand over it. Under his hand, which was slowly moving, built rectangular figures from the snow, like dominoes.

– The great begins with the small. The path to the desired lies through overcoming difficulties, laziness – he kept going – and of course time. The main thing is to keep on and not give up – Anders hand stopped – otherwise everything will be in vain, – he pointed to the last figure, which was created by him, and the whole chain has fallen to the ground.

– That is, it needs a very long time? – Eric mournfully pursed his lips and lowered his head.

Anders rubbed his nose and said:

– I didn’t mean it that way, but in general you caught my meaning. Eric, you have to practice to use a source of energy, in order to learn, how to control it. If you don’t want it to control you – he flashed his colored eyes. Even in the night Eric could see its shine. – In this case, it will occur the things, because of which you’re here.

Eric didn’t answer; he decided to keep silence. Fire and death crunch squeezed his throat, cutting off access of oxygen. Memories.

– What happened to you? – Anders noticed haze in his eyes. – Is something wrong?

– Oh, you’re very obvious! – Barely holding back, grunted Eric. – I need time. I have a feeling like I was stuck in something sticky… It seems that I’m sleeping! – He walked from place to place. – I find it hard to take, and so easy to get used to the idea that all of what you tell me, Anders – the truth!

– I perfectly understand, through what you have to endure now. But know this, you’re the lucky one; other people, who faced with the madness, experienced it alone.

Indeed, Anders was right: Eric should be glad that he was not alone. The loneliness would destroy him! Eric said nothing, but in his eyes could be seen gratitude.

Without any reason, he flopped back in the snow and stared at the sky, which was painted in dull black tones. The iron clouds overshadowed the shine of stars; tiny dots occasionally were shown between the sliding through the air smoky blocks.

It was so strange, Eric couldn’t see anything ahead. Earlier it was different. He always adhered to the stability, he was afraid to be in an unpredictable position. Much of what he had done before, was sent to the steppe. After the school followed the entrance to college, then was a future job, then a career, and so forth on a sloping, which was the existence of the average person’s life. He didn’t want to become a lawyer, together with Constantine, but at the same time he understood that this path will lead to unwelcome particular destination. This, as he always thought, was mandatory! Even if it didn’t suit him.

And now he just looked up at the sky, which was closed from his eyes with saddened clouds. Eric had no idea what would happen next.

– Do you have a family? – He asked, still staring at the sky.

– Yes, I have, – said shortly Anders, brushing snow from the shoulder.

– Where are they? – In his voice didn’t sound any notes of interest, except the manifestation of curiosity.

– There are a lot of places, the family is big. All have parted on corners of our hopeless planet – Anders continued to respond in the same hurried manner.

– Do you communicate or meet with anyone of them? – Lifelessly continued to ask Eric.

– I meet; or rather I sometimes watch them. How do they spend their time; whether all of them good. But all of this I do at a distance nobody of them knows about me. After all, I officially died more than six hundred years ago – Anders said, with a grin. – To be more precise, I disappeared, I went missing.

Swallowing information about carriers Eric couldn’t imagine what it was like, so many years in the shadow. Eric hoped that all this time he was not alone there.

– So, we’re immortal … – Eric exhaled and mumbled dryly.

– No, but we live a very long time, if we are allowed – ending sounded cruel and hard.

– It hurts?

Eric decided to go back to talking about the family; he wanted to find out what he had to experience.

– Over time, you start to think that this way of life is the norm. And that another way can’t be. Only time can make us come to terms with the objectionable acts for us.

– I have a small family. I have to part only with one person – Eric decided to share his story with a new friend.

– With whom exactly?

– With those who are still alive – Eric pulled barely from himself. He knew that sorrow will overtake him because of his desire to share.

– And who is it?

– Mom, – instinctively replied Eric.

– What happened with your father? – The question of Anders caught Eric off guard. Anyway, it was like a blow to the bruise.

Kitchen, explosion, and self-loathing – that now calls the word “father” in the sad Eric.

– He died – he quickly muttered, lifting his head from the ground.

“I killed him” – while Eric couldn’t admit it to anyone. It was hard to do it, even to himself. Let the best Anders won’t know what a boy of fifteen had done.

– I sympathize; it’s awful to lose loved ones. I know this firsthand.

Eric was undermined by the condolences, and he couldn’t resist:

– It is not necessary, he was rare… I don’t want to say, – Erik half rose from the ground. He hardly resisted not to express what he thought about his father, who never was for real.

– It is not unusual when a native person becomes strange and hateful.

Although Anders said all right, his words caused a desire to thwart it.

– He was not only a stranger, he was the one who broke the TV remote on the head of his son, because, he fell asleep and didn’t turn it off. He did it because the sound of the movie disturbed his sleep.

At the same moment Eric turned away from Anders, and looked into the distance, at the high mountains, he wanted to get on them and hide there from all that had happened to him. He wanted to be on the brink of infinity, naively believing that this way he will be able to escape. Eric regretted that he spoke about the immoral act of Karl Lanter. Now Anders probably guesses what Eric tortures himself.

To his delight, Anders didn’t continue the conversation and left him alone. Eric went on to test the newfound opportunities, but alone: he raised fallen snowflakes in the air and made them spin around. He was in the center of a small tornado. His fantasies started to turn out to overcome the barriers, which were built by conventional laws of impossible. Although he still didn’t give a full account of his actions. Its results were made at random, like a computer game, whose control you haven’t fully learned and you are trying to lead the way in it blindly, to the touch.

Returning from a curve hill, Anders stopped the training of Eric.

– I think you have enough for today, – he said, approaching him.

– Ok, – Eric nodded.

Artificial tornado crumbled to the ground.

They returned to the rock, on the hillock. Anders absented to hide his car; he disguised it under a thick layer of snow.

When the broad-shouldered man closely approached the rock, he moved his hand a little bit, and then there was a roar. The gnarled barrier was split into two parts, and then budged: the moonlight filled a cave, in response it threw out the stale air, which was trapped in it for a long time.

– Very cute – Eric whispered.

Moonlight froze in the cave twists, the tunnel began to fall, Eric and Anders continued to walk down the corridor, hiding in the darkness. A few minutes later they were at an impasse.

– Are we lost? – Eric wondered when he saw nothing in front of him.

Anders awarded his question with a heavy sigh; he pressed his hand to the barrier: the ebony doors opened wide.

Four giant stone columns supported the sky; the domed ceiling was decorated with bright stars, which were sliding on the supports. Marble women in marble coats shrouded columns over the full height, holding a cup, from which was emanating a bright golden light.

Under the ring of mezzanine, between the columns, were placed the archways. In total there were four through passages in the corridor, which were allocated with metal frame: a thin thread sprawled the arc on the wall, like the veins on the exhausted hands. One passage led into the dining room, the other in the living room, and the third led to the library. The fourth passage led to the exit of a luxury home, through a non-illuminated long tunnel, through which they had just stepped inside the mansion.

A spiral staircase gently poured into the balcony circle, standing out from the center of the hall. Following the dark-haired Anders, Eric climbed the stairs, looking at the bas-reliefs of people and animals, which were hidden in the shadow of the mezzanine. The bulges at the basalt walls displayed the proud ram, a mighty bull, half-naked men with swords in his hands, a huge cancer.

– This is the image of zodiac signs – Eric guessed by looking at the stone embodiment of the majestic lion.

– For the former owner of the mansion they were the symbols of faith – without turning notified Anders.

Eric wondered who owned this matchless house, which was reminiscent of the medieval cathedral, which interspersed with ancient temple. He wasn’t going to wait for a long time to find out the answer: