VICTIM OF TIME AND SPACE: ONE SOUL AGAINST FIVE ARMIES

Fifteen-year-old Luna had just a few days ago been released from the mental institution where she had been admitted after being involuntarily hospitalized. Only she could have guessed to tell the therapist in detail how she executed a cat with a clamp and a clerical knife last week, so her hospitalization was not unexpected - someone should have been a little less frank with people who clearly do not support such perversions, especially when their job is literally to isolate and treat such "heroes". The madhouse, as always, was just lame - upon arrival, her much-needed personal weapons were immediately taken away from her in the form of a bunch of blades and knives, which she used to attack her wrists every night, enjoying the sight of blood and scars. In addition, her cell phone was taken away, and all the time she spent in isolation, she couldn't even complain about the lack of blades to her few friends, equally crazy from different countries. Anyway, the 72-hour "vacation" in the closed institution came to an end, and she was released. Luna was overjoyed and was going to celebrate the event with a full-scale celebration, including light drugs and new scars. To get home, she had only a few kilometers to cover in the dense American built-up area, and it was +25C today and no rain, judging by the weather forecast that popped up on the phone, it was not supposed to be. But the girl wanted to cut herself more than to walk in the sun, so she decided to take a shortcut, crossing the alley between two private houses. As she walked through it, she didn't notice some nigger who was sitting on the ground in a black jacket (and that was in this weather), apparently asleep. It was no news to her that in any American city one could find crowds of such biomass - undocumented black-ass migrants, drug addicts, rednecks and schizophrenics with guns were an integral part of the realities of the center of "Western civilization", and in some ways even its fundamental core. As Luna walked by, the junkie suddenly "came to life" and grabbed her leg, simultaneously getting up from the pavement. Before she could scream or try to fight back, he let go of her leg, pulled her against him, and slashed her throat with a large kitchen knife. This powerful blow was enough to half separate her head from her body, arterial blood spurted forward, the girl instinctively tried to squeal, but it was only a strange wheeze accompanied by blood bubbling in her mouth, as her vocal cords had already been cut. With the next stab, the junkie plunged the knife right between her ribs, stabbing her in the heart. In ten seconds she died of blood loss, after which the killer threw her body on the ground and began to dig through her pockets, looking for some money for a new dose, but found nothing of value except a cell phone, which could be quickly pawned in a pawnshop on a nearby street. After grabbing it, the criminal quickly fled the scene, running to the pawnshop with the phone and a huge bloody knife in his hand, leaving behind him characteristic bloody footprints coming from an ever-widening pool of brightly colored blood of his victim. *** Luna opened her eyes. She was in the same clothes and uninjured. Was it all a dream? But there was some unfamiliar space around her, something like a huge dark cave with many meters high ceilings. It was all lit only by dim lights coming from the walls. She turned around and saw an abyss where you couldn't even see the bottom. There was an island a little farther away, with a small path leading to it, but the island itself was hidden in black fog, so she couldn't see it from here. The girl slowly walked forward, along the narrow path, and gradually saw more and more space. Slowly the outlines of a golden, but no longer shiny old throne, the steps leading to it, the light sources hovering in the air. Will-o'-the-wisp flashed in front of Luna. If she had studied mythology, she would have known that it was the undead soul of the deceased. But she didn't think about that now and walked forward, now also seeing the occupant of that throne... Human, or not quite? Like everything around him, he looked somehow old, worn out, his clothes were covered in dust, and he was about ten meters tall. He sat absolutely motionless, his clothes resembled the robes of a medieval king, and it was impossible to see his head, it was hidden in the darkness, and even jumping up the girl could not see even its outline. She slowly walked up the steps to the creature, examining it until she was suddenly picked up by the hands of something intangible and lifted up, to the same level as the head of the entity. He wore a crown, but he had no head, in fact. The symbol of power was slung over a black figure with a blurred outline, and soon he opened one eye, as dim and gray as the atmosphere of the place. - Your journey is not finished, mortal soul. You will have to work off all the evil you have done to your home world. Do it. Immediately after that, a small purple circle formed in the pupil of the only eye, which soon enlarged. It was a magic circle with all sorts of astral symbolism, it continued to grow, Luna could not take her eyes off it and was completely hypnotized by this mystical rotation, lost reality and slowly closed her eyes.