In the dark of the night, wake up

Wake up and save only those

Whose souls fight for life

Against themselves.

Clear the sky for the stars

Great and Small.

For those whose path is closed,

Give them the light of the moon.

Their world will be found immediately

A world of great memories.

When you get there, everyone who’s forgotten will triumph.

I’ll be right there. A slave of the little dreams.

Aurora seemed so real and close. Torn between two conditions, Rudy doubted where the truth was. The desired condition was the emerging of Aurora. He almost believed that her death and his dreadful journey to the North was the most elaborate and prolonged nightmare to come to an end. But time exposes all illusions, not by giving the truth, but by changing the attitude to lie. One second could bring down years of creation, much less a modest handful of unreasonable hopes. The real condition proved to him the true extent of his position by the only uncontested fact – nothing changed.

Her voice gradually faded, the black silhouette disappeared into darkness. The sense of endless fall that drove Rudy crazy was suddenly replaced by a distinct feeling of a sturdy surface, enormously cold and unpleasant in his body. With Aurora gone a beautiful lie, taking the rest of his pure mind.

When Rudy dared to open his eyes to a new reality, in the first moments he had to withstand the painful onslaught of light. Having come to terms with the new conditions of the vision, he began to consider what his cruel fate had given him last.

The first thing he saw was a big black stain. From there, the silhouettes of unusually tall and strangely dressed people would bounce off and creep apart. Their faces coming out of the shadows seemed exactly identical. Strangers were in charge of his belongings. They looked closely at everything they found and many of the things they had in their hands savages threw it aside like garbage. Rudy was still not aware of what was going on in front of his eyes and what further trouble he could expect in the future. One of them noticed Rudy watching their actions, but still kept going through things. He was the one who found the urn. Proud of himself, he gladly gave the urn to another man to whom he had unreservedly obeyed.

Rudy tried to scream as hard as he could:

- Don’t touch! This thing has no value to all of you! Leave it!

Then he reasonable to assume that the northern aborigines did not understand him, because they knew and spoke only in their language. He wanted to attack the giants with a fight, but he had no strength even to move. His body was tightly frozen.

- The valuable to us is what’s inside this vessel, – said stranger in whose hands the urn was.

Rudy was stunned.

- Do you understand my speech?

- We all speak the same language if that’s necessary. Don’t confuse us with savages, one of whom is yourself. We are the children of the Great Spirit Aliel. All of us are Aliel. We’re aware of the past, the present and what is destined would be – all the possible and certain variations that are certain to emerge in the future for irreversible events and processes.

- That means nothing to me.

- Don’t dare you be no disrespect to Gallagud! – angrily said the harshest of strangers.

Intending to defend the great honor of their leader, the one who was the toughest of them grabbed Rudy by the breasts and stared into his eyes – eyes of the victim he had captured. He did not take any action, however, apparently eagerly awaited to Gallagud’s instructions. In all his nature, he showed a determined will to beat the meagre remnants of life out of Rudy. He was the angriest of the most evil people Rudy had ever encountered in his life, with the meanest eyes and obviously the worst intentions. In a quick comparison, which he could afford, Bull and the murky crew of the ship “Judy” seemed to be the most kind and responsive representatives of the northern latitudes. He saw no other way but to surrender to the apparently great strength and allow the most evil man to beat out of him the really meagre remains of life that he encroached upon so willingly. Seeing the weakness and humility of his victim, the evil man angrily shaken Rudy, apparently angry that the weak and doomed creature had no intention of resisting him in any way.

- Leave the poor man, Vuggo, – Gallagud ordered, – we’re not mad at him.

Vuggo did not dare to disobey Gallagud, although he did not understand or accept Gallagud’s stance. The evil man released Rudy and join with his own – probably the same ruthless barbarians who, fortunately, did not care about Rudy. But Gallagud was staying, and it hardly boded well. Leaning over Rudy, he said:

- We’re leaving you. Thank you for your loyalty to the mission with which you came to our lands. You must wait for a little bit. Aliel will reward your patience. Death will be your joy. You’ve come a long and hard way. It wasn’t all for nothing. Your gift is priceless. We’ve been waiting for this for hundreds of years.

- What for?

- You don’t need to know.

Gallagud left him. The strangers went to their saving clothes. These were huge domes wrapped in the skins of wild, unknown animals. Clothed in these cumbersome constructions, strangers hid themselves from the dangers of the North. All they had outside was their heads coming out from above. These strange and funny garments were their hallmark among the peoples of Laldiroff, a reliable defense against the cold and attacks of an enemy they had never met, their only personal possessions and home.

Gallagud solemnly carried Rudy’s priceless gift. Next to him was the man who found the urn. He was to be rewarded for finding it, and he gained a new status in their sacred society – his word became powerful. Now he could say everything and always be heard.

For the first time, using his right, he asked Gallagud:

- Why did we leave him to die?

- He’s almost no life left in him. He belongs to death, – said Gallagud.

- I saw in his eyes the shine that no dying man has.

- You made a mistake, Ulligrassor.

Sensing the prospect of new opportunities, Ulligrassor decided to protest, not doubting his own beliefs.

- What happens in the future if I’m not wrong now? He’s the missionary who gave us this great gift that he held dear. By throwing him to death, we have desecrated the gift we need in our path to happiness. We have proven by our vile deed that we are not worthy of return.

- Aliel will decide that, – Gallagud said with angered, clearly regretting that Ulligrassor had gained the power of his own word.

The rest of the extraordinary group followed and listening attentively to an unpleasant conversation. All of them, especially Vuggo, supported Gallagud and were very angry at Ulligrassor. This did not mean that they supported Gallagud. They needed time to get used to Ulligrassor’s opinions, as well as anything he might have said in the future. They understood that both Gallagud and Ulligrassor were equally right, and this became a serious obstacle at the very beginning of their solemn journey. Their conflicting truths kept them from moving forward.

- Aliel has to decide his fate right now, – suggested Ulligrassor.

- It’s impossible! – said Vuggo.

- Don’t force us to live and act in the constraints you make up, Vuggo! – said Silgur, who was considered the wisest among them, – Ulligrassor is right. We have determined the fate of this savage, although it is only Aliel who makes such decisions in the lands of Laldiroff.

- We are Aliel! – said Vuggo.

- Don’t say anything you’ll soon regret Vuggo, – said Muniard, the one who found compromise even where there was no compromise, – we’re only the children of Aliel. Are you ready to claim the power and authority of our Father?

Feeling the strength of the resistance of the worthy opponents, Vuggo attempted to slow down his usual uncontrollable rage. He could not compete with the wisdom and knowledge of Silgur and Muniard. However hard Vuggo tried, natural rage was stronger than true awareness.

- Like the faithful son of Aliel, I carry his will! My wish is his wish!

- I’m sorry, Vuggo, but you’re the stupidest kid of Aliel, – wise Silgur ruthlessly attacked the pride of Vuggo, – don’t piss him off! Now we’re in the vicinity of a place where everything can be done. I’m prepared to take the savage there and bring him before the Father.

- We all go there, – decided Gallagud.

The upcoming case required a clear separation. Five of them left their cumbersome clothes. The domes restricted their movements and actions. Vuggo and Slargart went to the nearest areas where the beasts lived. Gallagud, Wurn, Migurnock and Raron took on the load of the other domes and went to the place of Aliel, while Ulligrassor, Silgur and Muniard returned to take Rudy back.

- Let me talk to him, – said Ulligrassor to others.

Silgur silently stopped Muniard and nodded positively.

Rudy was still awake. He needed warmth and healing. Ulligrassor sat beside him. His good-natured gaze and pleasant smile gave Rudy a sense of trust that was more desperate than honest.

- Tell me your name, – asked Ulligrassor.

- Rudolph... Rudy... just Rudy.

- I came for you.

- Who are you?

- Ulligrassor. You’re my friend. Don’t be afraid of me.

- Where I come from, people don’t make friends that fast, – said Rudy in fear.

- As long as you’re here, I’m your friend and you will be my friend.

- As long as I’m here...

- Forgive us, Rudy. We’re very tired. Until this day, we had wandered, without leaving the limits of endless suffering. Warriors of truth. Guards of eternal knowledge. Wanderers in empty. It’s really hard for us. I haven’t slept since everything was fine. I guess I never slept.

- We could all use a rest.

- Not now. Silgur and Muniard will take you to our Father.

- Why? I’m dying...

- It’s not for us to determine when and how you’re death. It’s the right of Aliel.

- He’s fair, – said Muniard.

- And he’s mercifully, if it is his will, – said Silgur.

- Let him decide, – said Rudy with maid his peace.

********

In the middle of enigmatic journey, the dusk dissolved their images in Laldiroff’s Grey Wasteland. One of the mysteries of this place was that no living thing that came into the Grey Wasteland could rely on its own senses. The thick gray dusk made it hard to see, the stagnant air blocked the sense of smell, and the cold eliminated all other senses. No matter how sharp the natural instinct, it was instantly lost, as if it had never existed.

Silgur and Muniard walked with confidence, as if there were no and could not be obstacles for them. They have carried Rudy as a defeated enemy or captured prey. Muniard, and especially Silgur, treated Rudy with great respect, but the kindest and most merciful of them seemed to be Ulligrassor. He followed them, just as fearlessly and confidently.

- What will happen to me? – Rudy asked.

- You will pass the ordeal of the penultimate drop, – answered Muniard.

- This is the Great Act, – said Silgur.

- I’m too weak to ordeals, – Rudy objected.

- It is this ordeal that will give you what you need. As an ordinary savage, you do not know your true need, depriving yourself of the opportunity to find the right path to follow, – said Ulligrassor.

- The penultimate drop will give you a new strength and joy of life, or a quiet death, – Silgur explained.

- An ordinary drop of water will give me a verdict?

- The drop after the drop fills us with life and power, – said Muniard.

- The drop after the drop deprives us of our strength and our lives, – said Silgur.

- The drop measures the limits of our internal resources, patience, capabilities, – said Ulligrassor.

- The all of living things consider the last drop is the most frightening, – said Silgur, – the last drop of water tells us of an impending thirst, sometimes deadly, and only when thirst becomes a real threat does it reveal the extent of the true stupidity, because the living thing has done nothing to prevent it. It didn’t save its source, it wasn’t looking for a new one. It was adapting. It trusted its future with something it didn’t know. It is a frightening but short realization, for few accept their mistakes in the prime of life, and especially when death approaches.

The last drop of water will not put out the fire, which could become the threat of a terrible fire that ignites everything in its path. It’s the fate of wild people. Fire appears with your hands. Because of your actions, destruction triumphs. But without the help of nature and what is not created by you, you will not be able to create new things, or to fight the destruction that grows with the help of others like you. But you won’t always have that help. Sometimes nature gives in to your destruction and doesn’t allow you to prevent it so you can only get what you’ve arranged for yourself. Nature knowingly carries the eternal sacrifice, but that doesn’t mean it can’t punish.

The last drop of patience destroys a man’s personal power over his own life and all that happens in it. Those who are no longer able to cope with themselves go far beyond the limits of patience. There’s not a lot of people that can go back out of there. There’s only one path of endless regret left. Each one takes its own sending. Some regret that they faced an insurmountable barrier. Some regret the connection with the people involved in their suffering. Some people regret having spent all their energy on patience. There are a lot of options that don’t have the truth. And who honestly needs the truth?

The last drop is believed to be the executioner. Everyone knows, but almost no one has acknowledged that the last drop brings divine relief from the tortuous tension left by her predecessors. The last drop gives certainty about what’s about to happen. It gives freedom, which is important to be able to make good use of it. It’s all predetermined by fate, but it’s been converted to mislead by a man.

- Aliel told us the great power of the penultimate drop, – Muniard continued, – at the moment when it when the turn of the penultimate drop, a fateful decision will make as to what would happen. The final drop is a guide to the inevitable.

- I don’t understand nothing, – said Rudy.

- The penultimate drop sharpens to the limit the feelings of fear, despair, helplessness. It’s unbearable. It’s got all the weight of what we’ve been through before: everything that seemed light and simple, but actually shattered the fragile nature of the creature. But no one knows is that behind that drop is falling the last drop, that brings relief. Everyone who suffers from the torture of horror, thinks about how long it will take to wait, to endure, to be humbled. The penultimate drop leaves no choice to the person. This moment determines what is going to happen and whether anything will happen.

- I don’t want that, – resisted Rudy.

- It doesn’t require your wish, – replied Silgur.

********

The rest of the way to Aliel’s space they passed without saying a word. Too much had been said before. “Better I’d known nothing”, – thought Rudy, fearing of own fantasies after the stories of Silgur and Muniard. Ulligrassor saw the Rudy’s suffering caused by fear of the unknown, but could not figure out how he could help him, so he left everything as it was, pretending not to notice nothing.

Having overcome the Grey Wasteland, and then a series of difficult climbs and steep downhill rides on the Weeping Slopes, the giants stopped. Obviously, they needed to replenish their powers for something of great importance. The sudden change that stopped them from moving rapidly towards their target alarmed Rudy, who did not know that their journey was coming to an end. The domes have already been seen far away. “It’s had better not be the end... or... it had better be the end”, – Rudy was finally confused.

Gallagud and Wurn slowly prepared for the sacred action. Migurnock mixed his secret potions, creating a drink that was meant for Rudy. During the waiting period, he managed to blend some extracts for personal use, despite the prohibition of Gallagud.

Gallagud always scolded Migurnock for creating a potion that puts the mind to sleep. The temptation to merge at least briefly with the emptiness in which the beautiful oblivion appeared, master all of them except Raron and Vuggo, who despised Migurnock for this opportunity and himself for the weakness, because several times he too would go off to places from where he did not want to return. Gallagud was angry and begged from supreme forces to punishment Migurnock, as he was forced to compete for influence with short illusions causing an insurmountable dependency. But this time Gallagud gifted him his forgiveness. The common interests forced them to reconcile. Migurnock tried as never before. The joy of the long-awaited find inspired him to create a black, like a tar, drink which had extraordinary properties. Inside himself, he regretted that he couldn’t tasted try something he was so proud of.

Raron sat by a melting glacier and as always kept silent. He never spoke or listened. That was his natural state.

Vuggo and Slargart being the last who came to Aliel’s space. Vuggo brought on his mighty shoulders the carcass of the beautiful deer he had slain. It was one of the strongest animals of those lands. Without this victim, the ordeal of the penultimate drop was impossible.

Everything was ready for sacral action. Vuggo daringly dropped the deer carcass near a small melting glacier. Silgur carefully placed Rudy on the carcass. The others chose special places for themselves and sat around the altar, preparing their drums.

By creating the sounds of the drums, they revived their thoughts and called for help from the heavens. Therefore, they left the present for escape to the peaceful. The sacral peace kept their essence out of life and death for as long as Aliel allowed. The Great Father did not indulge them, but did not let them resent him for his inexorable rigour.

Rudy’s position surpassed the worst of his fantasies: the carcass of the dead deer was impatiently stink, the drops of which Silgur, Muniard and Ulligrassor spoke, was dripped to his forehead – cold, sharp and painful like spears, in the back of his head and spine there he was feeling disturbing wandering of heat coming out of the carcass. The kind Ulligrassor, along with the other evil giants, watched with silence and without remorse or compassion for Rudy’s anguish. Their indifference drove Rudy mad, but he was wrong to think that the process under way is absolutely clear to him. At the right time, Migurnock gave him that extraordinary salty drink. After third sip, Rudy was feeling a frightening numbness, first in the tongue and then throughout the body. Finally losing control of himself, he literally believed and felt himself being transformed into a handful of ashes, which a cold and ruthless wind was about to sweep across the North.

All of a sudden, giants began to beat their drums. Each of them had its own rhythm, and their drums had fascinating and unique voices.

Ulligrassor sounded swift and abrupt.

Muniard’s had a calm rhythm and a quiet sound.

Vuggo beat ruthlessly and ferociously.

Slargart beat like Vuggo, but did it half-heartedly.

Silgur struck quietly twice, followed by one loud punch, followed by a pause, followed by another silent and two very loud punches.

Migurnock beat measured and indeterminate, but his drum sounded the most beautiful.

Wurn was producing the most complex, previously unknown hearing rhythm, truly confusing consciousness. His drum’s voice was the lowest and deepest. Rudy’s heart sometimes stopped when Wurn beating.

Gallagud beat to his drum immediately after Raron struck.

Raron beat the drum as soon as a drops was fells on Rudy’s forehead. These were the loudest blows of all. Raron and his drum brought Rudy indescribable flour that was far superior to the suffering caused by the drops, the stench and the unpleasant heat.

In a moment, what was thought to be immutable collapsed. Thoughts as though the constructions of the matches were broken, scattered, ignited, thus destroying the meaning that could not have been. Rudy was horrified by the loss of control over his own mind. It was an internal rebellion against himself. Raron caused Rudy’s madness. From the first blows, his drum drove out Rudy’s sanity.

The peak of torment was fast approaching and was about to be finally destroy Rudy, when suddenly, on the eve of the long-suffering end, apparently after falling of penultimate drop, Rudy fell into a crushing darkness. According to conventional wisdom, it was death itself.

The darkness was not infinite. Unwittingly escaping death, Rudy woke up surrounded by a blinding light. This light was unbearable, terrible and hated by him. Rudy lay in a small, seemingly empty room, but the most important thing was that once he swore never to forget everything that’s ever happened in this room.

He was looking at the white ceiling, and then something terrible made his desperately searching for what was needed. The bright green bowl was a basic necessity and a symbol of defeat. The mockery of fate has never been more cruel: for a man of well-being and power, the usual cheap bowl has turned out to be the most faithful companion of the miserable rest of life.

The perpetual nausea was the merciless outcome of everything that had been lived and how it had been. It happened for some reason. Attempts to find the cause of defeat didn’t make sense. It is not difficult to find a plethora of reasons and grounds, but with their continued emergence there will be no firm and unequivocal, single and irrefutable proof that one of them is the right reason. Accepting defeat, the broken man realizes that everything but this nausea was an unstable and meaningless convention. And only a bright green bowl will remain the last undeniable value. For a while, it will contain the remains of the inner world of the one to whom it belongs. In the hideous glow of white walls and ceilings, a bright green color over and over will give a tiny hope for an unjustly short moment of relief.

Rudy recognised this room. He also remembered the bowl, which was he held in his arms more than once. However, in his memory, the symbol of that terrible time was a bowl of yellow colour – not so beautiful and not so small.

The terrifying darkness drove him through his childhood. Everything that happened to him now, many years ago happened to his mother. It was a place where she lived out her days in agony. The last time he saw her was two weeks before she died. Then she asked him to come closer and stand by the window for a while so she could see him. Rudy couldn’t forget those creepy eyes. She was never like that. It seemed like Rudy wasn’t that important to her anymore, and she wasn’t that fond of him at all. He couldn’t shake that grievance. The unconscious feeling of loss forced him to defend himself in his own way. He didn’t hear from mother for the next two weeks and did not ask any question about her in principle, but Rudy remembered that a bright green bowl appeared on the day she died.

The pain of loss that had held Rudy by the throat for decades blended with his mother’s physical pain. Nothing like this, to his fortunately, he’s never experienced before. Rudy waited for the last drop of patience to finally fall, followed by a well-deserved release from suffering. The situation he was against his will was unbearable and literally drove him mad. The pain in his body didn’t get any worse, but with every second, the anguish of patience killed everything he had left, starting with hope. And once his limitations were defeated, Rudy fell into the darkness of relief.

Freeing from the mother’s pain that became part of his life was not the end of Rudy’s ordeal. The rule of forces threw him into the epicenter of a big celebration he missed not so long ago. He was faced with joyful faces rising from the darkness to meet him. There was an atmosphere of admiration around – many, if not all, were languishing in anticipation of the long-awaited event. Space was shaken by hundreds of voices and camera clicks. The flashes, one brighter than the other, created the cosmic sensation of stellar flickering on the way to triumph. He felt free, but only the feeling of something nice tickled his nerves. And when “glorious” moment was already close, a flash blind his eyes, followed by a burning pain rapidly spread all over his back. Then came the darkness again.

The outbreak, and he regained consciousness. Rudy couldn’t do anything but watch the doctors alarmingly fussing over him. They fought for his life in the only decrepit ambulance in the city. This episode was shown a couple of times on TV. The flash, and he was back in the dark, but he didn’t get any better. The pain was completely different.

There was a once again flare, and everything was propelled around. The decrepit ambulance exploded on its way to the clinic. The flare, and the darkness came again. It was the darkness of liberation.

The voice of the beloved Aurora lured him out of the darkness. She bowed above him, holding his left hand.

- I’m feeling so bad, – quietly said Rudy, – very bad. I can’t stand it anymore.

Aurora said to him:

- Leave your patience here. It’s the only and last your trouble.

- That’s not the problem, – objected Rudy.

- You’re right, son. The trouble is completely different, – said his mother, who he didn’t notice right away.

She stood aside. Coming closer, his mother quietly leaned over him and took his right hand.

There was a benevolent silence around. The northern aborigines, who had given Rudy unbearable torment, disappeared. He was lying on the cold soil alone and he was being so far from home. Despite everything, Rudy felt his happiness.

- Give me your pain, – said Aurora.

- Give me your sorrow, – said his mother.

Aurora and his mother hugged him tightly, and then lifted his weakened body and carried him over the White Hill, where a deep hole had already been dug for him. After carefully putting Rudy in the place he’s supposed to be, Aurora and his mother rose up, turning into two huge dark figures, covering him from the outside world.

- We will save you, Rudy. You will be hidden here forever, and only we will know where to find you. I will always be there for you, just like your mother. The two of us will guard your peace. Let us have it.

A handful behind a handful, they threw the earth at him. Rudy couldn’t and didn’t want to resist. Looking at his mother and Aurora, he remembered all his dreams of them. The ordeal of penultimate drop led him to find what Rudy wanted so badly.

Fulfillment of desire, according to unwritten rules does not guarantee satisfaction of the willing. Rudy was depressed by the understanding that women he loves would be there for him, but he would never be able to see them again. In that brief encounter, he saw his mother. He was lucky enough to feel close to her. Her facial features, her voice and her warmth, after years without her, Rudy couldn’t retain in his memory. Instead, he held a very grudge, believing that at the end of his life, she had abandoned it. Having met her again, he didn’t want to let go of what he saw and felt.

As they promised, mother and Aurora hid Rudy in unknown location. The protection and patronage of the two main women of his life were his last precious gain. While devoting himself entirely to the mysterious process, Rudy did not contemplate the most important point that should never be forgotten. Waiting, whether it is real life or a sweet dream, gives no guarantees. Even in the dream space, Rudy began to suffocate from deep underground. Neither mother nor Aurora warned him that they had put him in a death trap.

Shackled by the cold grip of his own grave, Rudy again took the terrible agony that seemed to him the last. This time, it was he who dying. Ironically, since childhood, Rudy was afraid of suffocation. Another of his phobias’s exuberance arose when he choked on a huge piece of peach he didn’t want to share with his nanny. At least, then he had the hope that it would be beaten out of him and he would continue his idle life. There was always a life-saving hand to pull him out of critical situations. Rudy had all the necessities of an idle life for the rest of his days, but at one point, he gave it all up for a fatal adventure. In the fateful hour, there was no saving hand, but there were saving horns.

The cold ground over Rudy began to shake. Something huge and aggressive was stubbornly digging up a fresh embankment. Before he knew it, Rudy rose off the ground and was high above it. He was taken from his grave by the sacrificial deer, that was killed by the evil Vuggo. Aurora and his mother were no longer there. They disappeared without keeping their promise.

Half-dead and completely distraught Rudy hung on the giant horns. The Savior Deer carried him towards the giant glacier. There, rising higher and higher on the peak of the majestic Rotkrugting, the deer burst into the extraordinary northern lights. For the first time, Rudy saw an indescribable beauty. The green mist seemed so close that if he could move, he could reach out and touch the real miracle.

At the top, when there was only one more leap to the northern lights, in a dark place, where the sound of the icy wind cried out for someone who could hear it, the deer threw Rudy off a cliff into a black abyss. Down there, he was going to die, but Rudy didn’t care. He was in a state of primordial relief, the power of which the chosen ones know.

It was in that instant that he solved the mystery of the penultimate drop. Only someone who had experienced such a thing knew – the all worthless. The powerless man, he was following through life, guided by what drove him into a deadly trap. Absolutely all of his knowledge and memories had no meaning. The meaning of anything is the greatest illusion of man, tormenting him for nothing. The free fall gave the happiest feeling of inner purity and lightness.

Time stood still. Rudy’s inner voice was gone. He was ready to die and accepted it with gratitude. Death’s hands seemed to accept him – he felt her touch of his body. It was someone’s help, someone’s safe embrace. Thinking it was over, Rudy was looking forward to the coming.

He was not let to enjoy his leaving. The earth shook wildly, waking Rudy from a sweet dream. When he opened his eyes, the first thing he saw was a silver light. There was an extraordinary picture before him. The dark silhouettes, framed by shining lights, surrounded him and rushed from right to left, causing something obscure, yet absolutely fascinating. The shadows of the little people were in a powerful ecstasy, twitching at the pleasure. Rudy initially did not understand the meaning of what was happening, but almost immediately remembered that there was no meaning.

Suddenly, a wild dance stopped a scary voice, who greeting Rudy. The dark silhouettes froze in worship.

- What do you think my power is? – scary voice asked.

Without doubt that the question was addressed to him, Rudy answered:

- At nothing.

Upon hearing this, the dark silhouettes rushed on Rudy, tearing him apart. Merging into a great darkness, they absorbed him completely. When the last ray of light faded in a hopeless darkness, Rudy was ending up at the place where it all began.

The sacrificial deer beneath it has long cooled and rigor. Gallagud, Vuggo, Ulligrassor, Silgur, Migurnock, Slargart, Wurn, Muniard and Raron no longer played their drums. The own dome, which the evil Vuggo had been working hard on, was already ready for Rudy. Migurnock prepared him a new drink with the healing properties of instant action. Ulligrassor sat next to Rudy. Raron went aside, away from everyone. The rest of them were sitting around the fire and having a mysterious conversation.

When Rudy’s life force began to return, Gallagud asked everyone to leave the two of them alone. He was harsh, but Rudy felt that Gallagud was not angry with him.

- We are on our way home, – announced Gallagud, – for many months we will have to roam the sacred lands of Laldiroff in search of guidelines that will show us where we have to move on. You are an outsider, and you are not aware that Laldiroff has no one or nothing standing still. Our home has long been gone from where it used to be. There are challenges ahead of us, because we are not alone here, but we are the only children of Aliel. This path will seem eternal.

- Will you leave me? – asked Rudy.

- You are free. We will leave you if that is your wish. Aliel has accepted you and we must accept you, however hard this may be for poor Vuggo. The ordeal of the penultimate drop proved that you can get to the end. Today, we’re going on a great and hard trip, and you can come with us. Our home – your home, too.

- If I go with all of you, my family will not wait for me.

- You can’t wait for someone who’s not waiting you.