Thirtieth Chronicle · Fort Argyr · The Law of the Forgiven Debt

"Then the lord of that servant was moved with compassion, and loosed him, and forgave him the debt. But the same servant went out, and found one of his fellowservants, which owed him an hundred pence: and he laid hands on him, and took him by the throat, saying, Pay me that thou owest."

"Then his lord, after that he had called him, said unto him, O thou wicked servant, I forgave thee all that debt, because thou desiredst me: shouldest thou not also have had compassion on thy fellowservant, even as I had pity on thee?"

— The Gospel of Matthew 18:27–33 (KJV). Read on August 16, the Eleventh Sunday after Pentecost

Twenty-Third Chronicle · The Monastery of Tayr and the Daen Galaxy

Twenty-Fourth Chronicle · Sector Daen-9 and the Monastery of Tayr

Twenty-Fifth Chronicle · Nodal Station "Stone" · Three Days of Siege

Twenty-Sixth Chronicle · The Rift of the Ein Sector · The Universe's United Prayer

"And when Jesus departed from there, two blind men followed Him, crying out and saying, 'Son of David, have mercy on us!' ...He said to them, 'Do you believe that I am able to do this?' They said to Him, 'Yes, Lord.' Then He touched their eyes, saying, 'According to your faith let it be to you.' And their eyes were opened."

"As they went out, behold, they brought to Him a man, mute and demon-possessed. And when the demon was cast out, the mute spoke."

"Then Jesus went about all the cities and villages... preaching the gospel of the kingdom, and healing every sickness and every disease among the people."

— The Gospel of Matthew 9:27-35. Read on July 19, the Seventh Sunday after Pentecost

Twenty-Seventh Chronicle · Transit Station "Threshold" · The Law of Multiplication

"And Jesus went out and saw a great multitude; and He was moved with compassion for them, and healed their sick. When it was evening, His disciples came to Him, saying, 'This is a deserted place, and the hour is already late. Send the multitudes away, that they may go into the villages and buy themselves food.' But Jesus said to them, 'They do not need to go away. You give them something to eat.'"

"So they all ate and were filled, and they took up twelve baskets full of the fragments that remained."

— The Gospel of Matthew 14:14-20. Read on July 26, the Eighth Sunday after Pentecost

Twenty-Eighth Chronicle · Watch Post "Beacon" · The Law of Presence in the Storm

"But the boat was now in the middle of the sea, tossed by the waves, for the wind was contrary... And when the disciples saw Him walking on the sea, they were troubled, saying, 'It is a ghost!' And they cried out for fear. But immediately Jesus spoke to them, saying, 'Be of good cheer! It is I; do not be afraid.'"

"And Peter answered Him and said, 'Lord, if it is You, command me to come to You on the water.' So He said, 'Come.' And when Peter had come down out of the boat, he walked on the water to go to Jesus. But when he saw that the wind was boisterous, he was afraid; and beginning to sink he cried out, saying, 'Lord, save me!' And immediately Jesus stretched out His hand and caught him, and said to him, 'O you of little faith, why did you doubt?'"

— The Gospel of Matthew 14:24-31. Read on August 2, the Ninth Sunday after Pentecost

Twenty-Ninth Chronicle · Hospice "Vertograd" · The Law of the Mustard Seed

Sector "Sinai-40" lay at the very edge of explored space. Here, on an abandoned asteroid, stood a small hermitage of the Order — the "Harbor of Waiting."

The young novice Kir arrived with pride in his heart. His mental readings were flawless, and the plasma blade in his hands seemed like an extension of his own will.
"I have passed every level of purification," he declared to elder Simion, keeper of the hermitage's archives. "My neural network is clean of viral thoughts; I am ready to meet the Great Light spoken of in the Order's prophecies. I feel that grace already overflows in me."

Elder Simion, whose face resembled the withered bark of an ancient tree, only smiled sadly.
"You've brought with you a baggage of victories and certainty, Kir," he said quietly. "But the 'Light' is not an energy wave that can be caught by sensors."

Simion led the young man to the main observation screen. Beyond the glass, meteor debris drifted silently.
"The ancient Keeper Ignat taught that the true temple is not the walls of a station, but the not-built-by-hands temple of your spirit. Just as the Infant was brought into the temple, so too must true Knowledge enter your inner reactor. But if that reactor is jammed with the noise of your own 'self,' the Meeting will never ha

The planet Aethelgard was the most distant hermitage of the Order, a lone beacon at the edge of Known Space. Here, beneath eternally violet skies, where three moons wove intricate gravitational patterns, stood the Monastery of the Silver Flame. It was a place less for training the body than for tempering the spirit.

On the eve of the Great Cycle of Reconciliation, the air in the monastery rang with tension. The novice Elara, having barely crossed the threshold of twenty years, was calibrating her plasma blade. Her movements were sharp, betraying an inner storm.

"Teacher," Elara raised her eyes to the tall figure standing at the window. "I understand with my mind that I must forgive Sister Yena for her harsh words. But how can we forgive Them? Those who exist only to destroy?"

Mother Serafima, the abbess of the hermitage, whose face seemed carved from ancient marble and whose eyes held the light of a thousand extinguished stars, turned slowly. She was well past a hundred years by earthly reckoning, and her body, sustained by delicate augmentations of Light, was a living weapon. But there was never any threat in her gaze — only a bottomless depth of understanding.

"Your question, child, comes from pride," Serafima's voice was li

Sector "Eon-9" plunged into darkness. This was not an ordinary absence of light — it was a predatory, hungry presence, devouring the very idea of ordered being. The outpost "Seraphion-9," the most remote station of the Order of the Keepers of the Light, had come under attack from the Eidolons.

These enemies were not creatures of flesh and blood. They were a hive-mind made of countless faceted shards, each one a perfect imitation of Light, yet its deadly counterfeit. They destroyed Images of Eternity; they poisoned — forcing Light to reflect from itself, closing in on itself, turning into cold, static code. They were the "mirrors of false light" that the ancient texts of the Order had warned of.

The outpost was cut off from the world. Inside, beneath a dome of psychoactive crystals, only four female Keepers held on: Elara, Yena, Serafima, and Kira. Their mental shields trembled under the Eidolons' assault, who had unleashed a mirror-storm upon the station.

"They're everywhere, Teacher!" Kira, the youngest, gripped her blade. Her plasma blade hummed, but in its light Yena saw a distorted, fractured reflection of Kira, full of fear and despair. "My aura... it's distorting!"

The Eidolons attacked them with the "false light of consciousness" — the most terrible

"An impure heart is a damaged organ, unable either to see the truth or to receive healing. Purity of heart is not moral perfection, but the ontological healing of human nature — the restoration of its transparency to the Divine light."

— From the teaching of Keeper Ignatius, recorded in the Archives of the Order

The scout corvette "Aquila" had been traveling through the Spindle Nebula for five days now. It was a quiet, almost meditative route — mapping the gas-and-dust clouds on the northern periphery of the Eridanus-7 sector, far from imperial borders and trade routes. The crew of eight Keepers was carrying out a routine Order assignment: recording anomalies in the gravitational background and searching for traces of Rifts before they could widen.

Nothing hinted at trouble.

The ship's navigator, Tais — a young novice with a sharp mind and a habit of asking uncomfortable questions — leaned over the tactical hologram. Before her, a three-dimensional map of the nebula slowly rotated: greenish threads of gas, constellations of dust disks, the emptiness of interstellar vacuum. A beautiful, safe picture.

"The cross is made up of the gospel commandments. Keeping the commandments forms a cross both for the flesh and for the spirit. But this cross is one's own cross — the one that belongs to each person according to their nature, their state, their infirmity. A self-devised cross is a delusion."

— From the teaching of Keeper Ignatius. Archives of the Order, Scroll LXI

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The planet Limen lay at the very heart of the Argo-12 sector — not at the edge of known space, not in a zone of active conflict, but right in the middle: the kind of place people come to not for feats of arms, but for healing. The medical Order's station, "Threshold of Stillness," had been built on a rocky plateau above an endless sea of clouds. The clouds here never parted — they only changed their hue: pearl at dawn, ash-gray at noon, nearly violet before nightfall. The locals said the planet breathed. The Keepers said it endured.

Brother Renn had arrived at "Threshold of Stillness" twelve standard cycles ago — after his fleet corvette was destroyed in the Battle of Eridanus-9. He was the sole s

Ninth Chronicle · A Lesson at the Academy

"We must know that the thoughts suggested to us by fallen spirits are, in their outward appearance, no different at all from our own thoughts: they come as though from our own heart, and seem to be our own. This action of spirits is called, in the ascetic writings, a 'suggestion' — a prilog."

— From the teaching of Keeper Ignatius. Archives of the Order, Scroll IV

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The meditation hall on the lower tier of the Academy of Keepers was unlike ordinary classrooms. There were no holographic projectors here, no tactical tables, no rows of chairs with touch panels. Only a stone floor with concentric rings inlaid into it — the diagram of the Eon, a symbol of eternal Light set within a frame of Darkness. Only narrow windows just below the ceiling, through which, on overcast days, streaks of gray, almost liquid light seeped in. And low cushions for sitting, arranged in a circle. People did not come here for knowledge. They came here for something that could not be called knowledge.

The Awakened Zot was already seated when the novices entered. He was always earlier than his s

Tenth Chronicle

"However great a person's sins may be, they are like a handful of sand thrown into the sea. Such is the mercy of God. It is incomparable, it is incomprehensible. It is not diminished by a multitude of sins, just as the sea is not diminished by a handful of sand."

— From the teaching of Keeper Ignatius. Archives of the Order, Scroll XLVIII

Part One

How She Became What She Became

Aria was twelve years old when she left. She did not run away — she left. The distinction mattered to her, though she never explained it out loud. Running away implies fear. She was not afraid. She simply opened the door of the residential module aboard the orbital station Keiros, where her family lived, walked out into the corridor, made her way to the airlock — and walked out to where a foreign ship stood waiting.

The ship belonged to people the residents of Keiros called traders. And traders they were — except their merchandise was anything at all, including what should never be sold. Ar

Eleventh Chronicle · On Love and Joy

"Love is a great good, and moreover a wholly perfect good, which alone makes every burden light and bears every inequality with equanimity. It carries weight without being weighed down, and makes bitter things sweet."

"Spiritual joy differs from worldly joy in this: the first is born of victory over oneself, and the second of victory over others, or the satisfaction of self."

— From the teaching of Keeper Ignatius. Archives of the Order, Scroll XII

Part One

Two Before the Gates

On the day the Order announced the approach of the Dark Fleet, the parade ground of the Academy of Keepers was unusually quiet. Not the quiet of early morning, before anyone has woken — but the other kind, the one that settles when people hear something enormous and don't yet know how to react to it.

The novice Leo was the first to break it.

"Finally," he said, clapping his

Twelfth Chronicle · A Conversation Before the Expedition

"The Word of God became man, that we might become divine. The Word Himself was revealed in a body, that we might gain understanding of the invisible Father. He Himself endured reproach from men, that we might inherit incorruption."

"He accepted our poverty, that we might be enriched by His want. By His death He destroyed death, and by His resurrection He restored all that had decayed."

— From the teaching of Keeper of the Light Athanasius the Great. Archives of the Order, Scroll "On the Incarnation"

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Part One

A Station at the Edge of the Known

The research station "Threshold of Dawn" hung at a point the navigators of the Kairos sector called, among themselves, the Edge of the Map — not because there was nothing beyond it, but because beyond it ended everything that was known about anything at

Thirteenth Chronicle · Inside the Zone of the Primal Rift

"When the grace of God comes, a person first of all recognizes their own unworthiness. But if, at the sight of some light, self-satisfaction comes — a sense of one's own importance, a peace without repentance — that is a sure sign of delusion. True divine visitation always humbles; it never exalts."

"Satan disguises himself as an angel of light. There is one criterion: the peace of God is deeper than you yourself. It does not depend on circumstances. It is quieter than your thoughts. It cannot be counterfeited — the archon can imitate strictness, justice, even love. But humble stillness is beyond his nature."

— From the teaching of Keeper Anthony. Archives of the Order, Scroll "On the Discernment of Spirits"

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Part One
The Entry

The Zone of the Primal Rift did not meet them. It simply received them — without resistance, without warning, the way water receives you when you submerge into it. The ship crossed the border at

Fourteenth Chronicle — The Iriel Monastery

"Possession is not merely a sin, and not merely an illness. It is when a foreign will takes the place of the human will. The person is still there — but locked inside themselves, a prisoner within their own body. They see, they hear, they suffer — and can stop nothing. Deliverance does not come through negotiating with the one who has taken their place. It comes through the Word, before which that 'someone' has no right to remain."

"Mary, from whom seven demons went out, became the first to see the Risen One. This is no accident. She who had been freed from the deepest bondage became the first witness of the greatest freedom."

— From the interpretations of Keeper John Chrysostom. Archives of the Order, Scroll "On Mary of Magdala"

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Part One: The Planet Iriel

The planet Iriel was quiet. This was its chief quality — not the beauty of its forests of silvery reed-grass, not the three moons rising one after another every night, not the mists that spread over the lowlands so thickly they seemed alive. The main thin

Fifteenth Chronicle · The Mountains of Kaeros

Sixteenth Chronicle · Station "Quiet Orbit"

Seventeenth Chronicle · Prison Station "Zero Meridian"

Eighteenth Chronicle · Planet Veris · The Last Battle

Nineteenth Chronicle · Station "Last Meridian"

Twentieth Chronicle · Three Situations · One Decision

Twenty-First Chronicle · Monastery of Tayr

Twenty-Second Chronicle · Colony Kiren

Once upon a time, in a great green forest, there lived a little hedgehog named Snuffle. Snuffle was a very curious and lively hedgehog, but he had one particular habit: he loved pointing out other people's flaws.

One morning Snuffle came out onto a clearing and saw Longear the Bunny, who had tripped and spilled a basket of carrots. "Oh, you clumsy thing!" Snuffle snorted. "You can't even carry carrots without dropping them!"

Longear the Bunny blushed and quickly began gathering the carrots.

Then Snuffle met Ginger the Squirrel, who had dropped a nut. "What a butterfingers!" Snuffle remarked again. "Dropping nuts, are we!"

Ginger the Squirrel sighed and went to fetch a new nut.

And so it went, all day long. Snuffle wandered the forest making remarks to everyone: to Bruno the Bear Cub, that he roared too loudly; to Rusty the Fox Cub, that his tail wasn't as fluffy as everyone else's.

By evening, tired but pleased with his own "sharp eye," Snuffle was heading home. Suddenly he heard quiet weeping. On a tree stump sat old Hoo the Wise Owl, crying.

"Wise Hoo, what's wrong?" Snuffle asked, surprised. "Did someone upset you? I'll go give them a piece of my mind right now!"

Wise Hoo looked at Snuffle with her big eyes and said, "Oh, Snuffle, I'm not crying because of anyone else. I'm crying about myself. You see, I've lived so long, I've seen so much, I've learned so much — and

In a quiet forest, at the foot of an old oak, lived two little mice — Zippy and Wise. Zippy was a fidget, loved running and jumping, and was always in a hurry. Wise, on the other hand, was calm and thoughtful, weighing every action he took.

One day, an old and wise owl-seer, whom all the forest animals respected for her long life and good advice, gathered the forest dwellers together. "My dears," she said in her quiet but weighty voice, "this winter promises to be harsh, and we must lay in stores to survive the cold."

Hearing this, Zippy immediately began scurrying about, gathering everything in sight — ripe berries, hard nuts, even dry leaves, thinking it would all come in handy. He hurried, trying to gather as much as possible, paying no attention at all to the quality of his stores.

Wise, on the other hand, was in no rush. He carefully examined every berry, every nut. He chose only the very best, storing away in his pantry only what could truly sustain him through the winter.

In the very heart of a dense, ancient forest, where age-old spruces whispered their secrets to the winds and birches shed the golden tears of autumn, there lived Old Owl Bereginya. She was not only the oldest but also the wisest bird in the whole area. Her feathers were the color of autumn twilight, and her eyes shone with wisdom gathered over many years. Everyone came to her for advice: nimble Rusty the Squirrel Cub, thoughtful Rogach the Elk, and even cunning Fox Patrikeevna.

One day a new creature appeared in the forest — a young and very proud wolf named Buran. He was strong, fast, and thought himself the smartest of all. His fur gleamed, and his eyes burned with self-satisfaction.

"No one tells me what to do!" he boasted to old Badger Stripey and young Bunny Fluff, who were gathering last year's grass and dried berries by a tree stump. "I'm my own master! All your fussing and endless talk — that's for the weak. I can handle any trouble on my own!"

Fox Patrikeevna, perched on a branch,

In ancient times, when the forests were deep and untamed and the rivers ran full, there lived in Rus a warrior named Svetozar. No one equaled him in strength or valor, but he had one weakness: he loved to boast of his own feats and to belittle the good fortune of others. Not out of malice, but simply from youth and hot blood.

One day, Svetozar heard of a three-headed dragon, Zmey Gorynych, who had settled by the Black Lake and begun robbing travelers and demanding an unbearable tribute from the surrounding villages. The warrior's heart caught fire. Before setting out to defeat Zmey Gorynych, Svetozar went around the whole village, telling everyone he met:

"I'm off to face Zmey Gorynych! No more will that villain torment the people! I'll show him a thing or two! One blow from my left hand alone will settle him!"

Old Prokop the Miller, hearing this, shook his head.

"Ah, Svetozar, you have strength, but your words outrun it. Remember, the dragon is cunning — strength alone won't be enough to defeat him."

"You've grown old, Prokop, and with age come old man's fears!" Svetozar waved him off. "My strength will overcome anything!"

Once upon a time, in a great forest, there lived two brother squirrel cubs — Rusty and Fluffy. When they grew up, their mother gave each of them a hollow in an old oak tree and said:

"You're grown now. Gather your own nuts for winter."

Every morning, Rusty rose with the first rays of sun and hopped cheerfully from branch to branch, gathering nuts. If he met a hungry hedgehog or a bunny, he always shared with them. If he saw a little bird that had fallen from its nest, he'd always help it back in.

Fluffy, on the other hand, thought:

"Why get up so early? And why give nuts away

In olden times, in a dense forest beneath the shade of ancient pines and firs, at the foot of a mountain where a small wooden chapel stood with copper domes, there lived two inseparable friends. One was a raccoon named Dobroslav — quick, clever, with sharp little eyes and nimble paws. The other was a bear cub named Miloserd — kind and strong, with a gentle heart and always ready to lend a helping paw.

They had met as little ones, by a fast-flowing forest stream. Dobroslav, absorbed in catching small fish, slipped on a wet stone and fell into the cold water. The current caught the little raccoon and swept him toward the rapids. Little Miloserd, without a moment's thought, plunged into the stream and pulled his drowning friend to the bank. From that memorable day on, they became inseparable.

Dobroslav taught the bear cub to climb trees nimbly and to find forest treats in the most unexpected places: nuts in old hollows, sweet roots beneath fallen leaves, ripe berries on high branches. Miloserd, in turn, showed his friend where the juiciest blueberries and raspberries grew, which roots were safe to eat in lean times, and where edible grubs spent the winter. Together they explored every path in

In an ancient forest, on a sunlit clearing, stood an Old Oak. It was no ordinary oak — at its roots the animals would leave their thanks to the Creator of the Forest for having survived the winter, for the warm sun, and for the tasty berries.

Once a year, when the leaves turned golden, the animals gathered for the Festival of Gifts.

The Bear came out first. He was enormous, well-fed, and self-important. His fur gleamed. He rolled a huge trough to the roots of the Oak, full of fragrant linden honey. "Look!" the Bear roared. "I worked hard all summer! I've brought a whole barrel! No one can give more than this!" The animals gasped: "What a generous Bear! What a magnificent gift!" But the Bear knew that he had fifty more barrels just like it left in his den. He had given away what he didn't need, out of his surplus, and he was very proud of how everyone praised him.

Second came the Squirrel Cub, bounding forward. He dragged along a huge net woven from grass, full of the finest forest nuts. "Me too! Me too!" he chattered. "Look how big they are! The very best!" The animals clapped their paws. The Squirrel Cub bowed in every direction, quite pleased with himself. But back home, in his hollow, he had stores enough for th

The planet Necros was dying. Its sun, once bright and golden, had now swollen into a sickly crimson giant, devouring the horizon. The sky trembled with the sirens of orbital bombardment — the fleet of the Void Empire had begun clearing the sector.

Kael, a young novice of the Order of the Keepers of the Light, stood before the great gates of the Ancestral Vault. His hands trembled, his fingers racing frantically across the holographic control panel.

"I'm almost done!" he shouted over the roar of the sirens. "Preservation protocols are running. I can save the memory-matrices of my father and my ancestors. They'll survive the bombardment!"

Behind him, calm as a rock amid a raging ocean, stood Master Elian. The hot wind tugged at his cloak, but his hand rested steady on the hilt of his plasma blade. He was not looking at the Vault. He was looking at the spaceport in the distance, where the last evacuation transport was struggling to lift off, its engines misfiring.

"Kael," the Master's voice was not loud, but it cut clearly through the roar of explosions. "We need to go. The transport 'Ark-4' is overloaded. They need a pilot who can synchronize with the navigation core. Only your gift can bring them through the blockade."

"But I can't abandon them!" Kael turned, his eyes full o

On the distant planet Altair-VII, where the Order of the Keepers of the Light tended one of the most ancient of the "hearths" — the Cradle of Life — a conflict was brewing. The Cradle was a gigantic bio-dome, holding thousands of endangered species from across the Galaxy, governed by immensely complex neural-network algorithms.

On the borders of the Cradle, amid emerald forests, stood the Keepers' outpost. It was commanded by Master Liam, a warrior whose face was carved with the scars of battle, and whose reputation was unshakeable. His right hand and pupil, however — the novice Erion — was his complete opposite. Erion was quiet, almost invisible; his weapon was not a plasma blade, but a deep knowledge of the ancient texts and canons. Liam often reproached him for his indecisiveness and excessive "softness."

One day, a fleet of Star Pirates descended from orbit — a notorious gang led by a ruthless leader named Krom. Their ships landed right at the Cradle's outer airlocks.

The galactic sector "Orion-3" was known for its nebulae, which the local inhabitants called the "Veil of Illusions." Here, aboard the orbital station "Citadel of Truth," the most gifted novices of the Order of the Keepers of the Light received their training.

Among them, young Varian stood out in particular. Varian possessed innate power. His mental readings were off the charts, and the plasma blade in his hands hummed with such force that it seemed to cut through the very fabric of reality.

Varian knew that he was good. He felt it in the admiring glances of the other novices. He saw it in the results of the simulations, where he emerged victorious without fail.

"The Light is strong within me," he often repeated, gazing at his reflection in the observation window. "I feel grace overflowing in me. I am chosen for great deeds."

Master Elian, who had arrived at the station for an inspection, watched the young man's training with deep unease. When Varian, finishing an intricate cascade of maneuvers, triumphantly raised his glowing sword, Elian did not applaud.

"Your blade is bright, Varian," the Master said quietly, as the young man approached him, expecting praise. "But tell me — who is shining? You, or the Light through you?"

Morning came unexpectedly fast. Darina woke feeling inwardly focused and resolved. She felt responsible for the fate of her planet, and for the people of Etheria.

Darina headed to work. Along the way she ran into Bronislava, who, seeing her thoughtful expression, asked at once:

"Darina, what's wrong with you? You seem off today. Still thinking about that Infiniport?"

Darina stopped and sighed.

"Bronislava, you won't believe it. A man from another dimension came to see me. And everything he told me... it sounds insane, but I believe him. The Infiniport is a key. To something very important, and very dangerous."

"Another dimension? Darina, are you serious? Maybe you just need some sleep?"

"I know it sounds unbelievable. But he showed me his world. And told me about the Tenebrians... They want to get their hands on the Infiniport, to destroy us. And their world too."

Bronislava frowned, seeing the seriousness in Darina's eyes.

"Okay, let's say that's true. So what now? What do we do with this thing?"

"We need to report everything to General Vladimir."

Then Darina met with General Vla

The spaceship "Aurora" raced away from the planet Dragana, cutting through the darkness of the universe. Darina, Bronislava, the scientist Larisa, and the artificial intelligence Iris were leaving this world not because they wanted to — but because there was no other choice.

Once, the artifact had been found on the planet Celestia. It had been brought to Dragana in hopes of understanding its nature. But with it came a threat as well.

The powerful Tenebrian race did not negotiate. They wanted neither peace nor alliance. Only the artifact. They could appear without warning, and it soon became clear: if it remained on Dragana, the planet would be destroyed.

There was only one solution — evacuate the artifact. Carry it as far away as possible, drawing the threat away from the civilian population. And, perhaps, drawing the Tenebrians into pursuing the "Aurora."

The Elder Supreme Keeper Aruna stepped into the shimmering portal, and the reality around her dissolved into a whirlpool of light and shadow. When the veil between worlds finally cleared, she found herself in a spacious observatory, its walls carved from a single crystal. Beyond the transparent walls, the stars pulsed with an unusual rhythm, as though space itself were breathing within this universe.

"Welcome, Keeper from spiritual Azarala," a melodious voice rang out.

Aruna turned and saw three beings in snow-white robes. Their faces radiated the wisdom of ages, and their eyes shimmered with starlight. These were the local Keepers — scholars and mystics who had come to know the laws of their universe to its very depths.

"My name is Elorian," the tall Keeper with silvery hair introduced himself. "These are my colleagues — Miratea and Zephyron. We've been awaiting your arrival, Keeper Aruna. Your mission touches the very foundations of our existence."

"Tell me about your world," Aruna asked, sensing a strange heaviness in the air, as though space itself were pierced through with hidden pain. Her spiritual-material nature, granted by Azarala, allowed her to sense distortions in reality that were beyond the reach of ordinary people.

Miratea,

Once upon a time there lived a little princess named Aelita. She was kind, merciful, and loved everyone around her. But one day the evil sorcerer Morgoth, irritated by her kindness, decided to take revenge.

The sorcerer Morgoth sent a dark force into the princess's subconscious, which slowly began to change her character. At first the princess didn't understand why she was doing bad things, but over time the evil grew stronger.

The very start of summer. Not yet hot, and a breeze blows fresh, gently rustling the leaves. The forest has gone still, waiting for rain, and only birdsong carries far, far away.

Suddenly everything fell silent. The bear-cub brothers, with their laughter and stomping, had scattered and frightened everyone off. It was Veseya the bear, out for a walk with her sons, Blagomir and Vidomir.

Of course, a child's joy is never quiet. The brothers run, jump, don't know what to do with themselves. Their mother's heart blossoms, watching her children.

"In our world of Narspi we have three little suns and it's summer all year round, but here in the world of Kerdiven there are only two little suns," Veseya thought. "In the world of Kerdiven, one sun is yellow, the size of a peach. The other is bigger, blue in color, the size of an apple. And it does get cold — autumn comes to the world of Kerdiven. I hope that before autumn we'll have left the world of Kerdiven and be home, in the world of Narspi."

Veseya the bear had been used to the warm climate of the world of Narspi since childhood.

Keeping an eye on her sons, Veseya took a verben crystal out of the pocket of her dark green mantle. The crystal was clearly cut, round in shape,

In the Magayny dimension, the forest looked even more frightening and sinister. Gloom and dark mist enveloped everything around, hiding both suns. A groan came from the stone tree.

On a thick branch of the source-tree, four fathoms above the ground, Blagomir and Vidomir saw an enormous mushroom. It resembled a toadstool, but was about ten times the size of an ordinary mushroom.

"That's something new," Blagomir said. "I've never heard of this method of stealing magical energy from our father."

"The tree is made of stone, and probably has some kind of protective structure," Vidomir said. Then he continued: "The Chernyaks are likely using exactly this method to steal magical energy from such sources."

"So what do we do?" Blagomir asked.

"I think we need to tear this mushroom off the tree," Vidomir answered.

Blagomir touched the tree, then the stone, and said with certainty:

"To the touch, the Magayny dimension feels the same as our material world."

Vidomir grabbed a long stick and answered:

"Yes, exactly, but most likely only etheric bodies can feel objects here the way physical bodies do in the material world."

Vido

The brothers found themselves in a clearing dotted with stone pillars. The pillars in the world of Grozdan, just like in the world of Kerdiven, were square in shape, with pyramidal points at their tops. Runes were carved on every pillar.

The weather was warm, summery. Cumulus clouds drifted across the sky, and two small yellow suns, the size of hazelnuts, shone above the clearing. One sun hung higher, the other a little lower and to the side. Ahead, a forest could be seen, and behind, mountains.

"We need to remember our own gates between worlds, so we can find our way home later," Blagomir said, looking at the multitude of pillars. Then he continued: "It's easy to remember by the runes — they're different on every gate."

"Yes, it seems this is a crossroads of many worlds, and from here you can reach many different worlds of our universe," Vidomir said.

"It's not like flying on a ship for a long time — you step into the gates between worlds and instantly find yourself in another world," Blagomir added.

"That's for sure! And no need to spend star-dust on ships either," Vidomir exclaimed.

"The fairy Ain said that once you step out of the gates between worlds in the world of Grozdan, you need to walk forward," Blagomir remembered.

"Let's walk forward for now, and maybe we'll meet someone along the way," Vidomir suggested.

Whether the brothers walked long or short, they suddenly saw on the ground an injured, half-dead little bird — a slave

The morning of the next day.

Vestislav, Aria, Blagomir, and Vidomir were drinking tea. Vestislav, finishing his tea, began to speak:

"A hundred years ago, my native world of Felvidek lay very close to the borders of the world of Antiano. The Chernyaks somehow broke through into our world, catching my people off guard. Our ancestors managed to save a few children, sending them off to different worlds, including me, here to the world of Grozdan. All the elder kin in the world of Felvidek perished fighting the Chernyaks. Upon the children remaining in the world of Felvidek, the Chernyaks cast a magical spell of forgetting, so they would remember nothing of magic. And they drain magical energy from the people into their own world of Antiano."

"In our world of Felvidek, just like in the world of Narspi, there were three suns. Felvidek had warm summer all year round. The Chernyaks turned two of the suns into stones and are draining energy out of them into their own world of Antiano. The climate turned cold, and everything our ancestors used to eat perished. And the remaining trees that bore useful fruit, they turned to stone. The Chernyaks conjured harmful vegetation. Before, people got all the benefit for sustaining their life-force from those fruits. Now there's little benefit from the vegetation the Chernyaks conjured. The Chernyaks gave the people a worldview about food and way of life foreign to our people. All of this kept magical power from manifesting in people. There were some hermit folk who led an ascetic way of life. In them, magical power did manifest. If they showed

The world of Felvidek, the mountains.

At the foot of the mountains, where the sky met the peaks, a portal suddenly opened. Out of it stepped our heroes: Vestislav, Aria, Blagomir, and Vidomir. Feeling solid ground beneath their feet, they looked over the familiar landscape and headed toward Veleslav's house.

"Maybe we should have gone to the world of Kerdiven first, to lift the spell from my mother Veseya?" Blagomir said to Vestislav.

"I think we should first think everything over and consult with Veleslav," Vestislav answered.

Approaching Veleslav's house, the heroes stepped onto the porch. The door swung open, and on the threshold they were greeted by the master of the house himself — a gray-haired elder with kind eyes.

"Welcome, travelers!" Veleslav exclaimed warmly. "How glad I am to see you!"

Veleslav invited the heroes into the house, sat them at the table, and offered them a generous feast.

"Go ahead and eat, while I speak with Veleslav for a bit," Vestislav said to his granddaughter Aria, Blagomir, and Vidomir.

Aria, Blagomir, and Vidomir gladly began their meal. At the table, they shared memories of their adventures in the Aluysk dimension, recalling the fragrant kipra tea, Aruna's wise words, and her parting counsel.

Having spoken with Veleslav, Vestislav turned to his granddaughter Aria, Blagomir, and Vidomir:

"I think you should set out for the world of Kerdiven and lift the spell from Veseya,

In the world of Grozdan.

The gates between worlds closed a few seconds after Veseya crossed through.

Here, in the world of Grozdan, calm reigned. Two small yellow suns shone, and birds sang. Our heroes stood among the many gates between worlds.

Blagomir turned to his mother:

"Why didn't father cross through the gates between worlds?"

Veseya was silent, tears falling from her eyes.

Blagomir and Vidomir tried to open the gates between worlds, but they wouldn't yield.

"Your father destroyed the gates in the world of Kerdiven, so the Chernyaks couldn't slip through here," Taranis said with regret.

Veseya, having calmed herself, said to Blagomir and Vidomir:

"We'll go back for your father once we've completed the mission entrusted to you by the elder Supreme Keeper Aruna. Once the mission is complete, our world — and every world — will be calm and safe."

"Can we travel within my world the same way as in yours?" Aria asked Taranis.

"Yes, of course. We mustn't delay! We need to clear out of here quickly. The Chernyaks have surely already begun rebuilding the gates in the world of Kerdiven. Their magic is powerful, and it won't take them long. We need to destroy the gates between worlds here, in the world of Grozdan, too," Taranis said.

"In our world, we already neutralized one Chernyak spy," Aria said. "Who knows, there's surely another one operating here, capable of rebuilding the gates between world

The source in the world of Grozdan — the material world.

Veseya and Taranis stood by the source. Aria's parents, Blagoslav and Velina, had gone to seek reinforcements.

"It's a bit frightening somehow, there are only two of us for now, and the odds are against us facing the Chernyaks," Veseya said with worry.

"Yes, and they could attack at any moment," Taranis replied grimly.

A flicker of doubt crossed Veseya's eyes, but she suppressed it at once. With determination in her voice, she said:

"I'll create a protective dome now."

Taranis nodded, agreeing with her decision.

Veseya, concentrating, spoke an incantation. In her hand appeared a magical energy sphere, about two ells across, shining brightly white. Then she spoke another incantation and threw the sphere upward. The shining sphere, hovering ten slant-fathoms above the ground, formed a spherical shield of pure energy, as though woven from starlight, surrounding them and giving a sense of safety.

"Now the Chernyaks won't be able to pass through the magical dome for a while. I set the protection against their energy signature. They won't catch us off guard now," Veseya breathed with relief.

"There's a chance the Chernyaks already know our intentions," Taranis suggested.

"If so, there will be a great many Chernyaks here soon," Veseya said, worried.

Meanwhile, in the Sreydim dimension.

Aria, Blagomir, and Vidomir were

Vidomir couldn't tear his eyes away from the white-hot stone, which only moments before had been black. Its size was imposing — five fathoms across on every side.

And all around, incredible changes were taking place. Out of the single world of Antiano, countless others were being born, resembling our worlds. These new worlds were drawing apart from one another. Vidomir noticed with astonishment that his hands had become human, and that he himself had turned into a person.

At that moment, the elder Supreme Keeper Aruna appeared by the source.

"I'll have to become the temporary Keeper of these worlds, born from the former world of Antiano," she said.

Buoyed by hope, Vidomir couldn't hold back his excitement. Greeting Aruna, he asked, optimism in his voice:

"And what about my brother, Aria, father, the wizards, our friends? And why have I become a person again?"

"Everyone who was turned to stone will soon come back to life and return home. It isn't only you who has become human — your brother too, your parents, and all your kin from the world of Narspi," Aruna answered.

"Praise the Creator! Thank you, Aruna, for my loved ones being well. But I don't understan

"When I woke, I didn't at once realize where I was. The dream had been so vivid, so real, that it seemed to continue on into waking life. It wasn't just a dream — it was a flight home, full of worry and hope."

Chapter 1. The Flight Home on the Planet Dragana

Around them stretched the enchanting landscape of the planet Dragana: majestic mountains, lush forests, washed by the azure waters of oceans. Against this beauty gleamed a modern human base, like a pearl set in emerald.

Two girls, Darina and Bronislava, stepped aboard a flying craft that resembled a giant quadcopter. Operating the craft was simple: keys for movement, spacebar for acceleration, three seats up front and three in the back.

The craft, fitted with an artificial intelligence named Iris, obediently soared into the sky. All the girls had to do was set the course — "home." Bronislava, worn out from the journey, settled into the right-hand seat and soon fell asleep, missing everything interesting. Darina, meanwhile, absorbed in music and her tablet, didn't notice right away the changes outside.

Suddenly she looked up from the screen, took off her headphones, and stared out the window in horror. The world around them was burning. Fiery explosions shook the ground, leaving nothing behind but ashes. It was an enemy base, and not a trace of it

Against the starry backdrop of a cosmic portal, the ship "Aurora" glided smoothly, having just emerged from hyperspace. Darina held the helm with confidence, while Bronislava gazed at the stars through the viewport. The girls began preparing to return to base after a successful mission.

But suddenly, warnings about a possible anomaly in space flashed on the navigation panel's screen. Darina focused with tension, while Bronislava, looking out the viewport, asked:

"What's happening?"

"Not sure," Darina answered, "something's strange with our course. Iris, do you see anything?"

"Yes, Darina," the artificial intelligence Iris responded, "there's an anomaly in space, and it's expanding. It looks like it's heading toward us."

The girls' hearts pounded faster. Darina maneuvered quickly, trying to avoid the danger, but the anomaly kept approaching.

"Iris, do we have a plan?" Bronislava asked, clenching her hands with anxiety.

"We do," Iris answered, "but it's risky. We could try

The interstellar ship "Aurora" was slowly approaching its home planet, Dragana. Suddenly an SOS signal sounded from the loudspeaker.

"Iris, what's that signal?" Bronislava asked, clutching the navigation chart nervously.

Iris received the distress signal and began relaying the message:

"A group of scientists and archaeologists can't leave the planet Celestia — their ship has broken down. We can help them — we have a printer for producing spare parts."

"Looks like they can't manage without us. Get ready for landing, Bronya," Darina answered, steering the ship toward the source of the call.

When the "Aurora" landed on Celestia, a group of scientist-archaeologists appeared before them, waiting.

"We've heard about you, Darina and Bronislava, and about your ship," the expedition's leader greeted them. "We urgently need your help. Our ship broke down, and we can't fly off this planet. Can you help us with repairs?

The girls looked at the wondrous artifact with disbelief. This mysterious object had saved their lives, teleporting the ship across enormous cosmic distances to their home planet, Dragana.

"Iris, analyze this object," Darina asked, holding the artifact up to one of the sensor terminals.

The onboard AI Iris ran a scan at once.

"This is a very ancient artifact, giving off an energy signature unlike anything I've encountered before," Iris reported. "It seems to be what caused our sudden teleportation."

"So it's some kind of super-powerful teleporter?" Bronislava asked, astonished. "But how is that possible?"

"By all appearances, the technology of this device's creators far surpasses our own," Darina suggested. "It's vital that we find out its origin."

"One thing's for certain," Bronislava nodded. "This artifact is a real treasure. Thanks to it, we're alive."

"I recommend delivering the find to the Dragana science center immediately," Iris advised. "The scientists there will be able to study it thoroughly, under safe conditions."

"I don't know, but it seems to have some kind of binding field, capable of manipulat

The young man introduced himself:

"My name is Zaren. I've come from another dimension to talk with you about the artifact you found. We call it the Infiniport."

Darina looked at the stranger with astonishment, trying to make sense of what she'd heard.

"Infiniport?" she repeated. "So that's what this mysterious object is called?"

Zaren nodded:

"Yes, and I can tell you much more about it. But for that, we need to travel to my dimension. There, you'll be able to see everything with your own eyes."

Darina felt frightened and curious at the same time. She took a deep breath, trying to gather her thoughts, and introduced herself:

"My name is Darina. I... I'm not sure I should trust you, but I'm very curious to learn more about the Infiniport."

She hesitated for a few seconds, but curiosity won out over fear.

"All right," Darina decided at last. "I agree to go with you into your dimension. But how will we get there?"

Zaren smiled and held out his hand:

"Don't be afraid. The journey will be instantaneous. Just take my hand, and I'll transport us both."

Chapter One: Light Through the Shackles of Matter

The setting is the spiritual world of Azarala. In the cozy gazebo of his home, Vidomir carries on an unhurried conversation over tea with the elder Supreme Keeper Aruna.

"Long ago," Aruna began her story, gazing at the shimmering surface of the tea in her cup, "the maddened guardian-keeper Aru created a great many universes, and one of them was the universe of Luminaria. It was neither his first nor his last work. He infected every universe with tyngs, and Luminaria was no exception. The spiritual light, from which the universe of Luminaria was woven, tirelessly tried to create subtle dimensions, following its original nature. But the tyng viruses, constantly mutating, developing, and growing stronger, ruthlessly destroyed every attempt at their creation."

"What was left, then?" Vidomir asked.

"Only the material dimension remained," Aruna answered. "In the material universe, beings and plants, upon dying, cannot break free beyond its bounds. They remain as dust, as information in Luminaria's information field. Only in the longest-lived does a spiritual body manage to form, capable of flight through the void. Traveling there, they reach the way home to Azarala — that is how spiritual light tries to return home."

A tense atmosphere reigned in the main hall of Azarala's science center. Tall stained-glass windows let in the rays of the setting sun, tinting the ancient stone walls in shades of purple and gold. The finest minds of the magical world had gathered around a massive round table.

The Supreme Keeper Aruna sat at the head of the table, her golden hair shimmering in the evening light. To her right sat the seasoned wizard Veleslav, whose long beard was braided in intricate patterns. On her left sat Professor Miroslav Charoknizhny, a scholar-wizard renowned for his research into infected universes.

The young mages — Vidomir and Aria — stood by a large holographic map of the universe of Aurea, on which a troubling red point pulsed — the location where Darina was.

"The infected universes are recovering too slowly," Aruna began, passing her hand over the map. "We have a chance to speed up their salvation."

Veleslav shook his head:

A silvery mist swirled around the Tower of the Chronometer, like a living creature, now contracting, now spreading across the ancient stones. Alira stood by the window, gazing at the strange dance of the temporal currents. Since the events in the neighboring universe of Aurea, a strange feeling had never left her — as though the very fabric of reality had begun to grow thin.

The massive clock on the wall struck midnight when a knock came at her door. Three quick raps, a pause, then one more — the special code of her world's Council of Keepers.

"Come in," she said, already knowing the news could not be good, at such an hour.

The Keeper Corvin appeared in the doorway, with two companions in mantles. Corvin's usually immaculate mantle was rumpled, and worry showed in his eyes.

"We've detected an anomaly," he said without preamble. "Someone is trying to alter the course of history of our universe, Astralia."

"Who are these two people wit

Hello, dear reader.

In my last attempt to quit a harmful habit, I gave up smoking without much strain on my mind. At the time, I was skeptical of this method. I decided to try it out of sheer desperation, thinking I had nothing to lose. And it worked — there wasn't the intense withdrawal I'd experienced in previous attempts to quit. I didn't feel much discomfort around smokers, compared to my earlier attempts to break the habit.

I'd smoked for about twenty years. As a man who had tried and failed many times to quit through various methods, nothing worked. The craving for a cigarette always remained.

A herniated disc poisoned my life for a long time — as a man in my line of work, constant back pain, numbness in my legs, and restricted movement all became routine. I tried a great many conventional treatment methods: I wore a brace, took painkillers, went through courses of massage and physiotherapy. Unfortunately, these methods brought only temporary relief.

At first, my lower back hurt for two weeks, and the pain went away on its own. Then the pain began lasting for months. The second-to-last time, it tormented me for almost a whole year. I got around on crutches, and later walked with a cane. It turned out that a disc herniation was pinching the sciatic nerve in my left leg. The pain was unbearable — compared to it, a toothache seemed like nothing. I nearly despaired from such pain. I spent a great deal of money on medication and was treated at the hospital, but nothing helped. The doctors recommended surgery. But after talking with other people who had already undergone that kind of operation, I learned that a hernia can come back even after removal. And those fitted with an artificial disc complained of constant pain, espe

The novel tells of the adventures of a group of heroes in a multiverse, where they fight dark entities. After the world of Kerdiven is seized, the heroes escape through the gates between worlds; Yuman perishes, destroying the gates to prevent an invasion. In the world of Grozdan, they prepare for a mission. Aria, Blagomir, and Vidomir set out for the Sreydim dimension, and then for the world of Antiano. During the mission, they use magical artifacts and spells. Blagomir and Aria turn to stone, sacrificing themselves so that Vidomir can complete the final part of the mission — destroying the dark source. The Supreme Keeper Aruna reveals to Vidomir the complex cosmological history of the worlds' origin. After the mission succeeds, the Chernyaks lose their power, and the worlds begin to be reborn. Vidomir receives an amulet allowing him to travel between worlds, and learns of his true origin. The novel explores themes of self-sacrifice, the struggle of good and evil, the saving of worlds, and hope for redemption and a return home to the original world of Azarala.

Foreword

In the magical world of Kerdiven, where magic and enchantment reign, a family of bears had recently settled. The head of the family — Yuman, a mighty warrior-mage. His wife Veseya, skilled in magic, had graduated from the school of wizards together with Yuman. Now, however, Veseya keeps the household hearth and raises two charming twin sons — Blagomir and Vidomir.

The council of elder wizards of Kerdiven approached Yuman with a request to temporarily leave his nativ

Our heroes — Veseya, Aria, Blagomir, and Vidomir — came to by the magical source. And they thought about what to do next. They had no key to the worlds — it had stayed with Vestislav in the world of Grozdan. They would have to make their way to the gates between worlds on Mount Elban.

"Why didn't Vestislav and Veleslav use the elixir of invisibility?" Veseya asked Aria.

"My grandfather Vestislav and Veleslav traveled to the world of Antiano to scout. For scouting, they didn't want to spend the elixir, so grandfather left it at home. They used their own invisibility incantation. The Chernyaks saw them anyway — not right away, but they saw them," Aria said.

"Let's all go home, and rest a little," Veseya said.

Everyone headed for the bears' dwelling.

Our heroes stepped into the bears' house, where the bear Yuman was already waiting for them, along with his two companions. All three were clad in shining magical armor. Yuman introduced his comrades: Belus, a human, and Taranis, an elf. Both were skilled warrior-mages.

In return, Veseya introduced Aria, her sons, and herself.

Yuman embraced his wife Veseya and their children, and quickly began to speak:

"Black darkness has swallowed the world of Kerdiven. The world of Antiano, treacherous and merciless, has set foot upon the lands of the world of Kerdiven. Our wards could not hold back its onslaught. The elder wizards, along with the Keepers and fairies, guided by duty, stayed behind to fight, giving us