Andrey Prudkovskii - Trilogy of Dhana and the Earth. Book one. End of the world

Raegle’s newborn soul, torn between the two planets of the Earth, where her father is, and Dhana, where she herself and her mother, Siegle.

Notes by Rose (Raegle) about her childhood

Love and separation. Now I know these words. And then I learned the essence of these words. That which has always been whole has broken up. Two luminous points – my two favorite creatures suddenly began to move away – and between them formed me, like a thin cobweb, stretched to unimaginable limits. And this web is me, me, me!

That’s how I was born into this world – the world of separation. So for many long days I saved my strength in the dark, resisting the rupture of my web-body, stretched between two worlds, in which, according to my fate, there were two of my dearest creatures – father and mother. Finally, I was born into the world. But this event did not give me more pain than the one that I experienced constantly.

I grew up next to my mother, but due to my constant efforts my relationship with my father only strengthened. By the year I already learned to speak, this connection ceased to cause pain in me, and I began to see pictures. Mysterious pictures about the life of my father in the land of demons. At first I thought that my mother knew everything about my father, but once, having contacted her thoughts, I suddenly realized that she was mourning him as a deceased.

“Mom,” I said, “he will be back in eight years.”

“Yes,” my mother said, “if evil is multiplied by good, 2 by 4 will really be 8, but he will not return. If he were alive, then he would have returned long ago, because he loved me so much.”

“Mom, he is captured in the land of demons, he cannot return. A huge scary demoness keeps him in her cave. But you, mother, do not be afraid, the demoness does not offend him, and even bore him a son – my brother. Over these eight years, he must teach his son the basics of all wisdom, so that he can become a real person, and then the gods will allow him to return home.”

Mom believed me and for a long time asked me to indicate where the country of demons was. She wanted to run there right now to see her Raa. I tried to help her, but I couldn’t. The direction to the country of demons changed all the time – I heard it in the East, then in the West, and sometimes even above in the sky or below underground.

“Mom,” I said, “the country of demons is bewitched, and there is no easy way there.” If this path existed, then your beloved would have found it long ago and would have been at home.

Mom believed. Now, when I got pictures of Raa’s life in the country of demons, I passed them to my mother. Mom was amazed – believed, and did not believe at the same time! Soon my other abilities began to appear. It turns out I could predict when it will rain and when it will be sunny. When I warned the tribe about the invasion of bog monsters feeding on ants, then everyone recognized my gift.

Raa’s notes about life in the land of demons

So I perceived the world of demons! And I gained strength of mind and determination… And here I was in the room where my poor body lies in the corner. There was no demoness. The body was breathing quietly and was apparently content with its plant life. What should I do with it? How to make a demoness hold a funeral rite over it?! I waited and waited – and a demoness entered the room and began to take care of my body: washed it, fed it, gave it water. For the first time after the terrible events of my death, I decided to look into her thoughts. Surprisingly, she wanted me to come to life, and she had no sinister plans to turn my body into a living dead.

I looked at her, and my fear of this mysterious creature gradually disappeared. Yes, she possessed great magic if she could keep my dead body alive for half a year. But, on the other hand, she, it turns out, was not at all aware of her magical power. She was wild and untrained. She looked at me and did not see that I was back, that I was here. It only remained to merge into my own body, which I did. Oh, how numb became all its sides, how weak it was.

Involuntarily I groaned and opened my eyes:

“Hello,” I whispered, “I’m back.”

The demoness uttered such a cry of joy that I deafened, then hugged me – what next – I do not remember, I immediately lost consciousness.

So I came back to life and was happy. The demoness brought me food and was happy if I liked, saddened if not. She was pregnant with my son. She was happy. I told her about my country, and she searched, looked for her it in paper pictures for some reason. My beloved Dhana was not there, there were only colored spots.

I did not know why the name of the demoness coincided with the name of the demon Alexander, whom I knew, but she was not his daughter and did not even know him… So, Alexandra – I will call her by her name – taught me how to use the magic objects in her house, the magic table for a small fire to perform fire rites over food, a magic brook in a white room for water rites. And a cupboard for ice rites over food… I noticed that the demons’ favorite pastime is conjuring with food… But the wisdom of this witchcraft, alas, I never understood, but Alexandra began to teach me reading and writing. She gave me “demonic” clothes so that I would not differ from other demons. And when I was able to walk, one night I took out from my home for a walk. From her thoughts, I realized that she feels a danger to my life, and therefore secretly walked with me in the dark.

I knew that Radogast considered me dead and that’s why he forgot about me. If he found out that I’m alive, he would interrupt my life again. The future showed that I was right.

The birth date of the son was approaching. Everything happened unexpectedly. At night I woke up from the groans of Alexandra. She held onto her huge belly and obviously wanted something from me. I realized that she was going to give birth, but did not understand where and why she wanted to go. Again unknown demon rites, about which I know nothing! She did not want to give birth at home and demanded to take her to the place where everyone gives birth. Alexandra hardly reached the garage, opened it and with a groan sat in the back seat of her car. I realized that I had to take her to the birthplace myself. It’s good that I already knew how to drive. But where to go? She moaned and closed her eyes. I have to guess for myself. And suddenly I understood everything – well, of course, we must go to the place where the conception of my son took place. After all, only there he will be under the protection of all the spirits of earth and heaven. Being a spirit, I perfectly studied the surrounding places and knew where the river and our clearing are located. A little farther along the river, there was a road along which it was quite possible to pass.

It was winter, moonlight flooded the white track in front of me. In winter, the water in the country of demons because of the cold turns into white flakes called snow. A car roared through the white glowing snow dust, neither a man nor a car on a deserted road. Turn, gully… I’ll pass! Alexandra woke up and groaned again. “We’re arrive in a moment,” I reassured her. She closed her eyes and fell silent… Arrived!

And then I was struck by the mystery and unpredictability of the customs of the country of demons. In accordance with the demonic ritual, my Alexandra began to scold me, as I understand it, the most terrible demonic curses. I was afraid that the spell of Radogast defeated her again and she would kill me. He looked into her thoughts – no, she was not going to kill me; her thoughts were very confused and contradictory! I tried to reassure her, saying that I had reached almost the place of our first meeting, and apparently succeeded, because she stopped cursing, got out of the car and ordered her to lay a cloak from the back seat on the snow. Then she lay on her and began to prepare for childbirth.