«She is eleven years older than me. I’m twenty-three, she’s thirty-four. Our tribe is very small. Just a few families. Due to constant incest, hormonal failure occurred in our family. For the third generation, we suffer from Progeria. But Carney’s disease somehow worked in the opposite direction. Now she is the oldest representative of our people. On average, we live twenty-five to twenty-seven years. If we’re lucky, we’ll live to be thirty. It looks like it will be about ninety years old. But I no longer worry about death. I managed to recover. And, I won’t grow old anymore. The mutation of genes affected not only in the negative direction. It also influenced intelligence, the way of thinking. During my not very long life, I have created a great many useful things to which you have to go for thousands of years. But, the main thing is not even that. I am standing now, communicating with you through this cage, but I can easily get out of here. And, with a snap of your finger, destroy this whole castle. As he speaks, Karnay grabbed the smooth iron pipe of the grating with one hand and began to rub it with quick movements. With her other hand, she slowly lifted her dress from the side of her hip. Her slender legs made the prince pay attention to them. Above the knees, she is wearing black ribbons embroidered with patterns, like stockings, tight-fitting legs. She fiddled with her eyebrows and pulled her lips slightly, making them plump. Her face is smooth, natural. No makeup and wavy hair styled at the back secured with a white comb.

– Are you flirting with me? – unable to bear it, said Selim.

– Me not! – the girl quickly cut off her hands, standing in the starting position.

– Let them out! – Svurt turned to the guard. One of the knights approached the stone partition between the chambers and pressed on one of the bricks, then on the other, just below and to the right of the first. And then, he pulled out the third, leftmost, top brick. Something clicked, and the iron bars, one by one, quickly rooted into the ground. – What is your name, wanderer? – Finally he asked the name of the gray-haired man in the caftan.

«Call me Grul.» Smiling, he walked out into a narrow street, his sister following him.

– I have no time to talk more with you. You say you can help remove the curse from the castle and forests. So come on, help, or you are a crook posing as a great sorcerer.

«If I’m a swindler, how can you explain this?» He thrust his hand into his silk caftan and pulled out a large book, trimmed with red fringe. With silver upholstery around the edges and a convex blue planet in the middle. The entire cover of the book consisted of three-dimensional mathematical figures. – This is a book without a title. I have three copies. One I can give to you. But, there is a small problem. It is written in the most difficult language, Gomeropoles, of my little tribe. It is a dynamic language and the words are not static here. But, whoever understands the text, the reward will be generous. – He opened the book somewhere in the middle, slowly leafing through thick, wonderful pages, as if made of transparent plastic or barely bending silicone. The embossed gold letters were very small but legible. The text is really very strange. It was immediately apparent that the symbols were scattered chaotically. Either they rolled into a spiral in circles, or they were arranged in straight lines, self-intersecting rows and columns at different angles. Otherwise, nothing surprising, just unfamiliar hieroglyphs.

– Survival instructions? Or the philosophy of the gods? – With irony he stretched out his hand for the book. – Whatever nonsense is written there, I like the way it is sewn. Colorfully, elegantly. We did our best. Taking the book in his hands, he patted it hard. «I’ll put it on the shelf in the throne room in my round wine rack. I will show drunken priests and governors on holidays. Are there any pictures?

Frowning with a serious face, Carney stood right in front of him.

– Hey, if you don’t need this book, pass it on to someone who is interested in it. If you knew what information is there, you would create a whole library of copies of this text.

«It’s strange that you speak Nahmout so clearly, and your friend’s accent. – With a light breath of wind, Svurt smelled her hair. He was so pleasant that he was remembered forever. – Let’s go to my nearest location. I’ll feed you well and ask you a couple of questions. If the answers satisfy me, the guards will lead you out of the city; if not, I will be your evil judge.

«Interesting suggestion,» Grul raised his hands. – Of course, let’s go.

Arriving at the royal chambers, a gray, stone structure, with a glazed mosaic roof, and jutting out sharp towers of an iron frame. They silently looked around. The damp, cold room does not delight the guests. An oval lacquered table in the middle caught the attention of the gray-haired sage. This table is built in the style of a huge egg splitting across. One half of the egg is a table, and the other, suspended from the ceiling with thick chains, is a chandelier. A glossy white table and a similar chandelier with glowing blue veins outside and kerosene lamps inside.

– Ergonomic. You have a delicate taste, – the wanderer turned again in search of a chair. – I appreciated this chip with the shell of a huge lizard. Is this one of your father’s trophies?

«Don’t talk about my father. He may have died. The room was not designed by us. The castle is as old as the world. This table has been standing here even before the beginning of time. – Selim went point-blank to the table, and the floor beneath him fell slightly. Some green thing rose with a crash right behind. It turned out to be a pull-out chair, with a pointed, petal-shaped back. Without saying anything, Carney repeated the trick, stepping on the lever tile next to her, and settled herself comfortably in the chair. A couple of minutes later, a servant rushed into the hall. Waiters set a full table by forcing it with decorative crockery. In each container, there were different dishes. Minuscule portions, about two teaspoons in size, are neatly laid out in the middle of the plates. The wine decanters were full, but the glasses were almost empty.

«Funny,» Grul took out of his pocket a round thing the size of two of his fists and, also going up to the table, rolled it straight in the direction of Svurt. He abruptly slammed the oval ball with his palm, stopping it at the very edge of the table. Then he raised it right before his eyes. There was a toy in his hand. A transparent egg, with a metal partition inside, on bearings and a pile of sand.

– What is it? – in bewilderment he twirls the trinket. Then, looking closely, his eyes slowly bulged in surprise. Inside the glass egg, across there was a partition with small holes in a circle. On the hinges, when the oval was rotated around one axis, it retained its horizontal position. Sand poured into these little crevices. It poured up and stuck to the top of the oval, as if it were magnetized. From one container to another. Also in the lower part of the box, the sand stuck to the partition, and did not lie at all at the bottom, at the bottom.

– This is a clock, – calmly speaking, the wanderer leaned on the table with both hands. – Just an hourglass. Consider this a gift. I know you will be looking for a catch, but there is none. Time inside this form goes in the opposite direction. – Svurt silently put this thing on the table and continued to look until the remaining sand completely adhered to the upper wall of the vessel. Then, he turned the egg over, and the yellow dust continued to pour from bottom to top. – This clock works in a hundred-fold frame of reference. A primitive device that contains an entire universe. An exact copy of ours.

– How can there be a universe in the sand? – Selim grimaced incredulously. – Even on a reduced scale, it cannot have such an absurd shape and composition.

– As much as you can. If you break the shell, this sand will simply fly into space and take positions in space opposite to those of matter. For us, it is not real. What you see is the broadcast of the sand dust that is actually there.

– Here are the cases. I will definitely keep this curiosity. – He got up from the chair, which abruptly slid into the stone floor and began to pace around the empty, gloomy hall, the light into which barely penetrated, through the high, but narrow and dull windows. Removing a beautiful ring from his little finger, with his own engraved surname, covered with purple diamonds in a circle, and protruding crystals that emphasize volume, he approached the girl:

– Take it, this is my gift. More modest than yours, but… he is dear to me.

– The name ring of the rulers of Shelber, – she raised the ring up to the light, aloud, slowly reading the inscription.

«I see you like wearing rings. Well, add one more to your collection and accept the offer to become my wife. – The woman smiled broadly and was surprised at the same time. Looking at her brother, she laughed out loud. He looked at her seriously, and it is clear that he too was holding back a smile.

– What’s so funny? – the young man could not resist.

– If you want to marry me, give me the ring that you have on your other hand. – Svurt raised his left hand, clenching it into a fist. On his ring finger, an even more beautiful ring flaunts. It is completely transparent, with moving shining grains inside. If you enlarge it greatly, you will notice that these are not just sparkles floating in some kind of solution, these particles had certain shapes of objects and different inscriptions.

«No,» Selim dropped his hand. – This is the ring of the great Lafar Veia, and it will remain with me forever, as I promised him. But apart from that, I can give you almost anything.

– Very grateful. I need a seed, not a husband, «she replied calmly. – My heart has been occupied by my brother for a long time, I’m sorry.

– Then why don’t you create an artificial fruit with your own capabilities? – Selim grinned, moving the dishes and sitting on the table.

– Because my DNA code, in combination with the DNA of a healthy person, can give a new perfect look, much faster than doing it by the method of selection. – Having drunk wine from two glasses at once, she carefully got up from the chair, which also automatically slid into the floor. – And I will not go anywhere from here until you help me, – Grasping the man by the neck, she pulled him off the table, she sat down in his place, she spread her legs, showing her white panties.

– Enough, – Svurt turned away. – I won’t do it here. Moreover, with him.

– It won’t hurt. I see you want it. In our tribe, sex necessarily takes place in front of witnesses, so that everyone knows whose child will be born.

«But, I’m not in your tribe. And you cannot use me in your dirty deeds. Remember, not one woman in the world, and not one man, will decide who I should inseminate and who not. My father, could not force me to marry not one of twenty concubines, but you so simply decided to take advantage of my pure Nahmaut blood and run away. – The woman jumped off the table, grabbing Selim’s hand, put it on her chest. Svurt felt that he had fallen in love with her, and struggled with the temptation. Passionately kissing her, he pushed the girl away from him so hard that she even fell and took out his sparkling sword.

– Run while you are alive. – Jumping over the table, Selim in a rage, with one blow of the sword, cut off the chain on which the chandelier hung. She fell with a crash on the table, and the egg seemed to slam shut. Crawling back, the girl seemed to be numb from what she saw.

– Break, crash! What kind of demon lives in you? «Gruel simply slammed the huge table, and it flew off to the side with a bullet. Flying into small fragments in the air, which, for a moment slowed down in flight, then accelerated again and with crazy force hit the wall, so that the entire building was shaken. The gray-haired wanderer thrust his leg into the concrete floor with force, and stones under Svurt’s feet burst out of the ground, lifting him up and twisting him in the air, pushing from his back with a solid slab in the direction of Grul. Raising his hand without touching, the sage stopped him in flight. From the momentary stop, his limbs and head almost flew forward of the body. But Selim was not at a loss. He drew two daggers from behind, with forked blades. They immediately burst into black flame, and with a sharp blow, Svurt severed Grul’s arm. Tumbling in the air, he struck the second blow in the neck area, and, having landed on his feet, criss-cross with lightning strikes began to shred the body. Swinging from top to bottom, obliquely, immediately from bottom to top with the other hand, then, directing one blade with a point towards the body, he mercilessly pierced it, and drove the other here. Slowly, he began to back away, as if scared himself by what he had just done. His hands shook.

He turned around, remembering the girl. But, she was nowhere to be found. Looks like she escaped. Grul’s body flared with blades protruding from him, lighting up the darkness with even blacker flames. He spread his arms to the sides and laughed out loud. Before Selim had time, he only turned away for a second, the sorcerer again had two hands, as if they had not cut it off at all. He walked slowly towards Svurt, and the flame slowly went out on him. When the flame was completely extinguished, in front of us was the very same wanderer whom they met yesterday. In a black robe with a hood thrown over his head, and the daggers stuck in him just disappeared.

– Fool, I wanted to help you, and you … – he began to speak calmly. «Even in the forest, I could make you and all your brothers look like helpless insects. But this is not necessary. His black leather gloves creaked with a fist in front of his outstretched hand. Selim’s legs gave way with an unpleasant crunch in the joints, and he fell to his knees. Grul stopped and Svurt himself, unwillingly, kneeling on the ice, began to slide to meet him. Also, not arbitrarily, with shaking movements, his hand went up, palm outstretched upward. In the darkness, under the hood, the stranger’s face was completely invisible. He grabbed the man’s hand and dropped his clenched fist into his palm, giving him something very small. «They built this castle,» the strange sorcerer continues. «They were waiting for you here. You are trapped. Everyone you knew is doomed. They will be turned into frantic monsters, eager to devour all that exists. Your bodies, for them tools, empty vessels. But, you have a chance not to stay in Shelber’s darkness. Run, if you don’t want to be part of this nightmare, throw the crown and run as far as possible. I know you are worried about the fate of the nahmau. It’s time to change the political course. I will give you the right direction. If you stick to it, you can rule your people, even after death. Sitting on the floor, head down in doom, under Grul’s feet, a wicked smile appeared on Svurt’s face.

Her white dress catches everyone’s eye. Trying to remain unnoticed, Carney sneaks through the back streets, hugging the walls of buildings. Finding no other exit but the central one, she waited for the moment when the soldiers on the watchtowers turned away, rushing away as fast as they could. She ran without looking back, and with all her body felt that she was noticed. Inaudible screams rang out from behind. As she approached the line of the forest, she stopped and turned to catch her breath. Clumsy armored warriors raced behind her. These are the drugged guardians of King Shadakh. It is good that they did not think to saddle the horses. Seeing a large gray rock nearby, she decided to hide behind it. Barely squatting down, a terrible pain gripped her leg. A small spider was crawling along her thigh, which must have caught on as she dashed through the tall grass. Not paying attention, she just threw off the insect and ran into the thicket of the forest. Ten minutes later, her pain gave way to weakness. The guards were still searching the forest. There were more and more of them. It was necessary to move on, but the forces were gone. Hidden under a bush, the girl lay in agony for half an hour. Cutting her entire leg, trying to squeeze out the poison with a knife, Karnei fainted. Only an hour later she was found dead in the same place. It is not even known whether Gruel learned of her death, since no one has seen him since that day. According to legend, he gave the two remaining unnamed books to the Osirian elder Archva from Jericha and the Sumerian idol Dagsha. But, more than one specimen was never found. The kings of Mesopotamia are obsessed with finding a primordial manuscript above any treasure, because the great «Book of Life» and «Law of Selim» were written on the basis of the same text of a mysterious book, later called «Origin», which unites both ideologies of being.

Memoirs of great nahmau.

Our tribes have been at enmity with each other since ancient times. There were forty-eight independent communities in total. Initially, our ancestors lived in central and northeastern Europe, as part of a certain Veliriam culture. Subsequently, the descendants of this culture were Europeans, Slavs, Scandinavians and others. The Nahmaut culture, about seven thousand years ago (15,000 BC), gradually began to stand out from the general Veliriam culture, in the far north, on the territory of modern Norway, Finland. Unlike other peoples of the north, who were predominantly pale-skinned, fair-haired and blue-eyed, Nahmau were dark-skinned, dark-haired and brown-eyed. These unusual, distinguishing them from their fellows, were a sign that they had come here recently. Where exactly, it is not known, but most likely from North Africa, moreover, at about the same time as the migration of the Osiris – the founders of the Egyptian civilization. In those days, along the Nile River, the lands were incredibly fertile, however, for some reason, the overwhelming number of tribes decided to go to the northern, lifeless territory. Perhaps the tribes did not divide something, and they were allowed into exile. The Osiris story is much more logical. They simply moved from one favorable region to another. Later, about two thousand years ago (10,000 BC), the Nahmau tribes completely moved from north to south, to the territory of the future Israel, Syria, Iraq, and even Iran. Many of them mixed with the local backward peoples, but some nearby tribes living nearby, united in unions and built the first cities in history to protect them from the same migrants, hostile Sumerians and Sabars. In the interfluve, the Rohvem valley, near the future Sumerian city of Umma and the Shelber valley, near the future Akshak city, numbered sixteen strong Nahmau tribes. Our staunch ancestors immediately showed the local savages who is now the owner of these lands. Nahmau Rohvem and Shelber, appropriated all natural resources, and, cruelly turning the people into slavery, also divided it among themselves. Feeling their significant superiority, after a couple of three generations, the Nahmau admitted their mistakes and freed the civilian population. With the development of civilization, more and more internal enemies began to appear, yearning for power over both valleys. While the Nahmau were distracted from the outside world, solving internal conflicts, near the future city of Babylon, the recently founded, small village of Vayelon, has already turned into the largest developing Osiris city-state, right between the two valleys of the Nahmau, which of course did not leave them indifferent. The kings of Rohvem, after unsuccessful negotiations with the new world capital, decided to take the fortress by storm. And the Shelber government, in order to quickly capture the city, simply decided to put their governors at the head of the state. There were more people in Vayelon than in all of Mesopotamia, and whoever takes possession of this city will gain the best wealth, political and economic leadership.