Despair of Brook and Arrest in the City

We woke up in a clearing after the vision, this time wearing clothes. We decided to head to the city but first to drop by the village of Rivulet to see how things were going. In the village, we noticed that the peasants were finishing loading their belongings onto carts and were dispersing. Nameless asked them where Karm was and what was happening. It turned out that Karm had ordered them to gather weapons and meet him in a clearing off the main road, about halfway to the city. Danaya managed to persuade two groups of peasants not to follow Karm and not to engage in banditry but to return to peaceful fishing. However, she couldn’t convince the third group—they headed toward the city, and we decided to follow them since it was on our way.

Nameless stayed behind to dig up and examine the body of the stillborn infant, but upon seeing that worms were already consuming it, he realized that bringing it back to life was impossible.

When we reached the fork leading to Karm’s Clearing, the peasants continued toward the city, and we secretly made our way to the clearing. There, we saw a large number of people, more than in the village. They were building wooden fortifications—palisades and other structures. We supposed that this was a bandits’ hideout, but realizing that the forces were unequal, we decided to leave.

Approaching the city, we noticed a checkpoint at the fortress gates that hadn’t been there before. While waiting in line at the checkpoint, we learned that now everyone was being inspected upon entering the city, searching for criminals. “But we’re not criminals,” we thought, and calmly waited our turn, giving our names. However, it turned out that a reward had been posted for Nameless, Danaya, and Erdal, and a warrant for their arrest had been signed by Silarion himself. We were immediately arrested and thrown into prison. Tari and Aden, who weren’t on the wanted list, managed to escape.

Already in prison, we realized that we had forgotten to leave our little cat free. Now we’re sitting with him. Soon, a man in a helmet came to us and demanded that we tell him what we had seen. We weren’t prepared for this, but he quickly wrote us a note in runes that Nameless and Erdal recognized. The note said: “I am your friend; tell me everything you saw. You are in danger; if HE finds out about everything, you’re finished.” We decided to trust him and briefly described the vision.

The man in the helmet took us out of the cell and led us to a room where five lamps were arranged in a circle, one of which was lit, and in the center stood a spire. As soon as the door closed behind us, we felt melancholy, the heaviness of existence, and even animosity toward each other. The man touched the spire, and glowing cracks spread across the ceiling, forming the image of a dragon. A bright light blinded us, and, closing our eyes, we woke up lying on the pavement in the nighttime slums.

Not knowing where to go, we headed to Zori’s shop, where we were met by Aden, acting strangely. Nameless struck him in the face, and Aden dissolved into the air. We were bewildered but still went inside. A few minutes later, Igor arrived. Nameless hit him again, but this time Igor didn’t disappear. He began asking us about our adventures, especially interested in the amulet with the image of a dragon. We honestly said that we didn’t have it.

Believing that they would look for us at Zori’s place, we changed clothes, dyed Erdal green, gave Nameless a mohawk, and went to spend the night at the tavern. However, we couldn’t sleep. We all dreamed of the little cat left in the room with the spire. He meowed, poked us in the face with his paw, and even talked with Erdal, giving us no rest. We still woke up in the tavern room.

Realizing that it was a vision, Nameless asked Erdal to hit him harder to try to wake up. Erdal didn’t refuse. After the blow, Nameless again saw the room with the spire and the little cat, who persistently called him to the center. Nameless crawled to the spire, grabbed it, and immediately woke up in the prison reality, where his friends lay unconscious on the floor.

Meanwhile, in the tavern reality, Nameless changed the topic of conversation and began convincing Danaya and Erdal that they needed to find their missing belongings and the one who had the amulet. After all, the amulet is still with her? True, he didn’t remember her name, but it had been a hard day.

In prison, Nameless dragged the unconscious Danaya to the spire, and she immediately woke up. In the tavern, Danaya suddenly actively supported the conversation about the amulet, and Erdal finally uttered the name— Tari. Then they dragged Erdal to the spire, and he also came to his senses. Now we are sitting in the room with the spire and the cat, without the man in the helmet.