CHAPTER 5

After many minutes of advancing in the direction of the lights, a very strange picture came into view. The lights turned out to be such in the truest sense of the word, namely torches, lit by an unknown person.

Of course there were prerequisites for this action on the part of the local inhabitants, but the torches were primitive and savage, as if someone was trying to give the area a primitive charm by vintage lighting.

Isaia, in a deplorable and depressing state, was far from wishing to contemplate the view before him, wishing to get to civilisation and at least contact the police to shed some light on the events surrounding him.

As he attempted to move closer, he was met by one extremely absurd picture, which revealed itself to him in all its glory, and which caused him to refrain from the idea of moving on.

Two men, holding torches in their hands, were walking leisurely along a narrow path, which could not be seen with the naked eye, much less without a source of light.

The path itself was around this primitive settlement, parallel to the perimeter. Small one-storey houses, or rather it would be more correct to call them huts, gave hints about the existence of the recent discovery as a settlement. This, in turn, did not make the phenomenon any less absurd for the technologically advanced twenty-first century, adding more unanswered questions and mysteries for the young man.

 The long reflection was prevented by the action of the persons walking along the path, who hurried towards him as soon as they noticed the figure of the lad.

As they approached, the situation became even more ridiculous, for it became easier to discern outward signs and features, especially in view of the light from the torches that came with them.

Strange robes that looked more like rags, compared to what people usually wear at festivals, imitating the Middle Ages and dressing up as knights. The cherry on top of the cake was the sword and shield, where the second was barely distinguishable only after the strangers came within a few metres and shouted something through their beards in an aggressive tone.

- #&*$? =#$&*&*&%#- The one on the left shouted several loud phrases, which were not familiar to the young man, who could even distinguish Russian, not to mention the local Spanish and Portuguese, or at least English.

Judging by their appearance, they were clearly not Asians, which meant that there was still a possibility that they belonged to some Romano-Germanic or Eastern European language families, which Isaia had never been acquainted with.

- Are you guys cosplaying here at night or is there a festival nearby? - Deciding that it would be more reasonable to use English instead of Spanish, Isaia decided to try to bring his interlocutors to the idea of the necessity of dialogue on international grounds, hinting at the misunderstanding of what had been said earlier.

At the same time, he was constantly drawn into another stream of thoughts by the intensification of instinct and summoning that he had felt all the time since coming to his senses. Now, standing in front of the two individuals, it was a great effort of will to distract himself from the sensations and start a dialog, wanting to understand his situation as soon as possible, but it was a Sisyphean labor, and curiosity and urging voices inside his head did not leave him alone.

The two strangers were beginning to lose patience, and another delay in answering promised a different change, for the men's hands were on the hilt of their swords, which was quite uninformative to the young man.

An experienced person would have long ago understood the hint of the two persons to use weapons, if they had not received the desired, namely the answers from the lad in this situation, but to their regret the dialog was far from clear and stable for clarification of important details.

Isaia, who had been in a state of prostration all this time, was tempted with every passing second to realise what these calls were and why his soul was so eager to plunge into the incomprehensible thing that had attracted him for so long, and now that it was closer, it had a different power over him.

Feelings and instincts did not allow him to concentrate on the most important thing, to which he had been walking for several hours without any clarity, namely the desire to find some people and to find out the circumstances of his own case, thus realising the reasons for his unconsciousness and, of course, his whereabouts.

There was almost an impenetrable noise in his head, which prevented even a few thoughts from linking into one solid and well-thought-out logical chain. It was no cause for surprise that at one moment the young man gave in to the urge to get rid of these noises, though in fact he was more attracted by the excessively strong temptation, from which he responded to the instinct that had all along been calling him and begging him to release them, giving them some vent.

Without fully realising it, Isaia responded by wishing for this feeling to come closer, also mentally, but unknowingly to himself, agreeing to its terms and responding thoroughly.

The call itself, this strange and inexplicable feeling, seemed to whisper 'go', 'come to me', 'take', repetitively, annoying him so much that his mental response of annoyance was more like 'come here yourself, you bastard' - in one big violent burst of emotion.

What happened next did more than frighten him, it brought Isaia back to his senses, cooling his mind while bringing clarity and consciousness of thoughts.

From the very first second of the young man's response, the body of one of the strangers, the one in whose direction Isaia's gaze was directed, began to undergo an incomprehensible and, to be precise, terrifying metamorphosis, accompanied by sounds of pain and torment.

The stranger's instantaneous scream, which was more like a gurgling sound, accompanied by bulging eyes that bled from pain and pressure, was a sign of the rapid changes within.