384 You Can Live Only in the Present.

Marcus closed his eyes, feeling the throbbing pain in his head. What happened? The last thing he remembered was his daughter's tear-stained eyes. She was so sad. He didn't like seeing her like that, and even less liked being the cause of her tears.

"If you plan to stay here and lie further, I'm afraid even I won't be able to help you with anything," an unfamiliar voice sounded in the man's head. All pain was gone, giving way to lightness.

Marcus opened his eyes. A second ago he thought he was lying, but it turned out he was standing. There was nothing but white mist around. The sensations were similar to those that the man experienced in Mexico, when he and Elena were getting the kukri knife and ended up in an unknown place filled with the illusions of the past.

"These are not illusions, but echoes of time. Vivid emotions experienced by people are reluctant to freeze in the past. This is probably why you remember them and forget the rest. You must agree that it's not very interesting to remember how you got up to work in the morning. Another thing is the first intimacy with a loved one or how a dog gnawed Italian leather shoes for three thousand dollars," the voice laughed, "Although it doesn't look as epic as blowing up a couple of planets along with their population. Everyone has his own entertainment."

"Damn, it looks like I'm out of my mind," gasped Marcus, "If I hear this kind of nonsense in my head."

"Nonsense? Only I was glad that I could at least discuss the foundations of the universe with someone, but he says nonsense," an unfamiliar voice exhaled, clearly demonstrating his disappointment in the interlocutor.

Marcus turned around and saw in front of him an unfamiliar man dressed in... a Roman toga?

"Oh, would you like to see the outfit of the seventeenth century pirates? While I am here, I have seen so many things!" the stranger snapped his fingers, and in the same second his image from the Apollo style turned into the style of the conqueror of the seas. "Well, what do you think? Better than Jack Sparrow?"

"Captain Jack Sparrow," Marcus corrected him evenly, "Who are you?"

The man slapped his chest as if shaking dust from his clothes, and the old pirate shirt turned into a stylish T-shirt with a high-end label, and the ripped leather pants into denim shorts, "My name is too long for you to remember. Friends call me Taaren, closer people call me Ren," he gave Marcus an appraising glance and broke into a smug smile, "You can call me Mr. God."

What? The nerve on Taubert's face twitched. He did not expect to have to deal with the abnormal in the afterlife as well.

"Have you decided you are already dead?" Taaren raised his eyebrows and laughed out loud.

"Isn't it so? And stop digging in my head, Mister God," Marcus looked around, but in this white emptiness, his eye could only catch on a single object - an unfamiliar god with tricks.

"See, kid. We shouldn't have kept him here for three months," Ren turned to a small glowing ball flying next to his head, "The body has recovered, but the brain, apparently, not."

Marcus rubbed his face with his palms and ran his fingers through his hair. Would he have to hang around here with this weird guy to end up losing his mind, just like him?

"You know, if you hang around in a confined space for thousands of years, you can come up with a bunch of interesting things. Want to try?" Ren suggested.

Marcus glanced at his interlocutor. Taubert was tall, but this Mr. God was taller and more massive in the shoulders, as if demonstrating his physical superiority in front of a pitiful little man. On his hands were barely noticeable patterns, similar to those that covered Elena's skin, but the position of the drawings was different. Nature was also generous to give this Ren such an attractive appearance.

"I see that my proposal did not inspire you. I thought so. I will suggest something else. Come on, help me solve one problem, and I'll save you from my company," Ren waved his hand and was lost among the clumps of fog.

Marcus followed the eccentric Mr. God, but after a few steps he crashed into a door that appeared out of nowhere.

"What the hell?" Taubert rubbed his nose, gazing at the unexpected obstacle in disbelief. This door seemed familiar to him, but he could not remember where he saw it. It looked like an ordinary red oak door, with vine branches carved into the surface.

He saw it for sure, but where? What's wrong with his memory?

"Important memories, imprinted in time, relate not only to emotions and events, but also to certain places. For example, like this door," Taaren appeared from the side and smiled mysteriously, "This thing," he jabbed at the door, "is connected with a very strong memory. I would even say the memory which divides life into before and after."

There were notes of playfulness in his smile, as if Ren knew an important secret, but did not want to share it.

"If it was that important, I would remember it," objected Marcus. The malicious look of the creature irritated the man more than the inability to remember the place where he saw this door. And he definitely saw it!

"And who said that this is your memory?"

At these words, Marcus's heart thumped in his chest. He touched the doorknob uncertainly. It was warm, as if warmed by the sun. Taubert lowered the handle, the door lock clicked, and he pulled the door toward him.

"Marcus! Marcus! Look what dress I have got! Mom bought it for me! Tell me, am I beautiful?" the ringing child's voice deafened the man with surprise.

"Amelia, don't run so fast! What are you, a monkey, jumping on him with a run?! Marcus, I'm sorry, she's been waiting for you since last night. What a child..."

"W-what is this?" Marcus felt a lump in his throat. He looked at the smiling Lucia and the fervently laughing five-year-old Amelia, who wrapped her arms and legs around him and hung on the man like a little baboon. More precisely, not on him, but on his exact copy, which Marcus saw now.

He leaned his palm against the image. Behind the open door was a large glass through which one could discreetly spy on what was happening in the room. It was Amelia's room in their old home in England.

Marcus remembered this moment. Then he was leaving on business for two months and came to Lucia straight from the airport, as he heard on the phone how Amelia cried, missing him. He then stayed with them for the night, and the girl fell asleep, not letting go of his hand, fearing that Marcus might disappear.

The image rippled and he saw the same room again. The windows were curtained, creating darkness. On the bed, ten-year-old Amelia rolled herself up in a ball, was crying.

"Sorry, I did not want to offend you. Marcus, I'm scared. Sorry." The man realized that this was a memory after the death of her parents.

Pictures changed one after another. Something Marcus knew from this, something was new to him. The further the memories went, the more his heart squeezed.

Here Amelia left Elena at the shelter, so she got into the car. His screams, her words. Fire.

The man slammed the door, unable to look again at the nightmare that already tormented him at night.

He leaned his forehead against the warm wooden door, his breath was choked, his hands were shaking, "Why are you showing me this?" he asked Ren, who stood silently beside him.

"If people understood the foundations of the universe, they would get rid of the need to lie, kill, envy. They would become stronger, better, purer." Ren's voice was calm and restrained, not at all like the way the creature spoke before. He looked more like a robot reading the program embedded in it, "Then people would come closer to the gods. As we once were. Become equal to us."

Marcus gave the man a hateful look. The games of these gods robbed him of his life, family, loved ones.

Taaren did not pretend that it somehow hurt him, and only smiled slightly, "It's good that it didn't happen." He put his hand on the doorknob and flung it open.

Marcus turned away, refusing to look at the last moments of the life of his beloved woman.

"Time is a living organism. When the event passes, then it can no longer be changed, it turns into a frozen piece of memories. Therefore, a human has neither the past nor the future. You can only live in the present. Living here and now is like stopping time. At any time you can make a new choice and change everything."

Ren stepped aside and disappeared into the fog.

Stop time? Marcus smiled bitterly. If Amelia hadn't stopped time then, he could have saved her.

The man turned his head and looked at the memory from the past. The car was on fire, and he felt the heat as if it were real. Amelia was so real, you just reach out and touch her.

"I will always hate you!" Marcus heard his own voice coming from his past, "I don't want to see you anymore, just let me save you!" he was begging her then.

"So be it," Amelia whispered, "I love you. See you."

"AMELIA!" Marcus cried out in tune with his past.

The woman shuddered, turned her head, and looked at him. There was shock in her eyes.

"M-Marcus?"

The man reached out, grabbed Amelia by the wrist and puller her hard to him. The bright flash blinded Marcus for a moment. He was afraid to open his eyes, the illusion was so real that it broke his heart.

"M-marcus, is that really you?" he heard her trembling voice.

Taubert opened his eyes and stared at his wife. She was standing next to him. So beautiful, so... alive. The man looked down at his palm, which gripped the woman's wrist like a vice. He felt her pulse under his fingers.

Marcus flinched as Amelia's warm hand touched his cheek. He raised his hand and placed it uncertainly over the woman's palm, pressed it to his face, closed his eyes. So warm.

This illusion was too cruel. He even felt her breath, move forward a little and you can touch her lips.

"It worked...," Marcus heard her whisper, "My goodness, it worked!" Amelia cried out and, with tears in her eyes, clung to her husband, "Marcus, we did it!"

The man was taken aback by such close contact, his hands dangled along his body in confusion. Amelia put her hands on Marcus's face. "How is Elena? She is alright? And that boy, David, are they doing well? And Sean? Sean was born, right? Darling, say something! Tell me it was not in vain!"

"A-amelia?" Marcus squeezed the word out of himself, "You... you...," the man winced, grabbed his chest, and began to sink down.

"Marcus! What happened? You feel bad?! Does it hurt anywhere?!" she grabbed her husband by the shoulders and began to examine him from all sides. "Forgive me, it's my fault. Sorry. I love you, love you very much. Don't scare me, please!"

"You are alive... You are alive...," Marcus repeated the same thing, not taking his eyes off his wife. He wanted to touch her, make sure it was not an illusion, but he was afraid to make a mistake. Amelia pressed her lips to his, and then continued her examination, leaving the man even more shocked. He felt her! Felt her emotions!

"Hey, you be careful with your reactions here. My possibilities are not endless. And then Dahlia will get me in eternity later that I did not return her debt. We don't like being in debt, you know."

Ren leaned over a couple of people. "Anyway, you are staying here for too long already. Girl, you surprised me," he smiled sincerely at Amelia, "This is the first time I see a human who was able to perform the ritual of uniting souls despite not being one of us. No wonder Dahlia chose you for the contract."

Amelia raised her head and for a moment drowned in golden brown eyes that seemed to sparkle with stars, "Taaren?" she asked doubtfully since she had only seen the man in the flashbacks that Dahlia had shown her.

"You can just call me 'Ren'," Mr. God ignored Marcus's displeased chuckle, "Well, since you know my name, you know what I'm doing here and how I got here, right?"

Amelia nodded her head, Ren smiled. "I know one guy. He is still like a blind kitten, but he has the potential of a wild tiger. Can you take care of his upbringing so that the kid does not break his teeth ahead of time?"

The woman frowned, "Are you talking about... him?" she didn't say the name, but the creature and Amelia understood each other perfectly. "Why do you need it?"

Ren continued to smile sweetly, but the smile did not match the gaze, "In this game, everyone has their own pawns, Amelia Lucia Teser. I'm just creating mine. His future is my past, and as you can see, it has already happened. You have no choice. This is the payment for my help."

Amelia felt nausea rise in her throat. A white mist began to blur his eyes, blurring Taaren's figure. "Farewell," she heard before falling into the darkness.

Ren ran his hand along the wooden door, which trembled and turned into a haze. Fragments of memories scattered across space, lost in the clouds of white haze.

The man stared into the void, ignoring the annoying yellow light flickering above his ear. He sharply raised his hand and caught the ball, "Nicholas, if you keep annoying me, I will send your soul to eternity." The light froze immediately.

"That's right, good boy" Ren said with satisfaction, "For the next fifteen years, you will keep me company, then we'll figure out what to do with you." Mister God stretched and yawned widely, "Maybe it's better to go to sleep for another hundred years? Or even two hundred? I have nothing to do in this time anyway."

The yellow ball hissed in displeasure, trying to prick the man. "Okay, okay, I was joking," Ren chuckled and let the little soul free, "Since we have nothing to do, how about listening to a funny story that happened a very, very long time ago? The story about me and you."

White fog surrounded the figure of the deity, completely hiding him under a dense veil.