Heart of Infinity.

Nick leaned back in his chair and lowered the window, he hoped that fresh air would calm his nerves. The girl on the other side of the phone chastised him for his carelessness and excessive emotionality.

"Hey, I know that I'm an idiot, so no need to tell me that," the young man muttered in response and leaned on an open window. A pretty stranger girl in a short dress was walking toward his car, seductively shaking her hips from side to side.

She noticed him from afar and was snapping eyes at him, trying to attract the attention of a stylish guy in an expensive BMW, who was absorbed in a telephone conversation.

When she came closer, Nick could no longer ignore the gaze directed in his direction and looked at the girl in response. She, having received the result from her obvious flirtation, smiled at him and winked, slowing down her step.

But to her great regret, the young man turned away and ignored her frank pick up actions. He was not up to flirting at this moment, Elena was about to return and was expecting Nick to answer her tricky question. The stranger woman snorted, not expecting to get indifference towards her, and proudly passed by.

Nick looked at the rearview mirror and was surprised when the girl froze a couple of meters from the car.

A chill ran through his body as if the air had become thicker and his breathing was harder. "Wait, I'll call you back," he hastened to hang up and stared at the mirror. The stranger in the mini skirt was standing still and did not move, the young man ran his hand in the air and fear began to embrace his heart.

Nick got out of the car, it felt like the pressure of several atmospheres applied to his shoulders, every step was difficult, but thanks to the blood flowing in his veins, he could move. Unlike ordinary people.

The young man went up to the girl and looked into her face, her frowning expression froze on her like in a freeze frame, her eyes were looking forward and were open, the girl was not blinking.

He looked around and noticed a few more people and a couple of dogs, also not moving.

Awareness of the situation caused a shiver in the guy's body, "Oh no, not that," Nick whispered and rushed to the house where Elena was. But when he opened the door, he realized that it was too late.

. . .

The lock of the pendant clicked, Elena held her breath and closed her eyes for a second. The woman took a deep breath, her heart pounding in anticipation of the unknown. Elena slowly exhaled and opened it.

She assumed that something would be hidden inside, and expected to see something like a photograph or some small thing, the meaning of which she would have to find out. But what was inside exceeded all her expectations.

In the center of the pendant, framed by exquisite golden threads, was a stone. She had never seen a stone of such beauty. It was of deep dark color, twinkling stars were scattered on its surface.

In the center, deep in the stone, there was a brightening, similar to one of the nebulae that the Hubble telescope was shooting during its flights in space.

Elena brought the stone closer to her eyes, the constellations inside it slowly rotated in their orbits, and it seemed to her that a piece of the real universe was in her hands.

"Heart of infinity," the woman whispered, not knowing herself where she got this name from, but she was sure that this stone was called that way.

It was so beautiful that it was bewitching from the first moment, and the desire to touch it was increasing with every second. It seemed to have its own will, and Elena had no choice but to obey its orders.

She reached out and touched it.

A bright flash of blue light blinded a woman in an instance, Elena covered her eyes with her hand, and then slowly opened them, getting used to the bright light.

The necklace along with the pendant froze in the air above her head, illuminating the room with a flickering blue light.

Elena felt her body begin to rise into the air by itself as if it was drawn to this bright star, as to the center of the galaxy.

"*Dagal ig ud*," the woman whispered the phrase depicted in the paintings, and the space around her froze.

Shimmering ribbons of light, like trickles of water, began to envelop Elena's body, she felt light as if her body had ceased to exist, and she was only air shrouded in this bewitching light.

She raised her head and looked at the source of this alluring power, the stone reflected in her eyes, and the woman's pupils became like two constellations, shining in rhythm with a flickering light around her.

It was calling her to, to that unknown space, where there was nothing but emptiness. Elena raised her hand up and reached for the stone.

"NO! DO NOT TOUCH IT!" A sharp cry made the girl startle, Elena turned and saw a frightened Nick standing in the doorway. Only then did her mind return to her, and she remembered where she was.

"Wh-what is happening?" Streams of light, like strong shackles, began to tighten the woman's body, it became numb as if being paralyzed, Elena felt one of the streams curl around her neck and she began to choke.

"Now close the portal! *Sugal ig ud*!" Nick shouted, Elena opened her mouth to repeat the phrase, and at that moment a sharp pain, like a stab, pierced her chest.

Nick's knees gave way when, before his eyes, streams of light dug into the girl's heart and began to pump out her vital energy, he rushed to her, but light like an impregnable wall blocked his path.

"Elena, your hand! Give me your hand!" Nick extended his palm forward, and when the tips of his fingers touched Elena's hand, he said aloud,"*Sugal ig ud*!"

A powerful flash of light illuminated the room, blinding both of them, the pendant slammed shut and fell to the floor with a ringing sound, as did Elena's body.

The young man ran to the woman and pressed her to him, Elena's body was as cold as ice, and she showed no signs of life.

"Lina ... LINA!" Nick yelled as loud as possible.

"Are you crazy to call me in broad daylight!? What the...," Lina wanted to yell at the guy when Nick's piercing voice sounded in her head. The girl's body, obeying the will of the owner, moved to the young man, regardless of the desire of Lina herself.

This was the first time since Amelia, when someone from the Teser family used their will on her, "What is happening?" Lina forgot about her indignation as soon as she saw Nick shaking, hugging Elena.

"She opened it! She opened the time portal but didn't have time to activate it, the stone absorbed her vital energy, and I don't know how much," Nick began to explain the situation while Lina scanned the woman's body.

"I'm not sure I can help," she replied, Nick had not yet seen Lina so serious, and he did not like the feeling.

"What do you mean, not sure?! You then perfectly cured Armand in the gallery! In the name of the Teser family, I command you to do your job!"

Lina bowed her head in a sign of humility, she never thought that this person would use his power on her in a fit of emotion, "Young Master Teser, I can heal the body, but life energy is connected with the soul."

"Sorry, I didn't mean to offend you. Sorry to use the influence of my family on you. This will not happen again," Nick bowed his head, for a long time he did not feel so confused, "Listen, I sometimes absorb energy from you, maybe I can transfer it to Elena?"

"It's impossible. Even if your body and mind are here, you need a soul to transmit vital energy."

"Which I don't have," Nick finished Lina's phrase. The girl did not answer and only nodded her head in confirmation.

"There is only one solution, I can enter Elena into a coma until her body recovers, but it will take time," Lina suggested.

"How much time? You know that we have almost no time left."

Lina once again scanned the woman's body, the dim light of energy in the center of her chest was still flickering, but it was very weak, "Given her condition, I think it could take a month."

"Damn," Nick took the hair off Elena's face and stroked her cheek, "Well, do what you can. The main thing is that she will be alive."T

he young man watched Lina's hands with attention while she was plunging Elena's body into a coma. He still did not believe in a few more seconds, and he could have lost her.

A similar portal has already claimed the life of a person dear to him, the second such loss he would not have endured.

Now there remained another, no less difficult task. To inform David about what had happened.

*** *** ***

Dear readers! Thank you for the wait!

Elena and Nick said the phrases in a Sumerian language that mean [Open the gate of Time/Close the gate of Time].

Here I want to share some interesting information I found while writing this chapter. The expert in Sumerian language tells about how people said "Thank you and Welcome" in that language. (Spelling and style of the author kept.)

Q: I was wondering how does one say thank you and you're welcome in Sumerian?

A: Hi there! This is a question I've gotten before, and the basic answer is, you don't. The Sumerians didn't have a set phrase for "thank you"; instead they'd say something positive about the action or person being thanked. This is similar to the lack of "sorry" in Sumerian.

For example, if in English you'd say "thank you for your hard work", you'd instead say "your work was hard" or "your hard work was excellent". Instead of "thank you for bringing me the cookies", you might say something as simple as "you have brought me the cookies" — acknowledgment generally sufficed for thanks in simple statements like this. Therefore, I can't translate "thank you" without knowing the exact context or what the person is being thanked for.

As for "you're welcome", there also isn't a phrase for it. You can use silimma hemeen(zen) to mean "welcome", as in "welcome to this place" or perhaps "you're welcome to help yourself (as a guest)", but not as a response to "thank you" (since "thank you" doesn't exist). (The final -zen is plural and used when welcoming multiple people.)

As you learn Sumerian, you'll get used to this — the Sumerians were a pretty direct, blunt people, and often used fewer or more direct words where English would use more "polite", indirect phrasing.

Source: www.tumblr.com #sumerianvocabulary