Mind Games.

The stone path under Marcus's feet looked most ordinary, the slabs were pressed tightly against each other. He carefully took a couple of steps, made sure that nothing strange was happening, and bravely went forward to the central stone.

"Hmm, that turned out to be suspiciously simple," the man said, not looking back at Elena, all his attention was focused on a metal object stuck in a stone. He held out his hand to grasp the hilt of the knife, but... his palm went through the handle of the kukri, like through the air.

Marcus tried to repeat this several more times, but each time the result was the same. The knife turned out to be a simple illusion, so outwardly real that even the man was surprised. And to surprise him in this life was quite a challenge.

"Fucking Excalibur," Marcus cursed to himself, it became clear to him where the legends came from, like the one about King Arthur and his magic sword. But in the case of Marcus, he was not inspired by this game of illusion and reality.

"Elena, I guess I will need your help," he bent to the knife, even upon closer inspection, this thing looked absolutely real, "Elena?" Marcus called her again but did not hear the reaction from the woman.

The man turned around and froze in shock. "Damn it. Marcus, you're an idiot. How could you think that everything will be so simple?" He saw behind him neither Elena nor the vaults of the cave, nothing at all. A thick white fog filled the entire space around. The man was in a white void, the borders were erased, and the only landmark was this huge stone with a knife stuck in the center, which was not possible to pick up.

"Looking for something?" a pleasant female voice sounded behind the man.

Marcus didn't even have to turn his head to understand who it belonged to. He was sure that he would recognize this voice even after a hundred years.

"Hmm, what is it? We have not seen each other for so long, and you don't even want to say hello? You know, you should learn the manners from your brother," the voice came closer and closer, and Marcus felt her breath next to his ear.

He turned his head slightly, and his eyes met with a piercing brown gaze, able to see through the whole essence of the man.

Marcus's heart skipped a beat, he stopped breathing, a lump came up to his throat, but the man was afraid to even move. She was so real that for a moment he himself believed in it.

He closed his eyes and exhaled slowly. "Now I understand where so many human bones come from at the bottom of the lake," Marcus opened his eyes and looked defiantly at the woman. "Do you think to fool me with such a miserable illusion? You don't look much like her."

Undoubtedly, the smell of the air in the cave seemed strange to him. Either unknown chemical vapors caused illusions, making people to pass out and die in this place, or the intersection of several realities caused a mystical anomaly like the one in a cave in Tibet.

The man tried to appeal to the voice of his logic, but his eyes every second inspired him the opposite. Amelia, standing in front of him, was so real that he was sure that if she touched him, Marcus would fall into the power of her spell.

The woman, as if having read his secret thoughts, raised her hand and touched his cheek. Light sparks ran across the man's skin, this feeling was so absorbing and natural that Marcus hesitated. Maybe she really was real?

"Amelia…"

"I see how tired you are. I feel your loneliness and pain. Marcus, don't you think it's time to rest?" Her fingers stroked the man's cheek tenderly, the smile on her lips and the warmth in her eyes made his heart beat faster. She took a step in the direction of Marcus, rose on her toes, closed her eyes and clung to his face.

The man's gaze fell on her alluring, parted lips, ready to connect with his lips in a passionate dance the next second. That was real torture.

Marcus closed his eyes and turned away, "What about your daughter?"

The woman smirked, this man turned out to be a tough nut, "And what does Elena have to do with it? She has someone to protect her. Let him do his job. As for you," she circled her arms around the man's neck and closed her fingers in the lock, Marcus felt every bend of her body pressed tightly against him. The woman slightly threw back her head, showing him her graceful neck, alluring to leave his mark on it.

"I feel the fire flaring up inside you. Give it freedom, let me put out this heat. Have you not earned even a little pleasure in your monotonous life?"

Her words were like a sweet melody leading into a blissful trance. Marcus's hands slid down her waist, fingers digging greedily into her body. He leaned over to the woman's ear and whispered to her in the same seductive voice,

"Do you think I'm so naive and inexperienced that my mind gives way to the desires of the flesh? Hah, as I said, besides the external resemblance, you have nothing to do with that woman. Get lost."

The next second, the silhouette of Amelia dissolved in the air as if she had not been there at all. Marcus exhaled and rubbed his temples, "It was dangerous."

"My boy, what do you want me to tell you?" another female voice reappeared behind the man's back.

Marcus realized that this space was playing with his mind, but he did not expect it to go that far. He turned and saw a woman whose image eventually became blurry in his memory. But now, he again remembered all the smallest features of her face, as if the last time he had seen her only yesterday, and not almost a hundred years ago.

She was sitting on the edge of the bed in a simple dress, her hair was gathered in a bun, her fragile shoulders were slightly lowered.

"May I really ask for any fairy tale? Or just about great people?" a little boy, covered with a blanket all the way to his nose, asked the woman. His tiny fingers were squeezing the edges of the bedspread, and his eyes were filled with life, childish naivety and faith in magic.

The woman leaned over and kissed his forehead, "Marcus, mom will tell you any tale you want. Even if it is about a princess or a dragon."

The boy narrowed his eyes with joy, his mother was so good and kind, the best in the world, "Then tell me about the little red riding hood."

"Well, close your eyes and listen," the woman answered with a tenderness in her voice and began her story.

Marcus looked at this scene as if he had again become a little boy, a tear rolled down his cheek. "Damn, that's too much."