Prologue

— Oh, my dear friend. Have you returned to my abode? — A cheerful but slightly caustic voice rang out in the boundless void filled with gray fog.

— Who are you? Where am I?.. Who am I? — a voice came in response, from a white shining spark.

The grayness around the spark distorted, revealing a view of a clearing where a brown-haired man in a full white porcelain mask with a red gem on his forehead was sitting at a long table under the shade of a mighty oak tree. A man was drinking tea, and a blonde in a blue and white gothic dress and a black hat was sleeping on the sofa next to the table.

— Ah, you've lost your memory. You bit off more than you could chew. I am your friend and patron, nothing else matters. When you come out of the sandbox again, we will meet again. — the man began to broadcast in the same tone, now it is clear that he is actively gesticulating and waving a mug of tea, from which not a drop is spilled, tea is poured only into his mouth — This is the base of our… Organizations. And also the domain of my friend Alice, she is the daughter of Nyarlathotep. — the man pointed with his palm at the sleeping girl.

The blonde opened one blue eye and said: — Grimm. Don't bother me.

— Wake up, sleepy! The masked man, apparently a Grimm, said with tenderness. — without you, I will not be able to fulfill our agreement with the sparky. — and pointed with his palm directly at the spark.

The girl sighed and sat down, and the sofa smoothly flowed into a chair. She straightened her hat and began sleepily sipping tea from a cup that had come from nowhere.

— And about you. My friend. It doesn't matter who you are now… And who will you become again! — Grimm declared enthusiastically.

The white spark was trying to figure out what to ask him, or what to do. But then a blue and cold spark appeared next to him. She seems to radiate some kind of cruelty, but for a white, her light, responds with warmth inside. Something close, dear. Unlike the white spark, the blue sparkle looks sleepy.

A little later, a gray-green ball of light appeared further away, and next to it a red flame. A little further on there is a black glass bead and a blue-red patterned butterfly. A tangle of orange sparks with cyanide threads, and a gray droplet with a pointed tip. These projections of souls seemed very familiar to the white spark. But I couldn't remember who they were.

— Here are your friends in time! Grimm exclaimed, moving his finger as if conducting. — you must go now.

Alice looked up from the seemingly bottomless cup of tea and waved her elegant palm and said with a strange smile:

— Come to our tea party, Grim and I will be waiting.

Grimm put his hands on Alice's slender waist and said with exaggerated cheerfulness:

— Good luck.

At the same time, his raking hands crawled one up, the other down, causing the girl to sigh.

And the lights, sparks, balls and droplets flew through the gray gloom, moving away from the clearing hovering in the fog with incredible speed.