CHAPTER 8

True, the absurdity is explained by the unwillingness to reconcile, because it was the third option that had the greatest probability.

After all, Isaia from the very beginning had a strange feeling inside, which only intensified with the presence of people, and most importantly, everything went downhill precisely at the moment of response to the feeling that had been whispering and lusting for a long time.

Maybe it's the desire of any player to be part of the magic and the unimaginable, or maybe the age of technology has become the reason for such a quick adaptation to change, but the guy accepted the situation quite quickly. After witnessing how technology has undergone rapid and dramatic changes over the past thirty years, any person of this time will cease to be surprised by the appearance of everything unimaginable.

Magic, of course, is a little over the top, but the twenty-first century human mind is ready for everything from unicorns to alien presence.

- Why am I so tired and hungry all of a sudden, and why has the tugging feeling of urgency become even more restless and almost palpable now? - The feelings that had been the strong impetus for the urgent action were a confirmation of what was going on. They were the logical link that pointed to a causal connection between his body and what had happened recently. He felt as if he could touch the sensations with his hand, so strong and easily perceivable had they become after the onset of intense hunger and lethargy throughout his body.

During the return to the forest Isaia decided to take a peculiar risk. He did not understand the nature of the sensations, and since it was not coming from somewhere out there, but from within his own body, even his own head, he could not deny the need to figure things out here and now.

He could still feel the calls from various places, and that would not even be a proper description. He felt them even better now, and he was even more drawn to them.

Deciding to vabank and trust to chance he gave in to temptation, and thus wandered on toward the source of the call, which was at a relatively close distance.

It was, of course, impossibly frightening, but the inner excitement demanded that he give in to temptation for once, and act not on the instinct of self-preservation, but in such primitive exploratory adventurism. Meanwhile stress and fear were still building up.

The events of the day sometimes made his blood freeze with thoughts of all sorts of unpleasant consequences. At the same time, there were other incomprehensible inner sensations for which he could not think of an explanation, and which seemed to guide him.

Isaia didn't understand the reasons for what was happening. Fatigue and hunger had overwhelmed him, and instead of beginning to think about what could be consumed as food, his body as a ravenous predator demanded movement towards the Call.

Listening to the instincts that seemed to speak to the young man during this difficult time, he felt that he should listen to them and that they would help relieve the sensations. A sort of certainty that this was the way it should be, the origin of which he could not explain in any way, but he was still very eager to check it out.

Whether it was an instinct or an obsession, or perhaps an instruction from a higher power Isaia could not explain, for if one went on thinking about it, one could probably come up with a thousand or even more explanations, ranging from logical to the most absurd, but still he decided to trust it.

If this feeling once deceived, then it was possible to return to the routine of a coward and constant being on the alert for anything dubious that would happen in the future, but here and now it was necessary to check the sincerity and reliability of feelings. It was like the saying about people who start blowing on water after they have been burned once with milk.

The lad was still in fear and uncertainty, but he decided to test his instinct and trust it for once. The previous time with the dead man was still weighing on Isaia, but the inexplicability and mystery of what was happening not only dulled the instinct of self-preservation, but also gave a certain charm of mysticism, which made him, who on a normal day would shake with fear and thinking about the possible consequences of what had happened, feel less depressed and clogged. Or maybe it was just that Isaia himself was strange, in some inexplicable way, not being subjected to the typical fear and panic of the common man, but on the contrary was determined to start searching for causes and connections.

The moon was shining much brighter than usual, or for some other reason, but the visibility could not be called gloomy, given the ease with which Isaia could detect tree branches and roots lying on the ground, looking closely for a second or two. Yes, it was far from daylight, but at least it wasn't comparable to the blindness that occurs when a few blocks away all the lights are out, and even the streetlights "rebel", refusing to serve their intended purpose.

After walking a relatively short distance, only about a hundred meters, he stood face to face with a strange picture, but strange it would seem without understanding the reasons.

The construction that appeared before his eyes was quasi-artificial, but it was clearly built by a representative of wild fauna. Unless, of course, some leper had decided to make a shelter for himself, then climbed up into it and blocked the entrance behind him, leaving only a small opening for ventilation. The odd thing was that Isaia could somehow feel the call from within, but he himself clearly wouldn't have been able to squeeze in.

It was just an ordinary burrow that had been constructed by whatever was inside, or maybe the inhabitant had gotten in after it had been vacated by the previous owner, which the young man couldn't know, and it didn't matter whose data was on the Forest Service's certificate and registry, whether it was a hare, a hedgehog, or something else.