The Wars of Zegandaria, Atanas Marinov, Atanas Marinov, Atanas Marinov, Atanas Marinov [inspirational books txt] 📗

opened here and there due to the power of the explosions. The soldier was aware that if he hooked even one mine, it would be the last thing in his life, yet he had no choice. ‘You serve your country!’ his father had once said. ‘A man never cries and keeps on going no matter what,’ he remembered how he had encouraged him when he called home once a week on the ultras during the first and worst weeks in the barracks. Now he definitely had to show in practice that he had drawn on his parent's wisdom. Plus he could help his comrades survive. After all, by acting now, he would give them hope. He was aware of the paradox of the current situation, fighting for their homeland, they would be declared cowards and deserters if they succeeded in returning. On the other hand, the return itself was also impossible.

- 'Come on, my boy, we haven't got all day,' he heard a voice from the height of the dune behind him, but he couldn't pinpoint exactly who it belonged to, for the tension within him was having its say. He could feel the beads of sweat trickling down his forehead and the buzzing in his head intensifying. It was as if everything in front of his eyes began to happen in slow motion and the picture flickered like the footage on an old video camera.

Slowly but surely he began to follow the same route as the unfortunate Westner, when suddenly he noticed a half-eroded mine ahead of him, barely visible because of the clods of sandy earth around it.

He stopped and shouted back:

- There's something here. It looks like a Spundler model 392 mine. I think I can defuse it if I have the right tools.

- 'Hey, Russell, weren't you a bomb squad?,' the Rat turned to one of the recruits.

- 'I'm not very skilled, sir,' the other man sputtered, now out of surprise, now out of fear that he might be blown up by the mine if he accepted.

- 'Charge,' waved his hand contemptuously at the Father, 'give him a pair of sapper's pliers and a clip for the detonator pin.'

Grandpa Jack took the things, wrapped them in a piece of cloth, ran down the dune and carefully tossed them to the Elohyn, then went back. As unnerving as the whole situation was, a certain amount of curiosity had taken hold of everyone.

They could clearly see the soldier had his back turned to them and was fumbling with something in front of him. They couldn't clearly make out the mine because of the piles of dirt around it.

Several agonizing and tense minutes passed. To everyone's delight, no detonation followed.

The soldier signalled to them that it was safe to come down. Out of an abundance of caution, Mark decided to see if he was trying to trap them and in his desperation blow everyone up, including himself. So he sent Grandpa Jack and Russell, who after all was officially a bomb disposal officer, to see if the mine was indeed defused.

- 'It's really all right,' Russell called out. 'The colleague had done an excellent job.'

- 'Yes, unlike you,' Father muttered, striding with Mark and the others towards them.

Russell pretended not to have heard him.

Mark walked over and looked around the mine. It was a round piece of strange metal alloy with a digital detonator attached. Father noticed the artfully cut fiber optics connecting the detonator to the explosive and asked:

- How did you find out exactly what mine was, I've never seen one like it?

- 'I was a sapper in the Ninth Company before you captured me,' the soldier replied.

- 'You are obviously a valuable cadre,' noted with obvious respect Father.

- 'You've earned your water ration, boys,' Mark confirmed, 'and I stand by my word.'

- 'And don't forget, what did you say your name was?,' suddenly interjected Paul, who had been silent all this time.

- 'Durnyam,' replied the other, a little surprised.

Paul made no reply, only shook his head thoughtfully. Durnyam. That name, though distant, sounded familiar, but he could not remember where he had heard it...?

Looked at closely, the hole didn't look much like a cave. There was something about it that made your heart race and your world spin. The opening was as dark as pitch or tar, and no matter how hard the eyes stared, they couldn't make out anything in depth. It was as if a thick barrier prevented it from happening. Mark and the others were huddled a safe distance away a few yards to the side.

- 'Was it really leading to the polis?,' the Rat voiced his concerns.

Grandpa Jack had moved closer to get a closer look at her, but he had his assault rifle at the ready. It was definitely a strange hole, no one disputed that, so he returned to the group, acknowledging the obviousness of that fact.

- 'But isn't it a portal to another dimension?,' interjected Sam Wallace.

The others looked at him in amazement, but after all the mishaps they could believe anything.

- 'According to the legends,' the Father began, 'this is the Dream Gate. Whoever passes through it sees his worst nightmares. Of course they are not real, but only a simulation that the ultras have invented for some really insistent intruder. As you can see, we have already overcome three obstacles and no one can convince me that they were an accident. There have been too many coincidences.'

- 'So what are we going to see inside?,' muttered Russell the recruit. He was a handsome and slender young man, with a good-natured expression that said from miles away that he was not born to be a soldier, but circumstances had made him one.

- 'Father has already said,' Paul interjected. 'But I think it's possible that's not true at all. It could be a gateway to...'

- 'Don't get superstitious, Paul,' Rat growled quizzically, 'Whatever it is, it's the way.'

But everyone was worried. They had fought material things before, and now they were about to face something radically different - their very fears.

- 'I'll be first,' Mark declared, and he slipped into the hole, the darkness swallowing him.

- 'I'm coming, my friend,' Paul said and followed him.

He was followed by Rat, Father, Russell, Grandpa Jack, Sam Wallace and the rest...

THE VISION

 

CHAPTER TWO: THE VISION

 

The first moment a man dies he feels nothing. He is bodiless, he is immaterial energy in this whole vacuum. He is everywhere and nowhere at the same time. That is exactly the feeling of our heroes. In fact, they didn't have the slightest idea of exactly where they had ended up.

- 'Where the hell are we?,' blurted Paul. This was quite uncharacteristic of him, but even he was forced to admit that this place defied all description. They were literally in the middle of Nowhere. Or maybe they had already become nothing themselves. How can one become nothing? That thought alone was startling.

- 'Is everyone okay?,' asked Mark, not seeing or hearing the others, but getting no answer. Not even a sound came from his throat, as if he were mute.

- 'What the hell is going on?,' the Rat screamed, realizing he was actually hearing his own thoughts, and he hadn't even opened his mouth.

- 'Boys, where have you gone?,' screamed Grandpa Jack at the top of his lungs.

- 'Why, that's odd,' Sam Wallace voiced his surprise aloud.

'This is definitely going to be the biggest challenge,' thought Father, not making a sound, and even if he wanted to he felt he couldn't.

Only Paul had sunk into such a reverie that he couldn't even think. In fact, right now he could hardly do anything.

Suddenly, like a flash, a picture crept into his mind, the image was rather hazy. It looked like a view through a fogged-up car windshield. Paul remembered that he had seen some similar illustrations in an e-book when he was young. Apparently his brain was making that association quite aptly. Suddenly he saw something that was definitely not familiar to him. A young woman, quite beautiful and slender. Strands of hair were scattered across her face, but he could see it clearly because a bolt of lightning angrily sliced through the sky. The woman looked around fearfully, as if afraid someone might see her. Becoming an unwilling spectator of the whole scene, Paul felt a certain amount of curiosity. Her figure was wearing a cape, no protective suit or anything, and was in the middle of a semi-dark alley. The silhouette of the building in front of her looked menacing. Suddenly, she started to climb the few steps that led up to the front door of said building. Her delicate little hand pressed firmly and gently on the handle and the door creaked open. Something in Paul's mind seemed to break, and strangely why that creak made his whole soul shudder. Who was she really? And why did he have to watch all this? But whatever was causing this vision, it was clear that he didn't care about Paul's opinions or desires. So he continued to watch what would follow.

In fact, besides being a backwater, the alley in question seemed completely deserted. The rain continued to fall. The raindrops looked like sharp daggers piercing the dark earth. The windows of the building cast a dim light onto the street and looked like the eyes of some terrifying beast. Paul watched as absolutely nothing actually seemed to happen for what seemed like an eternity. Finally the young woman came out, holding her stomach with her hand, obviously in pain. Every movement presented a difficulty for her, and it was apparent even under the tight cape that enveloped her body. Only now did it begin to occur to Paul that the building in question resembled a hospital. As if to confirm his fears, a terrible bolt of lightning illuminated her sign, ‘St. Joseph's Clinic,’ spelled out in strange and even frightening gothic letters.

Suddenly the whole picture dimmed, like a reflection in water that has been shattered by a stone thrown at it. Paul felt some force trying to tear him away from here. Some distant voice, insistently calling his name, urging him on.

- Paul, Paul, wake up, Paul.

The voice was strangely reminiscent of Mark's, but different. Paul listened intently. No it wasn't Mark's voice, there was something strange and inhuman about it.

- Only the pure in heart come through to the other side. Only they get to the absolute truth.

- 'Who are you? Or what?,' the sniper tried to speak in a calm voice. 'And is all this here real at all?'

- 'It couldn't be more real, Paul.,' the voice replied with a subtle sneer.

- 'What happened to my friends?,' Zolsky sounded a little nervous now.

- 'Your friends are not your concern now, Paul.,' the voice replied seriously with some tension. 'But they're fine...for now.'

- What do you mean?

- Everything in its time, everything in its time. The only thing I can tell you at this point is that your part in this whole thing may be a lot more important than you think.

^^^

Paul woke up in an unfamiliar place. In fact, he couldn't even tell where he was, even though he was awake. All around him, however, there was not darkness,