Глава 16

See? Death is not more terrible than living.

At the end of her vision, Yurodstvo is white and slender, not a trembling apparition, nor a hunched old woman.

Whatever its appearance, it will continue to exist, as long as a single person believes in it.

The cause is not here. It is somewhere else.

Time starts flowing again. Mantra looks around, and her reason and emotion fight a war in her head, arguing about whether to try to fix the error, or beat a retreat.

Soon, she makes up her mind.

Elysium.

Right here!

I need you to use thermal imaging to mark the location from the outside. Connect me to every miner here.

Can you do it?

Of course—

You got it!

The woman's cold voice appears in every miner's head.

The instant that the connection is made, she realizes that these people can no longer endure any more shocks from mental Arts.

She can only keep out Yurodstvo for so long. Time is of the essence.

Perhaps this will be cruel to you. But I believe it's necessary to reveal the truth.

If this exodus began out of despair and manipulation, then you should at least decide your own ending.

Who's... talking?

How did I end up back here...?

We're not here! We ran away with Rankin—we cut out the chips and got away!

This isn't real.

You're half-correct. This is not the truth of the present, but of the past.

You killed the one on the ground. Yes or no?

Yes, yes! We killed him... Rankin killed him!

I thought Rankin was a hero. He said he would take us to a place where the Infected won't be looked down on, but he abandoned us in the end...

So you validated the truth of this scene.

I was there! I saw it. We killed and defiled our own soul...

Look again.

Tell me. Who is it?

Nadia, Vetochki's babushka. Everyone in the mines respected her, even the guards.

You respected her too. In the way that you respect your elders, or in the way that you respect a statue of a god?

There's little difference, if you live to her age in the mines.

She stood among you. She joined the revolt.

No, she didn't. She wasn't there... no one would ask an old woman to fight.

She's here? Who is she looking at? Is she mourning the fallen? Why would she mourn a murderer?

Because it was she who killed him.

What?

Rankin and your group never killed the last one who fell.

What killed him was his hubris, and the one who created the illusion, making you blame yourself for his death.

'Yurodstvo.'

Vetochki stands by the door. She wants to leave, but her feet will not move. She wants to look straight ahead, but she does not have the courage.

She can only look down at the watch in her hand, watching the hands tick and tock, moving to the next number.

What time is it? Which one is the hour hand, and which one is the minute hand? What about the extra one?

Mama said not to sleep in the snow. You'll get cold and pass out, and heavy snow can kill.

Rankin said not to doze off in the mines. You'll faint if the air is stale, and air that you can't see will burn.

But this isn't the snow or the mines. Can we sleep here, rest here?

Who can...

Save us?

Babushka is gone. It's not Babushka Nadia standing there.

No...

Not here. Rest, but not in someone else's home. Sleep, but not because you've lost the strength to live.

Don't sleep. Don't rest.

We'll...

Save ourselves.

She steadies the hastily-forged shield. The bell that she rang to warn the others to evacuate the mines hangs from it.

Vetochki swings her pickaxe and rings it again.

...So she's really the Yurodstvo?

I heard you worship her like the Yurodstvo.

She's the Yurodstvo... she saved us! It all makes sense now.

She comforted us, shared our pain... she was always with us.

Where were you back then?

Then she should save you now.

The miners look to the Yurodstvo. It stands silent like a statue.

Maybe we sinned too much.

No.

The victimizer, the one who deceived and caused pain, wants the victim to endure and submit. It has always been so. You do not see any path other than to obey.

It's not your fault.

Do you mean that we can still be saved?

Oh, shut it, Vasya. Does it even matter now?

Yes, you can be saved.

If you leave here and continue your journey.

Choose to live, when living may be worse than dying.

Hah. Get lost.

I thought you were going to say something new. If that's all, then I would rather die with my corpse intact, and I'm sure everyone else—

Bells? Who's ringing the bells?

It's Vetochki...

Sounds like someone has made a choice.

Vetochki silently rings the bell, even though it does not sound the way it used to.

She rings it again and again, until someone stands up.

Is our shift over?

Our shift's over.

I want to leave here.

I want to go home...

More and more people stand up from the ground, step away from the walls, and their figures begin to drown out the white at the end of the house.

The Yurodstvo's figure trembles, passing through Mantra and the people standing up in the house.

It comes before Vetochki.

<i>Child</i>.

Vetochki looks down and does not answer the call.

She continues to ring the bell, until everyone is roused, and a dazed smile appears on their faces.

<i>Spasibo,</i> Vetochki.

Go back, Vetochki. Don't stay here too long.

Vetochki—

No, I...

I'm not going back.

Vetochki?

Vetochki gazes straight ahead—her companions stop smiling, and the figure of Yurodstvo is now nearly transparent.

She said, no.

We're not going back.

We'll leave, and we'll live.

Until living, isn't the only thing, we care about, anymore.