Read the book: «Siberian Light Mages: Chupacabra died on the Oka River (Story two). 18+»

Font::

ISBN 978-5-0067-6925-0

Created with Ridero smart publishing system

STORY TWO

«CHUPACABRA DIED ON THE OCA»

P r e f e r e w o r d

Here is what I write in my diary again:

There is a river called Oka in the Irkutsk region. There are many villages and towns near it. There are many wonders in these parts, but there are also some that locals can’t tell everyone about.

In the distant past, Siberia was a place of exile, and now it is a «gold mine for those coming from big cities,» as the older generations gossip. The gold turns out to be counterfeit – sometimes you can’t even buy bread for it. Those who are disappointed in life and career live here, so they go to the wilderness – beyond the Urals, leaving everything for money.They especially strive to get to the Irkutsk region, where winters are truly terrible frosts. Summers are rainy or dry. The reason for this is not the fact that they built a lot of dams, but something completely different.

The Oka River… It is about one thousand five hundred kilometers long. This river can tell us a lot. Which I will do in this diary.

Irkutsk Region… Here, unbelief, ignorance, violence and cruelty rule. It is enough to open the history of this place – take at least Bratsk. There, love is replaced by debauchery, even worse – at the so-called «parties» entertainment is valued first and foremost bad type, yes friends, and only then the future and the beloved girl. If she begs her beloved to go out with her too – and not just with friends – the guy immediately goes to his friends, dumps her. When I heard about this in January 2005, my blood ran cold. Here it is, a terrible example of heartlessness – falling in love here is very dangerous. If you like someone, you better bite the bullet, don’t go to punks or flats. Anywhere where dubious characters gather. The punks here aren’t punks at all: they’re people posing as them. These are mostly Dark Ones. Here’s an insert about Bratsk and its suburbs. Aren’t you scared yet? Then read on.

This time I want to tell you about a small village. But first, I need to delve into its past. SO, NOW SIT DOWN AND STUDY MY NOTES.

PROLOGUE

YEAR 1978 one thousand nine hundred and seventy eight

SUMMER

July. The mother of two children sat on the porch, washing clothes. If she managed to tear herself away from work and raise her head, a wonderful landscape spread out before her eyes. The huge Oka River quietly babbled. Somewhere near Tulun, the Iya River flows. Life there is almost as wonderful. It is very nice to live outside the city, or even far away from cities where there is no stench and odor, because there BRAZ (Bratsk Aluminum Plant) constantly spews smoke from its scandalously famous chimneys.

Two children were frolicking next to the woman – a boy and a girl. They were almost the same age: the girl was ten years old, and the boy was not even seven. They laughed and giggled, running near a large two-story hut. If you look at these little ones from the outside, it seems: there is no one in the world happier than anyone except her brother and sister. The housewife hung the washed laundry on the line and wiped the sweat from her forehead. It’s hot… She still has to go to the garden to weed the beds: there are a lot of weeds there. I wonder where her husband is walking now? In the morning, he’s always somewhere He drags himself along: sometimes with fishing rods, sometimes with a backpack, a bucket, knives, he hangs a gun on his shoulder. He doesn’t help his wife with the housework! He doesn’t show up at home until nightfall. He always comes back from hunting angry – there has never been a case where he came back happy. Now fishing is a different matter! He says – there are some very strange game in the woods.

After such conversations in the village «X» (I’ll call it that) strange things began to happen – people disappeared for no reason. No matter how much they looked for them – not a trace was found. He left and disappeared. They combed the entire forest – no trace! Only clothes were found on trees or bushes. This happened during hunting season opened. Not only the woman’s husband faced paradoxes, but all of them. Also, in the Oka River near the village there was an unnaturally huge fish. Everything was very similar to the following: nuclear tests were once carried out in these places, and that is where such discrepancies with reality arose. No one had heard of radiation in these parts: everyone believed – unpolluted places in such a form should exist. The ecology is wonderful: clean products, plants, air, offspring are healthy in every sense, do not degrade. Unlike Bratsk, Ust-Kut and Taishet. They live in the village «X» for a long time, never get sick. For example – in winter, cities and neighboring villages are mowed down by an epidemic of colds, flu, and the villagers don’t give a damn! They live their lives: you can sneeze on them with viruses, or not!

Another phenomenon was observed in the village among the people: if Russian people really like to drink on holidays, then the X-types can’t stand vodka, they don’t smoke. Not only men of different ages, but also women. There is nothing to say about children at all – angels…

In the winter in December – January, huge wolves roamed the yards and forests, no one knew where they came from. They disappeared at the beginning of February. Where the wolf packs were heading – no one was able to follow. Because everyone was afraid: what if they were killed? When these animals howled – it seemed that someone among them was trying to say words, but he can’t: his jaw and muzzle don’t allow it. Nights turned into mass madness. Residents locked themselves in their houses and kept silent. Not going outside even to relieve themselves. It could well have been like that – animals were walking around the village, tracking down their prey. Once, on New Year’s Eve, the husband of a woman neighbor (who was mentioned above) went into the forest to chop wood -and disappeared without a trace. And then those animals showed up. The state farm and local authorities were running off their feet, but all in vain. They combed the entire area – NO ONE.

The neighbor was very young – twenty-two years old, three months pregnant. The poor thing grieved greatly: she had found a good guy, she had just gotten married. And then her happiness disappeared! The husband did not cheat, did not offend. But he had one serious flaw: very dubious friends. After partying with them, he would show up home well after midnight. Fortunately, such antics continued once a month. But it was quite nerve-racking.

Winter passed, spring, summer came, time to give birth. One bad thing: a boy or a girl will grow up without a father. This brings harm. Harm – in the sense of fatherlessness. Nobody needs other people’s children. But the young woman is stupid – she hoped for his honesty. They walked and played, further – friends are more important. Apparently he had enough fun with them. They poured into his ears about his wife – and then it was gone. And to hell with him!

Now – about the good stuff.

In the village «X», about which there were many bad rumors instead of good, lived a young handsome man – a guy. His face resembled characters from medieval paintings by Leonardo, Raphael and other great artists. A slender, enviable groom with long golden hair, beautifully laid on his shoulders. For understanding I’ll add – he looks like Lel from the movie «Snegurochka». Where he came from in the wilderness is a big question. Everyone envied the young man: he’s playing the hero, you have to spite him! But: he didn’t look at women and girls. At all. Apparently, they got so fed up with him in his city – you don’t want to look at him!

But liked another quality of his: he loved to help. If needed help digging a garden – please! If you needed help fetching water – please! Of course, someone fell in love with OLEG ARENSKY – but the hard worker answered all the ladies simply and clearly: «I don’t like you as a woman, I don’t have feelings of love for anyone. That’s why I won’t drag you to the hayloft, girl! Do you agree with this? You shouldn’t bewitch and achieve mutual feelings in other ways: you will make it worse for yourself. I don’t want to depend on anyone, leave me alone! I will help with the garden, repair the house, chop wood, and nothing more, look for the rest among your own people.» With these words, he turned and left, leaving the women in tears and snot for a long time. VERY many dreamed of getting pregnant from Oleg. But alas. It is impossible.

In his free time, the golden-haired man loved to play the flute, wandered through the forest, swam in the river, and the young guy’s favorite decoration was an amulet – a giant curved claw on his neck. The size of a palm and white, with cracks. It seemed like there was nothing strange about Arensky, but one thing confused the suspicious people village «X», where the anomalies were raging – the light was on in Oleg’s house all night. What he was doing there, no one knew for sure. Only the ancient old women, who for some reason walked around without headscarves, looked angrily at the stranger. The wolves never came near his hut! They came into everyone’s yard at night, but they never climbed into Arensky’s! Strange.

Sometimes a city or rural guy, who knows, was called out to the huts in the middle of the night for a showdown: either someone was fighting there, or they were celebrating a fight… There was even a case when the host, drunk, splashed vodka in the guest’s face (he was probably in town) – and the guy’s skin peeled off in layers! Oleg remembered this story. But he couldn’t help but recall how he heard heart-rending screams from there:

– I told you! I can’t have alcohol!

– A purely Russian way to solve a problem with a glass of vodka. – The young man grumbled, standing under the ill-fated window. Then he went home to sleep again.

– Mom, Mom! Uncle Oleg is coming to us! – The boy cried out, smiling with joy. The woman, weeding the beds in the heat – when the sun was at its zenith – raised her head and smiled warmly.

– Hello, Oleg. How are you? – She asked the golden-haired handsome man.

– Not bad, Elena Dmitrievna. I heard – your husband disappeared in the winter too…

– Disappeared. Then came back – two months later. As always: they disappear, then have a good time, and come back. Well, you understand…

The blond narrowed his eyes – no, he didn’t understand.

– Can he tolerate vodka?

– What are you talking about?! Absolutely not! Even when I was steeping cedar nut tincture, he found it and poured it out. Sometimes he yelled at me, but he treats children well.

– I see.

– You’re from out of town, as I noticed.

– Yes and no: I’ve been living here for a year now. I came to get some treatment and take a break from the bustle of the city. Everything grows wildly and luxuriantly here, the silence is sometimes dead, and people sometimes do illogical things that are embarrassing to talk about later. I wonder what your men are doing in the forest, if someone is always finding torn clothes in the bushes?

Elena Dmitrievna swayed:

– Oleg! How can you say that!? You’ve become a young woman: green! Your stupid head won’t give your legs any rest…

And she thought to herself:

«You should get out of here as quickly as possible, Arensky: I’m afraid for you! There’s evil swarming in every corner here, I know that, but you don’t notice! Wake up and run away!»

Here the son butted into the conversation:

– Mom! Ira, my little sister, – is sitting on the porch and waiting for you to finish weeding. She is asking for help for our neighbor – she is having contractions! More precisely, labor. Very difficult, Aunt Anya could die! She is screaming loudly!

Elena looked around. She can’t come – her hands are covered in dirt, it will take a long time to wash, and time is running out! Why did Anna give birth in the eighth month?

– What are you saying there, my girl? – Oleg asked warily, approaching the boy’s sister. – Who’s giving birth there?

– Aunt Anya! – the girl shouted.

– Where is her house?

– Follow me, Oleg Arensky: I’ll show you everything.

The stranger rushed after a girl of about ten years old, the mother managed to shout:

– Arensky! Don’t go there! This sight is not for the likes of you! Better call a midwife – a fortune teller!

But he seemed not to hear anything.

A woman in labor was writhing on a rumpled bed. Her hair was tangled like tow, her face was distorted with unbearable pain. Sweat glistened on her forehead. It was clear: the baby did not want to come out. And Anna would certainly die if the situation did not change. A fortune teller was nearby: she had arrived first. It seemed that things were really bad.

– Push! Push!!!

– I can’t…

There was a knock at the door – Oleg and Ira arrived.

– Who’s there?

– I came to help. Open up!

Oleg asked the girl to stay outside and wait, and he opened the door and entered. The fortune teller immediately winced: she felt the Power. And the guy went up to the bed, looked into the girl’s eyes, and gently stroked her head. The magician is a woman. YES. LIGHT – ALMOST ALL THE MAGES HERE. There are only a few people. And they are dying out. Despite the Witch belonged to the Light, the room became uncomfortable to be in. As if it was not the Lights that had gathered, but the Dark Magicians. It was necessary to act quickly and skillfully – the child did not come out. At all.

– You’ll have to do a Caesarean! – The guy sighed, removing the claw from his neck. He took out a lighter and disinfected the instrument. – Don’t be afraid, I won’t hurt you! I’ll freeze you with magic. You won’t feel a thing.

He made the cut very carefully. At first there was no blood. Then his graceful, thin hand penetrated the womb, his fingers very carefully picked up the baby. He handed it to the woman. She began to cut the umbilical cord and wash the child, without even looking at its gender. The fortune teller’s eyes widened in amazement. He wasn’t scared!

– Look me in the eyes! In the eyes! Do you hear? Well?

Anya gasped and fell silent. Oleg stroked her head with his left hand, calming her down, stopping the bleeding. He blew on her forehead, kissed her cheek as a consolation. Like a lover, he ran his fingers along the girl’s neck.

– Who was born to us? – The midwife asked the boy.

– It’s a boy. A beautiful boy!

Having said this, Oleg winced. It immediately became clear why the room, where the three Light Ones were, was completely pitch black, why the woman in labor had almost died. No one except him understood what had happened. Arensky looked at the child too sternly. Yeah.

«That’s all I need here! What a shame, what a joyful thing: I just became the godfather of the Dark One! What a shame… The entire Dark Headquarters, when I return to Bratsk, will laugh out loud!»

– Another non-human – a magician. – The handsome man whispered, wiping the blood from his claw with a handkerchief and putting it on his neck. – Dark one. Sew up the wound! Why are you staring at me?! I don’t need anyone here, especially since the child is not mine! Wherever I go – EVERYWHERE they stare like I’m an exhibit!

Oleg could initiate even newborns, but extremely rarely.

«It’s still good,» he added, handing the screaming child over to his mother. The husband must have been a werewolf, because he walked away. Well, that’s it! That’s why we didn’t get along! He put his hands in warm, clean water, washed them, and dried them. «I’ll get out of here. Good luck.»

He left and went home, visibly upset. A week later, Enerik packed his things, locked the house and climbed to the top of the hill. He looked at the Oka. The great river beckoned to itself, small ripples ran across the water. And the Archmage, forever young, adjusted his hair, looked back once more and walked toward the road.

TWENTY-SIX YEARS LATER

SETTING: SIBERIA, BRATSK. TIME OF DAY: THREE O’CLOCK IN THE AFTERNOON. DAY: TWENTY-FOURTH OF AUGUST

YEAR: TWO THOUSAND AND FOUR

A. M.

– Listen, Enerik, stop laughing – finally! – Valyuk couldn’t stand it.

– Ha – ha – ha!!!

There was a terrible, wild laughter in the Light office. Everyone was having fun – from the tame vampire Thror to Andrey. No one seemed to give a reason to laugh. But it is known to be contagious. Five minutes later, everyone slid under the table.

And the boss – a Celt, a Viking and someone else all rolled into one with two thousand years of experience, with the face of a twenty-year-old guy – was bawling, throwing his head back. His light hair, like a waterfall, flowed down to his waist.

Having laughed until he cried, the Light One seemed to calm down.

«Light One, what was the problem?» Thror asked.

The Chief looked at the vampire:

«What the… did you come… hic… to Headquarters, Light Ones, if I sent everyone… on vacation?!»

He turned away and blew his nose. I poured myself some water from the carafe and drank:

– What’s wrong with that? We were also planning to go somewhere today. So we decided to ask you where. Mrak went to Moscow, his sister Valya is there too. The rest are sitting it out in the city.

– Why did I schedule a vacation so early, despite the applications, and September is indicated there? There are very few people in August. Everyone has scattered, crawled to their dachas, garden beds, resorts. Ours have also mostly left. And the Dark Ones too. Let the people think of something to surprise us with. At the end of September we will start working perfectly. – Enerik, After delivering the speech, I wasn’t going to stop laughing today. – Do you want to know where exactly I’m going? It’s a long story.

– Go ahead! – I waved my hand in agreement, closing my eyes. I knew: there would be chaos.

– I recently received a letter. In one village, not far from here by the Oka, something terrible has appeared and is giving no one any peace. Chupacabra, most likely.

– Chebura… – Thror asked again.

– CHUPACABRA! – the chief cut him off sharply, his cheerfulness vanished as if by magic. He opened the closet and took out a magnificent Chinese robe made of natural silk. This thing was probably three hundred years old. No less. Our Celt himself was sitting in shorts and a black T-shirt. This did not suit his ancient appearance and the beauty that was on his face The land disappeared a long time ago. Not the one that is being restored now, but another one. And here you go – shorts! Anyway, it’s clear. Our blond guy is pretty well preserved!

The robe is cream-colored, painted with special care and attention to detail. Every millimeter is drawn in the drawings! On the back there is an embroidery with a dragon spewing fire from its mouth. Cool!

Now in the cozy office all that was left was to unfold the sofa standing by the wall, bring Indian incense sticks, fruit and other food, a case of Tinkoff light beer, and put up a TV. That’s it! We could live. His Serene Highness took a watering can and began to water the flowers on the window that had managed to wither: they were standing in the blazing sun! The entire office was filled with them! Some were blooming…

– What other Poke… oh, Chupacabra?

– A monster, small and dangerous. But there are bigger ones. Also: in the Irkutsk region there is a place where there are a lot of ours. The village is called Ix, it is not on the map. The magicians living there – be it Dark or Light – UNDER NO CIRCUMSTANCE WILL THEY GIVE A PERSON THEIR SETTLEMENT PLACE!

Aha! That’s why «X».

For some reason, at that moment I remembered how I came across a tape of «The X-Files», and it told a similar story: agent Mulder flies to Krasnoyarsk, where he falls into the clutches of terrorists. Who, just like him, are studying an anomalous zone. The UFO crashed, and that’s how it all started. It’s always like that here.The story ended like this: the FBI agent went to prison and got out of our country thanks to a strange old man who was convicted of crimes and experiments on people.

What the chief said is more drastic than the TV series itself: VILLAGE OF OURS! More drastic than the genealogy of hereditary Mages! When a person turns into one of us, he disappears from the world of people forever. And if he tries to live his old life, he suffers greatly: becomes a stranger in an unfamiliar land. The ability of non-humans lies in their dissimilarity: they can thrive where a mortal cannot live. And where he thrives, non-humans howl. There is nothing in their nature that could satisfy a person’s need for affection, sympathy. If life brought together a non-human with a homo sapiens, the creature has to constantly supplement itself – with those needs and abilities that it is unable to master, much less get used to. And the result is disastrous (maybe that’s why people are evil, like animals – they are allowed too much?).

The magician begins to get sick, although the Dark suffers much less than the Light. This is compensated by great charm. Vampires and werewolves take advantage of this – at the same time, people, and even the Light, cannot help but be afraid of them, since the Dark constantly suffer. People themselves create this vicious circle, and therefore it is impossible to love only for appearance. Even our Headquarters Light Forces cannot constantly love the dying. They can only pity them, nothing else. I wonder if our Energizer has gotten tired of pitying humanity for twenty centuries, which constantly gets into trouble? NO, he even likes it, and Siberia too.

But the Dark Headquarters cannot endlessly despise and hate – there is not enough evil for everyone. There is enough strength to laugh, to catch the too trusting, impressionable and to pour into the ranks. There is a lot of such good in Bratsk. Thirty years ago, the Chiefs of Headquarters met in a mortal duel They challenged each other to a duel. On the question: who will get the city? The Light won: the Celt killed his rival, then prudently sent the body to the forefathers. The Inquisition did not even bat an eyelid: it itself allowed everything! Both authorities from the towers gave their consent to the duel. Before this, a tribunal session was held on the case of debauchery, permissiveness in the city of the Dark, the Dark lost the trial. It was 1974.

After some time, the winner (in order to rest from such a significant event) took a four-year leave, appointed someone as the chief, and disappeared. No one knew where the chief of Svetlykh was all this time. The fake «Oleg» began to travel around the villages, helping with good deeds and advice, restoring the spent forces. I drove like that until I completely accidentally came across the village «X», and it began.

The few people who lived there among our people unanimously told the newbie to get out of here while he could. It’s dangerous – UFOs fly over the Oka, people disappear and all that. They often told about the glowing balls over the clearing in the forest. Instead of leaving, Arensky began to carefully study the village and very soon discovered that this was the real habitat of the Magi. At first he was happy, but soon there was no time for laughter… He quickly realized HOW lucky he was: there are only a few places in Russia where only their own live.Maybe they even reproduce in batches. Contrary to the statement that said – they cannot reproduce naturally. They live like ordinary people. It is interesting to watch! Almost no one comes here, to the wilderness, there are few birds. Only huge trees rustle, people are almost never encountered – with the exception of those who live in «X».

They live, rarely communicating with anyone. It is understandable – it is scary here. Sometimes rumors circulated among the villagers about strange little animals – with a fox’s face and a dinosaur’s body. Like Pushkin’s lines from «Lukomorye»: «There, on unknown paths, are traces of unseen animals. There is a hut on chicken legs without windows, without doors.» Enerik, having barely heard the news, immediately understood – they were talking about werewolves.It soon became clear that stories do not come out of thin air. In the spring, while digging up the garden, he noticed a strange creature near the compost pit. He thought that the dog was digging up old seeds, but he threw a stone, and the creature ran away. It whined resentfully, jumping on its powerful hind legs. Its body was like that of a lizard, but covered in long, black fur. On its fingers were curved claws of such a size that they could rip open the belly of a cow or a horse. A forked tongue flashes between its sharp, long teeth.

The man looked fearlessly into the werewolf’s eyes and was amazed – HUMAN! Well, well. «Now a dozen of them will show up in the garden and ruin everything,» thought the Most Serene, throwing another stone at the creature. This time the creature squealed something, and although the words were unintelligible, several were outlined:

– R – r… rzaraplar – tissya za e – it! – And he jumped over the flimsy fence.

– There are so many evil spirits here…

After that, they hissed at Oleg – especially the old people. The dogs growled, the fortune tellers looked askance at Svetly with suspicion – but he endured and tolerated everything. He studied all the paranormal phenomena in the Oka River area. He was amazed at how everything was distorted. For days, weeks puzzled over what had happened in this village, which had become a refuge for thousands of its own – outcasts. Thought and thought, but could not decide.

– Fire ignites feelings, water quenches desires. When they meet, two elements become one. I still wonder who came up with this heresy. These are illusions. Such things can only be seen in our imagination. In real life – two opposites. – Enerik said quietly, smiling sadly. Now he looked very much like Legolas from the movie «The Lord of the Rings». There was no sparkle or joy in his eyes. He was remembering something that was gone forever. As if our boss had not had any fun that day. His eyes showed weariness – endless.

An archmage with a human soul… An immortal beauty – externally and internally. Tormented by mortal passions. The one who pushed you into the invisible World must have cried? He made such a guy Light! Taking away all the joys of human life, giving him eternal youth. Condemned him to an eternal existence in the world of evil people. That’s exactly what I thought, pouring myself a glass of beer. I wonder, who made it that way, right? And we were amazed when the Celt, sipping Czech beer, told a story that happened twenty centuries ago. It was strikingly different from the archived one. Why? Apparently, not everyone is interested in a real biography. And what if both were made up?