Hello

"Hello. It's good you're awake." The voice fell silent.

The speaker was clearly waiting for some signal from me. And I didn't want to get up. I was thinking about my unpainted nails, about breakfast, about that handsome Adam, about the meaning of what I'd just heard... Wait! I couldn't hear a thing! There's no one in the house. I moved out of my parents' house a long time ago. My brother left and will be back in a week. There can't be anyone else here. So I'm still asleep. Good too. I rolled over. Something was standing right next to my bed. It resembled a large blue cat with wings. If I hadn't known it was a dream, I would have started screaming.

"I'm Aldera," it said.

I thought she had a rather pleasant voice. It sounded a bit like a grandmother who tells a story to her grandchildren every night. I didn't have a grandmother. One had died, and the other was the opposite of a good grandmother. Between us, she was more like a Baba Yaga. That's probably why, without thinking, I grabbed the outstretched paw.

I felt the creature's claws dig into my palm.

"Oh fuck, this isn't a dream! You're alive!"

If it had been the middle of the night, my scream would have woken everyone within a kilometer or more. But unfortunately, it was almost noon, so no one heard me. And even if they did, they didn't pay attention. My neighbor, as always at this time, was screaming, beaten by her husband. Her voice was much louder than mine, because she screamed every day, while I only screamed occasionally. It would probably take ten of me to match hers.

The animal reacted by withdrawing its paw, which was even less pleasant. Four bloody marks appeared on the palm of my hand. My morning visitor seemed even more terrified than I was. He stared at my injured part. Then he approached me. I was already on my way to the bathroom. I didn't want to stain that beautiful, gray-blue carpet with my own blood. It approached, and I walked away. I kept my distance. But my house, as houses usually are, had four walls (plus a few extra partitions). And as I was leaving, I bumped into one. So I acted like any normal woman in a hopeless situation. I started crying.

And guess what?

You'll never succeed. I was crying, undressed, unmade up, terrified, with a bleeding hand, and this thing approaching me, and in walked into the house...

No. It wasn't another creature similar to the first one.

It wasn't a creature unlike the first one either.

And again, mistake, it wasn't my mother-in-law, although that would be equally surprising—none of that, given the lack of a mother-in-law.

Who said "the most handsome guy in the neighborhood"? You? You deserve a reward. Adam entered the room.

What's so surprising about that? He was my boyfriend, I gave him the key so he could come over whenever he wanted. So I wasn't surprised by his PRESENCE, only by his BEHAVIOR. He came over and said hello. To that creature, not to me! Nothing mattered anymore. I'll KILL YOU!!!!!!!! We were so good together. And he doesn't even notice me, and he's saying hello to that creature! I was just plain jealous.

I wanted to use my injured limb, which for some reason didn't hurt, to remind him of my existence. I lunged at him, I mean, Adam. I mean, I wanted to lunge at Adam, but I couldn't, because that animal lunged at me.

I lay motionless beneath his body, which looked much lighter than it weighed, at least to my delicate little body. Only now did my beloved notice me.

"I see you two already know each other. That's fantastic." And how do you like Alfur, Alderka? "Isn't she wonderful? One of a kind!

" "I certainly am, but she doesn't understand anything. People are stupid, they just won't admit it. Help me. I accidentally hurt her when we greeted each other.

" "Accidentally?! Did you do it on purpose, you monster!" I reminded them that I also have a voice and they have no right to talk about me like I'm some uncomprehending thing.

"Again? You were supposed to trim my claws," he said with a slight reproach in his voice, the kind I often heard when I didn't do something, or didn't do it the way Adam expected.

I felt like I was losing my greatest, only love. Only, I was always the one who gave up. And first I'd break up with my previous, only love, and only then would I look for the next object of my affection. And he was the exact opposite: he's still behind me, and he's already hanging out with my tormentor.

"What do you think you're thinking!" I wanted to draw their attention to myself. "Adam, do you love me? Tell me, have you ever loved me? Why don't you say anything?" I knew it! You never loved me!

Only after a moment did I realize how stupid it must have looked: I was lying on the floor, pinned beneath the body of a strange, feline creature, asking Adam if he'd ever loved me. They must have thought so too, because they started smiling, and then they were laughing out loud. And laughter is contagious, so I couldn't help myself.

Finally, they stopped laughing, and my desperate situation hit me harder than ever. I felt my bladder tighten against my senses. I actually wanted to piss. And my beloved, completely composed, said,

"Alder, let's get this over with." I shuddered at the words.

"What are you trying to do? What are you ending? I won't let myself be killed that easily." Fear gripped me again. "Don't come near me, honey. Don't come near me, do you hear me? And get that thing off me, because I don't like being looked down on." And now you're looking because of the difference in levels.

I said something else, but no sound came out. Adam approached and took my hand. A shiver ran through me, as it always did when he touched me. I had no idea why he needed my hand, but I also had no way to protest verbally, or otherwise. I was supposed to start karate, but something always happened to prevent me from going to practice. Now I regretted it. And Aldera moved her nasty paw to my hand. And I suddenly remembered the four cuts on the palm of my hand caused by her claws.

"Right. Now run your claws the other way, and I can play tic-tac-toe. Oh, I can't! I'm right-handed. And this is my right. Unless I learn to write with my left. Or I play with someone... Of course I'll play with someone! Playing alone isn't for me. I play even the stupidest computer game with company."

My train of thoughts was interrupted not by pain, but by a gentle touch. I had no idea this creature's paw was so delicate and warm. When I touched it before, I hadn't noticed. The warmth grew warmer and warmer. It became hot. And painful. I wanted to withdraw my hand. I even managed to move it, but that was all I managed.

Aldera shouted to Adam to hold, and he obediently squeezed my aching limb tighter. My heart ached even more.

The warmth had become very hot and uncomfortable. And on top of that, I felt a sudden urge to go to the bathroom. Finally, the animal released my hand, and not just my hand.

The strange cat-like creature stood up, freeing my entire body. Then it staggered as if drunk, leaning against the wall. I did a quick mental inventory of my alcohol supplies and realized I had nothing to get Aldera drunk on. I stood up and tried to approach the creature. After all, even if he wasn't looking, he was my guest. And "guest in the house, easier on the horses." Or something like that, whatever. But I didn't approach because I was pushed away and fell again. And I felt like a woman had fallen.

And Adam ran to her and hugged her. I wanted to faint immediately, collapse, or die. But even my death wouldn't have made any impression on them for two reasons. First, Adam was too busy with Aldera. Second, I was already lying down again. If I had been standing, I might have fallen hard to the floor, but lying there, I was at a loss. But she took advantage of my idea and fainted, fainted, or died—I don't know which of my suggestions she chose. New strength surged through me. "Maybe she's dead?" I thought hopefully. But on the other hand, that possibility was also hopeless. I wanted to get rid of this unexpected guest, but in some normal way. And now I had a corpse in the apartment. Well, there was nothing I could do about it.

I remembered my injured hand and that I needed to go wash it off. I got up from my second fall and this time made it to the bathroom without incident. I grabbed some hydrogen peroxide and a bandage from the medicine cabinet.

My unfortunate, full bladder reminded me that if it wasn't emptied immediately, it would explode. And that wouldn't be very pleasant. I completely agreed with him. Oh, what a relief a simple pee could be!

Well, now I could take care of my injured hand. Or maybe I should go to the emergency room? What if the animal was rabid? Or rather, it was, because normal animals, wild ones, don't approach people. It didn't look like a pet either. No, no hospitals! People die there. Instinctively, I turned on the water.

I washed my hands and looked at the shelf under the mirror. The presence of the bandage and hydrogen peroxide puzzled me. It should be in the medicine cabinet. If it was there, I must need it for something. Oh, my wounds! I looked at my right hand. Then to the left. Nothing happened to me... Not a scratch, not even the slightest. Which means nothing happened. I had a stupid dream, that's all! Adam loves me! Aldera never existed! The world is beautiful.

It was only one in the afternoon, so I had plenty of time. I started work at five. I went to make myself some food because I would have starved to death. Adam was already in the kitchen.

"Oh, hi. When did you get here?" I greeted him, not very politely.

I didn't want him to look at me. He had seen me, admittedly, in various situations during our long, over three-year relationship.

It would be nice to finally get married. It would be easier for me; I wouldn't have to try so hard to keep him. Or maybe that's the reason so many marriages fall apart. That spouses think they belong only to each other and don't try anymore. And it's important for the other person to know that you care about them and about this family they share.

I cared about Adam and about love. Luck, so far, had been on my side. Too much. And that worried me. I didn't want it to ever turn away from me, from us.

"Hi, honey," I heard his voice, "I'd like to introduce you to someone. This is Aldera, my sister.

" "I hoped it was just a dream..." I whispered at the sight of a tall figure resembling the Egyptian goddess Bastet.

Bastet had a human body, only the head of a cat, while the creature standing before me looked more like a cat standing on its hind legs. It was the height of a tall man, and the beautiful color of a bright sky. And wings.

"Hello again. I hope you don't mind me inadvertently injuring you?" I anxiously examined my right hand.

"Explain this to me. Are you siblings? How is it possible that you're so different? What happened to my wounds? Who is Aldera? And why did she come here?" Questions flew from my lips at the speed of a space rocket seconds after liftoff.

"Slowly. Let's start by saying, maybe you'll finally say hello to me properly." I obediently walked over to Adam, hugged him, and kissed him

. "Now don't be scared. This should answer some of your questions." Aldera spoke gently, as if explaining to a small child, "I think you can now, brother."

Nothing happened that I could have expected. No blinding light, no riot of colors, no strange creatures. Quite the opposite. Adam reminded me of a black hole. I mean, I'd never seen one, but that's how I imagined it. It was such a strange feeling, as if all my energy had been sucked into him. I felt so small and defenseless against him. And to think that a few minutes ago I'd been kissing him. Fortunately, it ended quickly. And from that nothingness, or rather, from the material void, a creature resembling Aldera emerged. It differed from her only in color. It was the color of the dark, almost black sky just before a storm.

"Is that you, Adam?" I couldn't believe it.

"If you don't believe it, come here." I complied, not without hesitation. "Look into my eyes."

His eyes didn't change. They were that strange color I could never name. A gold rim surrounded the pupil. The color of the rest of the iris changed depending on the owner's mood. Green in moments of happiness, gray for neutral, light blue in anger. I know because I myself possessed eyes with the same property.

Nothing could surprise me anymore that day.

"Well, yes. So for three years I loved..." I almost said "monster."

"Monster." Adam finished for me. "That's right. Allow me to introduce myself and explain the purpose of my visit, as well as my sister's."

"I can't wait," I hissed.

"I'm Zaithe, the Darkness. If you'd prefer us to take on more human forms, we'd be happy to do so. Perhaps it'll be easier for you to talk to us." He suddenly began to care about me! How noble.

"Let it stay as it is.

" "As you wish. You already know my sister. She's the Light. We are opposites. Our task is to find a man who will fulfill the mission.

" "Then look for him somewhere else. I'm not hiding any missionaries. Besides, search my house; you won't find anyone."

"Zaithe claims he's already found one," Aldera said, silent until now.

"Yes. I think you might be the Chosen One.

Me? Why the fuck? I haven't done anything, I've always been good. How am I any different from other people? And what would I do?

" Aldera can read minds.

"Why did you tell her?! I hate you!" She lashed out at him with her claws.

"Relax. Read what you want, I'm not hiding anything. Besides, I don't know how I could hide anything.

" "I'll answer your questions. Whether you're the Chosen One will be revealed after the test. You're no different from the others. We'll talk about your task some other time.

" "A comprehensive explanation." I had the same question on the tip of my tongue. Unfortunately, Adam, this is Zaithe, was faster.

"What? Do you have a better one?" An argument was brewing.

"Truth be told, no." But it didn't break out.

"What kind of test is this?" I wanted to know

. "For three years I was next to you, watching you. I had to get even closer, so I took on the form of a man. The first thing I noticed was your eye color. The same as mine. When I set out, I was told that when I met the Chosen One, I'd know it was him. So, when I saw you, I knew it was you. Oh, how stupid that sounds!

"True," her loving sister interjected

. "Go on.

" "Now," Aldera began. "Zaithe called me. I'm here to test you. We've made a few mistakes already. We don't want to make another one. If you're ready, let's begin.

" "No! No, just a little more. Tell me something about yourselves. Or what the test is about. Or anything.

" "Zaithe, it was a mistake. She's afraid.

" "I'm not afraid! What should I do?

" "Let's go outside. I don't want to destroy your apartment. Maybe you'll come back.

" "Maybe?!?!

Ignore her teasing." Zaithe embraced me tenderly. I decided it was as pleasant as cuddling a human male. I kissed him. He kissed back.

We went out into the yard. For the first time in my life, I was glad I lived in a single-family home, away from other buildings. I even enjoyed that awful, untrimmed hedge instead of a fence! What if a passerby saw them?

I stood where Aldera had indicated. She was facing me. She held out her arms, and I felt a powerful blow. For the second time that day, I fell. The blows became more frequent and more powerful. In the distance, I heard Zaithe's voice. He was screaming for her to stop, that he would kill me. I thought with emotion that he cared for me, that I was still important to him. I felt the blows weaken, stood up, and, imitating my opponent's gesture, extended both arms. As she fell, I lowered my hands.

"Are you okay?" I asked anxiously.

"Yes." She replied, "It's her. Have you used magic before?

" "Nooooo..."

"You're quite a force. You possess great power. Perhaps that's why it was so difficult for me to heal you. You caused me considerable trouble. Now I must depart; my mission is complete. Farewell, Lady. Farewell, brother. Teach her everything you know. It shouldn't be difficult; she has natural talent.

" Aldera didn't rise. She became luminous and transparent. Zaithe wept. He threw himself at her. I felt the same power from him as before. His sister began to change shape. She transformed into a beam of light that emerged from Zaithe's embrace. He knelt for a moment longer, then rose and bowed before me.

"I am at your service, Lady.

" "Why did this happen?

" "She had to die. I found the chosen one, so she had to..." I wanted to hug him, comfort him. He wouldn't let me touch him. "Lady, that's impossible. I am only a servant."

"That's not only possible, but necessary." I know I'm to blame for your sister's death. I hope you'll forgive me someday. She said something about studying. What's that supposed to be? We returned home.

"Magic has become so rampant in the non-magical world lately. There are no longer any completely non-magical beings. There's some element of magic in everyone.

" "Good.

" "Not good." It didn't move. I stared at the small wooden block in front of me and tried again to force it to move.

"It moved. I saw it."

Zaithe tried to comfort me. And he would have succeeded if it weren't for the fact that we'd been coming here, or to a similar place, every day for days and "practicing." Today it took over four hours.

"Shall we go home?" Zaithe suggested.

"Yes," I replied glumly.

We once spent almost a day training, but I still didn't succeed. I wondered if Aldera hadn't died in vain. Because if I wasn't me, ugh, I mean, the Chosen One wasn't me, then did she have to...?

I remember how happy Zaithe was that we'd found the building we were now in, the one we were about to leave. It was an abandoned back room. The shop was still open, still in the same building, but in a much smaller space. And we took over the unused part. Of course, the owner didn't know about us, so we had to be quiet to avoid him finding out. The location was perfect, with a cinema and a restaurant nearby, so a stroll for two lovers wasn't unusual. Even frequent walks.

I took more noisy lessons outside the city, in an old barn. No one went there either. However, a couple of lovers heading in that direction was a strange sight.

My garden was out of the question as a training ground for a magic apprentice, because Zaithe, being a good boyfriend, or husband, as some claimed, which I personally neither confirmed nor denied, had trimmed the hedge, so it no longer frightened the neighbors, but also stopped protecting them from their prying eyes.

We walked home in a gloomy mood. We practiced every day, but it yielded no results. Besides, my vacation and my bank account were running out, so I'd have to go back to work. Oh, how I hated that! I preferred to spend all day practicing magic with Zaithe.

One adapts quickly to new circumstances. Now I couldn't think of Zaithe as anything but Zaithe; after a week, I stopped calling him Adam, even when he was in human form, which he was most of the time.

"I'll prepare a lovely dinner, and then a blissful night. What do you think?"

The thought sent shivers down my spine. I looked into his eyes. They were dark green. Since his sister's death, his eyes were darker, as if devoid of light. Perhaps it was true that in twins, a part of one is in the other. And when one dies, a part of that part disappears from the other twin as well. And since Aldera was light, the light vanished from Zaithe.

We ran home.

Dinner was as lovely as he promised. But the night… It was nothing like I'd imagined.

Zaithe led me to the bedroom, constantly caressing and kissing my body. I wasn't entirely sure what form he was in, sometimes human, sometimes feline, and sometimes in between—that strange dark matter—but it didn't bother me at all. He often shifted unconsciously when aroused. How he had to be on guard for the three years we'd been together before I'd met his other form! I knew that no matter what he looked like, I'd still feel great. Yes, I know it's very selfish, but in moments like these, I could only think about my own pleasure. A man would always manage somehow.

He threw me on the bed. I knew what would happen next. I closed my eyes and thought nothing. Okay, I tried not to think about anything, but the constant stinging of my unshaven legs was still there.

About halfway through the next sting, I felt something completely different from the expected pleasure, because something had entered me, but completely in the wrong place.

I felt something lodged in my soul. And I learned where my soul resided. It sat peacefully in what seemed like every cell of my body, at least that's how it felt. As if each cell had a tiny space for its soul.

And then it started pushing me out. Oh no, I won't allow it! This is my body, and I want my soul to stay in it! I grabbed onto myself as tightly as I could, and the thing stopped. It no longer tried to deprive me of my body. But it was still there, and I didn't like it. I wanted to own myself.

I focused on this desire, and the thing began to recede until it vanished completely.

I opened my eyes and saw Zaithe slumping to the floor. It looked very strange, as if in slow motion. He didn't fall completely, but stretched out his arms, or rather paws, and grabbed the edge of the bed. I was surprised to see he was in monster form. He never took that form when we were about to make love.

"Zaithe! Get up and explain to me immediately what all this means!

Why isn't he doing anything, just lying half on the floor and half on the bed? He could at least explain his appearance to me if he couldn't explain what I was feeling instead of the promised blissful night. And he didn't get up. I was really worried.

I hugged him and tried to feel for a pulse, but I didn't really know where creatures like him had a heart or any arteries.

So I lay helplessly, trying to remember something from my first aid course at school, but the only thing that came to mind was bandaging my hands so my fingers were isolated. Useful for burns. In this case, probably not, because Zaithe didn't have any burns, and even if he did, that cat-paw technique probably wouldn't have worked.

Finally, Zaithe opened his eye. I breathed a sigh of relief. I already knew he wasn't dead, because corpses don't open their eyes. And I really didn't want a corpse in the house. A beloved corpse, at that.

I reassured myself he was alive when he blinked. But I involuntarily jumped when he spoke.

"I love you." Couldn't he have found a better moment for such a confession?

When was the last time he said that? Four years ago? No, it wasn't him... Maybe... never? Possible? I think so, I don't remember telling him that either, so I probably never did.

"I knew I chose the right person." He interrupted my very serious thoughts.

"Did you ever doubt it?" I was starting to get angry. How dare he think I wasn't the right one?

"No. But now I'm more certain." The anger vanished as quickly as he could.

We started laughing. When we finished, everything suddenly seemed more beautiful, as if the alien presence in my soul had been merely a hallucination. Zaithe stood up and extended his hand to me.

"Come, let's have a drink. You've tired me.

" "Me? And how?" I asked, running after him up the stairs to the ground floor and into the kitchen.

"You weren't making progress in your normal training, so I had to try something different. Unfortunately, Aldera was wrong when she said you would be easy to train. You have a gift, but you know how to keep it perfectly contained. It will be easier now. I touched your soul a little.

I didn't comment. All good comments on a situation always come too late. It was the same now.

To be continued.