Alexander woke up in a small London hotel, where he settled in a pub after a meeting. The first thing he did was check his new phone in search of something interesting. And I found something.
An incoming message notification flashed on the screen. Alexander unlocked the phone and saw the only message from an unknown number:
"A small gift for a successful mission. The limit is 10,000 pounds. Don't waste it on nonsense. - D"
A bank card was tied to the phone, which he found in his coat yesterday.
- Devil, you're an attentive bastard, - Alexander muttered with unexpected gratitude. - At least one problem has been solved.
He got out of bed and immediately felt the difference. Which he didn't notice yesterday for some reason. Movements became smoother, the body responded faster and more accurately. Alexander approached the mirror and critically examined himself. Outwardly, he looked the same, but something changed in his posture, in the way he held on.
Curiosity took over. Alexander approached the massive chest of drawers in the corner of the room and tried to move it. Previously, such furniture would have required considerable effort, but now the chest of drawers gave in surprisingly easily, almost sliding on the floor.
- Fuck, - he exhaled, looking at the result. - It really works.
He tried a few more experiments. Push-ups from the floor with one hand - it worked without much effort. The jump up almost reached the ceiling. The speed of the reaction became amazing - he could catch falling objects without thinking about movement.
But the most impressive thing was the aggravation of feelings. Alexander could hear conversations in neighboring rooms, distinguish smells from the street through a closed window, see the smallest details in the twilight of the room. The world has become brighter, clearer, more informative.
- If this is just the beginning, - he muttered, - I wonder what I will be capable of by the end of all these missions. If it comes, of course.
* * *
Alexander spent the next two days in preparation. Using the Devil's card, he bought high-quality hiking equipment - a backpack, a sleeping bag, hiking clothes, shoes. But in addition to the standard set, he acquired several special items.
He bought a powerful tactical flashlight, signal rockets and several spare batteries in the army store. In the household - a canister with fuel for camping burners and water-resistant matches. In sports - a good knife and a sharpening stone.
"If I can't kill a demigod, at least I'll be ready for anything," he thought, making purchases.
On the day of departure, Alexander arrived at the station earlier than the appointed time. His improved hearing made it possible to distinguish conversations at a distance, and his aggravated vision noticed details that had previously slipped away. Every sound, smell, movement - everything was perceived with incredible clarity.
When the others came, Dom looked at his backpack in surprise:
- Wow, you're seriously prepared. Professional equipment.
- It's better to be safe, - Alexander replied. - Anything can happen in the forest.
Luke looked better than in the pub - less drunk and depressed, but Alexander still saw a shadow of guilt in his eyes. Hughtch and Phil were discussing the route, and Dom tried to cheer up the band with jokes.
On the plane to Stockholm, Alexander was thinking about the upcoming test. He restored the plot of the movie "Ritual" in his memory, trying to remember important details.
"First they walk along the usual path," he thought. - "Then the House damages his leg, and they decide to cut the path through the forest. There they find that ancient house with runes and a mutilated moose carcass. After the first night, a real nightmare begins in the house."
Alexander remembered that the first victim was Hughtch - he was found hanged on a tree, but not by suicide, but as a result of the creature's exposure. Then Dom dies, then Phil. Luke remains the only survivor.
"Can I change their fate?" he thought. - "Save at least someone? Or is the creature too strong for that?"
He remembered the enemy's abilities. Jotun is an ancient creature from Scandinavian mythology associated with Loki. It could penetrate people's minds, create illusions, manipulate reality within its territory. Physically, the monster was huge - a few meters high, with a head resembling a deer skull with massive horns, and a body covered with something in between the fur and the bark of trees.
"Weak spots," Alexander tried to find them. "In the movie, Luke escaped when the creature was distracted. So it's not omnipotent. Tied to the forest. Maybe if you get everyone out of the forest at the same time..."
But he remembered that the forest itself became a maze. The trails disappeared, the directions changed, the group went in circles. A simple escape was impossible.
"Fire," he returned to this thought again. - "Great fire. If you set fire to a sufficiently large area, the creature may weaken or be forced to retreat."
The problem was that a forest fire could have killed them earlier than a monster.
* * *
They flew to Stockholm in the evening, spent the night in a hostel, and in the morning they rented a car and went north to the Sarek National Park. The road took several hours, and with each kilometer civilization remained further and further behind.
Alexander sat in the back seat next to Luke and watched the landscapes floating outside the window. His sharpened vision noticed details that escaped the rest - animal movements in the forest, changes in vegetation, even subtle differences in smells.
"It's beautiful here," Luke said, looking at the endless forests.
- Yes, - Alexander agreed. - And very wildly. These places have not changed much in the last thousands of years.
- Do you mean all this mystical bullshit? - Dom asked from the front seat. - Ancient gods and spirits?
- Something like that, - Alexander replied evasively. - Local residents still treat the forest with caution.
- Superstition, - Hutch waved it off. - In the twenty-first century, people still believe in fairy tales.
"If you knew," Alexander thought gloomily. "In a couple of days you'll find out that some fairy tales are real."
They left the car in the parking lot at the beginning of the trail and started the final preparations. Alexander checked his equipment - everything is in place. He also tried to feel the new ability again, but, as before, nothing happened.
"I hope it will appear when needed," he thought.
The first few hours of the journey passed without incident. The trail was well marked, the weather was clear, the group was in a good mood. House and Hughtch were joking, Phil was taking pictures of nature, Luke seemed more relaxed than in London.
Alexander walked in the tail of the group, using his heightened feelings to observe the surrounding area. So far, everything was fine - ordinary sounds of the forest, ordinary smells. No signs of supernatural presence.
"It's too early," he thought. "The monster will manifest itself only when we go deep into its territory."
By the evening, they reached the place of the first stop - a small clearing near the stream. We set up camp, made a bonfire, cooked dinner. Everything went according to plan.
- You know, guys, - said Dom, sitting by the fire, - I think Rob would have approved this place. He loved such evenings.
- Yes, - Luke agreed with a sad smile. - Do you remember how he always told stories by the fire? He invented all sorts of nonsense about ghosts and monsters.
"I wish he had knew what kind of shit you'll get into," Alexander thought, looking at the tongues of flame.
They talked a little more about the late friend, then began to disperse to the tents. Alexander pitched his tent a little apart from the others - if something happened, he wanted to be able to act without endangering the heroes of the film.
He lay down in a sleeping bag, but didn't sleep. His hearing caught every sound of the night forest - the rustle of leaves, the crackling of branches, the distant cries of night birds. But there was something else, something barely perceptible, which made his nerves stretch like strings.
Around midnight, the atmosphere changed. The usual sounds of the forest died down, as if nature held its breath. The air has become thicker, heavier. Alexander felt the hairs on the back of his head standing up.
"It's started," he thought, straining.
And then the world around him changed.
* * *
Alexander was no longer lying in a tent in the Swedish forest. He was standing in a dark alley somewhere in an industrial area. The familiar smell of garbage, exhaust gases and human sweat. The sounds of the city - the distant hum of cars, music from bars, screams of drunks.
"Illusion," he immediately understood. "The creature has penetrated my mind."
But understanding this did not make what was happening less real. He felt the cold asphalt under his feet, felt a tremor in his hands from drug withdrawal, heard his own heavy breathing.
Three men in expensive suits approached him in the alley. Collectors. Alexander recognized them - these were the very people who killed him in his past life.
- Well, Alex, - said the chief, the man with the scar on his cheek, - it's time to pay the bills.
- I have no money, - he heard his own voice, trembling with fear and drug withdrawal. - Give me another week, I'll find...
- A week? - the collector laughed. - You've been fucking talking about it for the third fucking month. My boss is fucking sick of waiting.
Alexander tried to resist the illusion, to remind himself that it was not real. But the memories were too vivid, too accurate. He remembered this alley, this conversation. It was his death.
- Please, - the previous me begged him, - a little more time. I'll give everything with interest.
- It's too late, drug addict, - said the second collector, taking out a piece of reinforcement from the jacket. - It's time to set an example for other debtors.
Alexander saw them approaching and felt the horror of his past. Helplessness, despair, the knowledge that there is no way out. He was going through the worst moments of his life again.
The first blow came to the stomach. The pain was blinding, real. Alexander bent down, suffocating. The second blow is on the ribs. Cracking bones, the taste of blood in the mouth.
"It's not real," he tried to convince himself. - "I'm in the forest, in a tent. It's an illusion of a monster."
But the pain was too real. Fear is too familiar. The third blow to the head made him fall to his knees.
- Such a pathetic death, - said the chief collector mockingly. - A drug addict in an alley. No one will even look for your body.
They continued to beat him, each blow responded with all-consuming pain. Alexander felt his strength leaving him, his consciousness began to fade. Just like on that last day of his previous life.
But something was wrong. In the depths of consciousness, the memory of something else moved. About the tent in the forest. About people who need to be protected. About the mission.
"I'm not what I was," he thought with difficulty through the pain. - "I've changed. I'm stronger."
Alexander focused on this thought, clinging to it like a lifeline. He remembered the electricity in his hands, remembered the improved physical abilities, remembered successfully completed missions.
"You can't hurt me anymore," he wheezed, raising his head and meeting his eyes with the main collector.
- What? - he was surprised. - What are you talking about, drug addict?
Alexander felt electrical energy beginning to collect in his hands. Blue sparks danced between my fingers.
- I'm no longer the pathetic bastard I was," he said, rising to his feet despite the pain. - And you're just an illusion.
The collectors recoiled when they saw the electricity. Their faces were distorted by surprise and fear.
"It's impossible," one of them muttered.
- Many things are impossible, - Alexander replied, directing the discharge towards the main collector. - It's not possible yet.
Lightning struck the illusory figure, and it began to disintegrate like smoke. The alley began to lose clarity, the colors faded, the sounds were distorted.
- You can't escape from your past! - shouted the disappearing collector. - You will always be that pathetic drug addict who died in the mud!
- Maybe, - Alexander agreed, feeling how the illusion is finally destroyed. - But I'm not the only one anymore.
The alley dissolved like a mirage. Alexander opened his eyes and found himself lying in a tent, in a sleeping bag. My heart was pounding, there was a cold sweat on my forehead, but it was safe and sound.
There was still an ominous silence outside the walls of the tent. The creature was somewhere nearby, watching, studying them. It was just reconnaissance, the first test of strength.
Alexander sat in a sleeping bag, wiping the sweat from his face. The illusion was so real that he still felt pain from the blows.
"Psychological attack," he understood. "The monster is trying to break me from the inside, make me experience the worst moments of life."
But the creature's plan didn't work. Alexander was no longer the person he died of. He changed, became stronger, got a goal. The past could no longer control him.
He listened to the sounds of the camp. An alarming breath came from the neighboring tents - apparently, the others were also experiencing their nightmares. But so far everyone was alive.
"This is just the beginning," Alexander thought, preparing for a long sleepless night. "Tomorrow the real hunt will begin."
Outside the camp, something big and ancient was watching them from the darkness of the forest. I was waiting for my time.