Alexander carefully came down the stairs, leaving the House upstairs with his terrible prayer. Downstairs, the others began to wake up, and their faces showed that the night was no better than his.
- What the fuck is going on here? - Hughtch groaned, rubbing his whiskey. - I had such nightmares...
- Me too, - Phil whispered. - I dreamed, God, I thought I really killed them.
Luke sat silently, staring at one point. Gil nervously went through the contents of the backpack, as if checking that nothing was missing.
"The Moder works with everyone individually," Alexander understood. - "Uses their fears, guilt, injuries. A classic psychological approach for such creatures."
- Where's the House? - Luke asked, finally raising his head.
- Upstairs, - Alexander replied. - And we have problems.
- What other problems? - Hughtch asked tiredly. - It's not enough for us to get lost?
Alexander sat down next to them and tried to gather his thoughts. How to explain to them what they won't believe?
- Listen, - he began cautiously, - what is happening to us is not a coincidence. Not stress from delusion. Something ancient and dangerous lives here.
- Something? - Phil asked again. - What are you talking about?
- About the fact that people have been hunting in this forest for hundreds of years, - Alexander replied. - A creature from Scandinavian mythology. Moder.
There was silence. Hughtch was the first to laugh:
- Are you serious? Monsters? Mythology? Alex, did you go completely on the roof?
- I know how it sounds, - said Alexander. - But explain to me then why all our equipment refuses to work? Why can't we find the way out of the forest? Why do we all have nightmares?
- Geomagnetic anomaly, - muttered Phil. - Stress from the situation...
- Fuck, Phil, - Alexander interrupted him, - do you believe what you say yourself?
At that moment, the voice of the House came from above. He sang something - a monotonous, creepy melody in an unfamiliar language.
- What the fuck is this? - Hughtch asked.
Alexander closed his eyes and tried to concentrate. Maybe he can show some new ability? Something that will help against Moder?
He tried to expand his perception, feel the energy flows around. But nothing.
"Damn it," he thought. - "My abilities work only against material threats. But Moder acts at the level of consciousness, reality, the very fabric of space."
- Alex, - Luke called him, - are you okay? You look kind of weird.
"I'm trying to figure out how to get out of here," Alexander replied.
- Why don't we just go further on the road? - Gil suggested. - Sooner or later she has to lead somewhere.
- It won't lead, - Alexander shook his head. - We're trapped. This place distorts the space. We can go for at least a week - we will still go in circles.
- How do you know that? - Hutch asked suspiciously.
"Because I saw the movie," Alexander wanted to say, but instead he replied:
- Intuition. And logic. Yesterday we walked all day on GPS, and in the end we ended up in the same place where we started.
Then the House came down the stairs. He looked strange - his face was calm, almost peaceful, but his eyes were burning with an unhealthy shine.
"Good morning," he said with an unnatural smile.
- Home, - Luke said cautiously, - how are you feeling?
- Great, - answered Dom. - Better than ever. You know, I had an amazing dream.
- Which one? - Alexander asked, although he already guessed.
- A deity appeared to me, - the House continued with the same blissful expression. - Ancient and wise. It said it could give us salvation.
- Home, - Hutch interrupted him, - you're talking nonsense. There are no deities.
- They exist, - Dom objected, and steel notes appeared in his voice. - And one of them wants to help us. But only if we prove our faith.
- What faith? - Alexander asked, although he knew the answer.
- Let's make a sacrifice, - said Dom. - One of us. Voluntarily. And then the others will be released.
There was a dead silence. Then Phil laughed nervously:
- Home, are you crazy? What victims are you talking about?
- I'm talking about salvation, - Dom calmly replied. - About at least some of us surviving.
- And who exactly do you offer to sacrifice? - Alexander asked in an icy tone.
Dom looked at Luke:
- The one who is to blame for our situation.
- What? - Luke didn't understand.
- If it weren't for you, - Dom continued, - we would be sitting at home now. If you hadn't been such a coward with Rob, if you had saved him then, we wouldn't have gone on this damn hike in his memory.
Luke's face turned white:
- Home, don't...
- Must! - Dom exploded. - For six months we pretended that everything was fine! All these months we pretended not to blame you! But I blame! We are all to blame!
"That's not true," Luke whispered.
- Really! - Dom got up and took a step towards him. - You could have saved him! He could have rushed at the robbers! But you shook! As always, he was shaking!
Luke also got up, clenching his fists:
- Shut up, Home. Shut up immediately.
- Why? Does it really cut the eyes? - Dom asked mockingly. - The coward Luke doesn't want to hear the truth?
- I told you to shut up! - Luke shouted and swung.
- Enough! - Alexander barked, getting up between them.
But Dom wasn't going to stop:
- What the fuck are you doing? - he turned to Alexander. - He came to us from nowhere, you make a smart person out of yourself, you talk about some monsters! Maybe you are the cause of all our problems!
- Maybe, - Alexander agreed. - But it doesn't matter now.
- How doesn't it matter? - Dom was indignant.
- Because, - Alexander took a step forward, hovering over the House, - while we are figuring out the relationship here, this creature is getting stronger. It feeds on our fears, our enmity, our pain.
- A creature? - Dom didn't go away. - Did you see him yourself?
- I saw, - Alexander firmly replied. - Last night. A three-meter monster with a deer's head. He offered me a deal - I'm staying, he'll let you go.
- And you refused? - Hughtch asked.
- Of course he refused, - Alexander replied. - I won't stay here.
- Maybe in vain, - said Dom. - Maybe I should have agreed.
Alexander turned to him with his whole body:
- Repeat again.
- I said...
VLEP!
Alexander slaped Dom a ringing slap. He flew away to the wall, holding his cheek.
- You're fucked up! - Dom shouted.
- No, - Alexander said calmly. - Fuck you. And you too," he turned to Luke. "And everyone else.
He looked around the group:
- I don't give a damn about your personal conflicts. Fuck who's to blame for Rob's death. Fuck who's a coward and who's a hero. Now there is only one task - to get out of this forest alive. And when we get out, we can at least kill each other, I don't give a fuck.
- You don't have the right... - Dom began.
- I have, - Alexander interrupted him. - Because unlike you, I don't freak out, I don't fall into hysterics and I don't blame everyone. I'm trying to find a way out.
He sat back and rubbed his face with his hands:
- So, there's a way out. We need to hold out until dawn and find a way to leave the territory of Moder.
"Although the devil knows how to do it," he added mentally. - "There was also no clear explanation of how to defeat this creature in the movie either. Most of the heroes just died."
- Okay, - said Hutch. - Let's say you're right. Let's say some monster really lives here. What can we do against him?
- I don't know, - Alexander honestly admitted. - I don't know yet.
"And this is the worst thing," he thought. - "For the first time since I got into these worlds, I feel completely helpless. My abilities are useless against a creature that manipulates reality itself."
"Devil, bitch," Alexander cursed mentally. - "He drove me into a dead end again. Gives tasks that seem impossible. First, Creeper, who can't be killed, but at least he's a physical opponent, thanks to which I won. Now an ancient deity that is all-powerful on its territory."
But something told him that there should be a way out. The devil would not give absolutely impossible tasks. Somewhere there was a loophole, a weak point, a way to defeat Moder.
"But we need to find him quickly before we all go crazy."
- Okay, - he said out loud. - Let's get ready and move on. Let's look for the boundaries of the territory of this creature.
- What if they're not there? - Phil asked.
- There is, - Alexander confidently replied. - Any creature has the boundaries of possessions. You just need to find them.
"I would like to believe that this is true," he added to himself.
They packed their things and left the hut. The house was limping, leaning on a stick, but complained less than usual. But his eyes continued to burn with the same unhealthy shine.
"The Moder hooked him tightly," Alexander understood. - "Soon he may become dangerous to the rest."
They had been walking along the forest road for about an hour, when Gil suddenly stopped:
- Guys, look over there.
He pointed to the trees to the left of the road. There, between the branches of a large pine tree, something dark was hanging.
- What is it? - Hughtch asked.
Alexander squinted and felt his stomach squeeze into a lump:
- Body.
They came closer. A middle-aged man was hanging between the branches of the tree. His stomach was up, his intestines hung down, and his face froze in an expression of inexpressible horror.
- Fuck! - Phil cursed and turned away.
The hatch bent in half and he vomited.
- Who could have done it? - Hutch whispered.
Alexander carefully studied the body. Symbols were carved on the dead man's chest - the same runes he saw in the hut.
- The one who lived in the hut before us, - he said. - It seems that he was trying to appease Moder with sacrifices.
- And what, didn't it work out? - Gil asked.
- Obviously not, - Alexander replied. - Otherwise he would be alive.
"Or this is the result of the deal," he thought. - "Moder got a victim, but the donor was also killed. It's more reliable this way."
The house looked at the body for a long time, and then said:
- He did it wrong. It was necessary to make the right sacrifice.
"Home," Alexander said warningly.
- What Dom? - he snapped. - I'm just saying that you can see - this man made a mistake in his choice.
- Let's get out of here, - said Luke, still pale. - I don't like it here.
They continued on their way, but the atmosphere became even more oppressive. The body on the tree was a clear signal - they were not the first to fall into the Moder trap. And the previous attempts ended badly.
Another hour has passed. The house began to limp a lot and complain about the pain.
- I can't take it anymore," he moaned, sitting down on a fallen tree. - My knee hurts like a bitch.
"We'll have a rest," Alexander decided.
They settled in a small clearing. The sun was setting for sunset, and it became clear that soon they would have to look for shelter for the night again.
"The third night in this forest," Alexander thought. - "If the first one was reconnaissance, then this night will be a real attack. We need to come up with something. Quickly."
He leaned back on the grass and closed his eyes, trying to remember at least something useful from the movie. But only fragments surfaced in the memory - the main moments of the film, but not in one of them, there was no decision to kill the monster.
"Devil, creature," he cursed mentally again. - "I knew I didn't like this movie. I specially chose a world where I have a minimum of information."
But anger didn't help. It was necessary to think, analyze, look for a solution. Because time was running out quickly, and with every hour the approach of Moder became clearer.
In the meantime, he felt completely helpless. And that was the worst.