Song By Unreality

Chapter 13

"What inspires you?"

"Life itself inspires me! Performances in front of the public are charged with special energy. After successful concerts, new songs are often born."

(from Rina's interview to Art portal)

She was awakened by the birds, which screamed so loudly and hysterically, as if alarmed by a sudden disaster. And then a rook crashed against the window pane. Rina jumped out of bed, almost fell, tangled in the bedspread, and jumped out into the yard.

The sky darkened because of a black cloud that turned out to be a flock of birds. The birds were rushing chaotically, huddled together, flew apart again, collided and fell to the ground. At some point, the 'cloud' stretched out, turned into a funnel and rushed on, sweeping away everything in its path.

"Oh my God!" Rina exclaimed in fright and rushed back into the house to put on her shoes and put on her jacket.

Fortunately, Nikolai was still asleep, so she managed to escape without any questions. Already heading to the place over which the 'tornado' appeared, Rina thought that Nikolai would interpret her disappearance as an escape. And that's even better.

She wasn't at all surprised to find that the tornado was hovering over the river - over the very place where the whirlpool had appeared the day before. What has already begun has received the expected continuation. And although the informant was still silent, Rina already understood what was required of her. A portal began to open here, through which monstrous creatures could break through. It seems that whoever sent her here knew about it, but for some reason wished Rina to see everything for herself. She saw - at this point the line between the parallels thinned so much that the creatures inhabiting another world became visible for periods.

Rina ran up to the bridge and stopped. The river swelled up not with one, but with several whirlpools, bubbled. Rina recoiled in fright, but, gathering her will into a fist, looked into the water. The bottom, which until recently had been crawling with algae similar to giant braids, was now split by a wide crack, from which oily and black, like fuel oil, bubbles escaped. The algae had dried up to rusty tangles scattered on the silt.

Rina involuntarily shivered and, hearing an alarmed bird cry, looked up at the sky. A tornado of birds hovered over the place where a water bubble was maturing like a giant abscess. The tornado and the bubble were reaching out to each other like two hands, just a little more, and they would lock in a strong 'squeeze'. Rina turned her gaze to the crack and saw that it was spreading further, striving to reach the point where the tornado and the bubble were about to connect. And when that happens, the portal will open. She immediately imagined whitish creatures with long arms and sharp knife-claws breaking out, staggering to the nearest village. And they kill Liza, Stas and Galina. Rina even groaned at how nightmarish the vision turned out to be, shook her head and tried to focus on what was happening.

A year and a half ago, she closed a large and complex portal near Tivastopol. Then Rina specifically asked to include that small town in her concert tour. The organizers, of course, were surprised by her decision, but Rina had her own 'bills' and obligations. She arrived in Tivastopol full of determination, strength and energy, which she learned from enthusiastic spectators in other cities. Therefore, she was able to do what she did – close all the 'doors' open there between the parallels. But she didn't feel so strong right now. It will be happiness if at least for a while she 'patches up' the gap.

Recent sad events have devastated her, and her performances usually filled her with strength and energy. Recently, Rina has not sung even for herself, so her voice, weakened by silence, now sounded uncertain and muffled. And yet she continued to sing, imagining how she stitched the crack with large stitches. But with each false note, the 'stitches' were torn like rotten threads, and the crack ran further - to the water bubble, in which the flickering creatures were already clearly visible.