Hin rode at the head of the mounted troop, on the whole his hopes were fulfilled, Dima was not pampered or cowardly, the guy could stand up for himself, certainly not without flaws, but this was material to work with, Hin turned his head back, Min was riding right behind him, the guy behind him looked dejected, and tried to look down at the ground.
And Hin was in agreement with him, the scenery was bleak, even though the weather was clear and sunny, there was something wrong with the scenery, during their journey they often came across unremarkable looking people wandering somewhere along the road. The vagrants seemed to ignore the whole string of riders, and moved away without looking up.
On the edges of the road were scattered numerous villages, which did not differ from the one Dima had fallen into, thatched roofs rotten in places, and the same half-rotten walls, and people grey, depressed and looking at the floor all the time.
Dima couldn't help noticing it either, the passing scenery caused him another attack of despondency, and one question ran through his mind time after time. 'Why am I here?'
They drove for quite a long time, and closer to lunchtime their group reached their destination.
"We're pulling up." Min shouted at him. Dima noticed it without his comment, the massive building stood out in comparison to everything Dima had seen in this kingdom before. The monastery was huge, simply huge, the massive thick stone walls commanding respect by their mere appearance. The pitched roofs of oriental houses were a bit out of the architectural style, but it didn't bother the guy, he looked at this giant as if mesmerised.
The group drove closer and the details were revealed to the guy, the walls that impressed him so much were cracked, in some places covered with plaster, but apparently it was not enough for all the cracks, the grey marble, whether from time or from the carelessness of the local inhabitants lost its colour and painted in half-black tones.
'There is definitely something wrong with this kingdom, okay the peasants are begging, but their oppressors don't look particularly prosperous either, what is going on here anyway.'
The group drove up to the massive gate, a couple of minutes later the metal grate, all rusty and creaking, lifted up. The group drove into the courtyard, and there were all sorts of people, men and women, all busy doing something, but when the abbot and the group appeared, they bowed deeply and waited patiently.
The abbot, got off his horse and nodded, the crowd quickly revived and went back to their business. Hin walked over to Dima and Min and said.
"Take our guest to the guest quarters, let them serve him dinner," Hin turned his gaze to Dima, "I will send for you in the evening, so be ready, we have much to discuss."
Dima nodded, the guy was curious, he had too many questions, but the urgent thing was forward, the guy got off the horse following Min, the guys entered the monastery, Dima thought that the corridors would never end, they walked for five minutes, but Min went forward like a tank, for a moment Dima thought that his guide himself did not know where they were going.
"Min, we are going in the right direction, I think this corridor we have already passed." Dima didn't particularly like his guide, arrogant and mean, but especially his name, Min. 'Just like that bloke,' the image of that brigand appeared in front of the guy's face, and he shuddered.
"We're going the right way, don't piss me off, we'll be there soon."
"If you're lost, just tell me, I don't want to go round in circles." Min turned to Dima, in the eyes of the young monk read anger, he came close to the guy, from what his fists instinctively clenched.
"Now listen to me carefully, I don't know why the abbot needs you, but remember you are a guest here, and I advise you to keep your discontent to yourself."
"And what if I refuse," the guy's eyes were bloodshot, the atmosphere was heated to the limit, both young guys were ready to break into a bloody scuffle, the fighters were interrupted by a couple of monks who entered the corridor, Min retreated, and angrily hummed and turned around and went on.
"Now we've talked." Dima said quietly and followed the young monk.
...
Hin sat in his office, actively thinking about the situation. As soon as the envoy of Chorus entered the walls of his monastery, it was as if a mountain had been thrown off his shoulders and two more were immediately thrown on. Tired both physically and mentally, the man leaned back in his chair and took out his pipe and smoked. Min didn't usually smoke in his office, but today was a special occasion.
'We are finally smiling luck, year after year the situation worsened, we suffered under the rule of an autocrat, but even the greatest patience sooner or later comes to an end, we have been preparing hard for this moment, so why am I worried about a strange sense of threat, and it's not about the guy, the Choir chose him, even if now he did not show any super gifts, it does not mean that he will not reveal himself in the future.'
The letter he had been so unceremoniously distracted from reading this morning came into view.
"It was not good to ignore the aspirations of an old friend, especially if they were marked urgent." Hin reached for the letter, opening the seal he unfolded the message and began to read. With each line he read his eyes widened more and more, after reading the message to the end the man set the paper aside and began to write a reply letter.
...
Min led him into a small room, it looked pretty good, by local standards of course, a cubbyhole of five by three metres, with a bed, a chair and a table, in the corner of the room stood a small wardrobe, Dima took a step forward, but he was pulled away by Min's shoulder.
"Dinner will be brought in an hour, then they'll come for you, until then sit here, and don't look away."
"Got it." Said Dima nodded additionally. Min stepped back and let the boy into the room and closed the door. Waiting until the sounds of footsteps, Dima gave vent to his emotions.
"What a jerk," said Dima, and quickly chased away the negative thoughts and fell on the bed.
"It's not bad at all." Dima expected much less, but to his surprise the bed was quite soft and comfortable, the guy quite turned over and staring at the ceiling started his monologue.
"Yes... I still can't believe that I was in another world, or maybe it's just a prolonged dream," the guy pinched his cheek.
"Ouch." The guy spared no effort, and the pinch was tangible, and, of course, nothing changed.
"So it's not a dream, so we'll dance from what we have, the guy lazily looked around the room, his attention was attracted by the window, but they were on the fourth floor, and without a rope there was definitely nothing to catch here."
"What if, Dima jumped up from the bed and carefully opened the door, to his surprise the hinges did not creak." Thanks to the local carpenter for a job well done.
The guy carefully stuck his head out and looked around, there was no one near the door, but at the two ends of the corridor stood armed monks, they looked no different from those seen earlier, and the guy quickly lost interest in looking at them, and returned to the room.
"It turns out that running away is not an option, in this case we can only hope for fate and luck, as always in principle."
The guy plumped down on the bed again, his back was very hungry for softness. Dima looked at the wall and pondered. 'I wonder why Khor chose me, I understand to call some strategist, warrior, at least scientist, but he chose me, I wonder why.'
And then an interesting thought crept into Dima's head: 'Why not ask the Chorus himself?
Encouraged the guy got up and sat on the bed in lotus pose, pushing away unnecessary thoughts he closed his eyes and concentrated.
'Chorus, answer me.' - Dimitri asked mentally, after waiting for a couple of minutes and not getting an answer the guy was not upset, who said that the Deity had no other things to do. The guy tried again. Each time he was more and more assertive, changing his behaviour.
"Chorus answer the question of your messenger!" Dima said loudly and clearly, the guy was absolutely concentrated and calm at the same time, his thoughts were gathered like broomsticks, and his body was as relaxed as possible.
'I guess that's what meditation is... It's basically a normal thing.' The guy thought to himself, he had never felt so strange before, and this feeling of strange emptiness inside was quite pleasant. The guy didn't notice how the world around him faded, the sunlight from the small window faded and became more like the light of a neon lamp.
"Greetings, messenger." Hundreds of monstrous voices spoke loudly.
"And hello to you Chorus, is there anything you want to tell me." The guy's eyes were closed, but he literally felt the changes in the environment with his sixth sense. And now Chorus' voices did not frighten him, but on the contrary fuelled the fire of curiosity in him.
"We are satisfied that you have fulfilled our instructions, even if your path was thorny, but you have passed this test with dignity." The voices spoke calmly, but in some of them you could hear joy, scepticism, and even gloating.
"And to be more specific, the route could not be laid out, I was almost killed, if you have not noticed." Dima did not dislike Chorus, for him he was like the elements, well, would a man shout at the sea after a tsunami, and even if he would, there would be no sense in it, but the guy still had a small residue.
"You choose your own path, we only give you hints." The voices sang monotonously, as if this phrase was as common and constant as the famous McDonald's 'Free Cash Register'. Which, of course, was pointed out by Dima.
"Do you say that to everyone, to the messenger, or am I so special."
"Don't exaggerate your importance, messenger, you're just a lonely grain of sand in the desert."
"So I'm not the only one here, that's interesting."
"No, you're not." The voices by their tone clearly signalled the necessity of stopping this topic. And Dima, naturally, continued.
"You told me about it yourself, and just now."
"You misunderstood us."
"Chorus, I don't want to be rude, but you're... how to put it mildly... fucking up." The voices whispered disapprovingly, and the atmosphere in the room quickly grew tense. A tense pause lasted for a couple of minutes, and it was interrupted by Glee.
"All right, I admit you've fooled us, you're not the first, but you may be the last."
"Now, can you elaborate on that one."
"No. You're not ready." Chorus cut the kid off.
"Why not?" exclaimed Dima with obvious annoyance in his voice.
"Because?"
"Because, you can answer more specifically, instead of throwing plaster on the fan."
"I can, but I don't want to, believe me, I'm interested in your success as much as you are... and in general, be grateful to us, we gave you a second chance."
"Thank you, of course, but I am dissatisfied with the quality of services provided, where can I leave a complaint?" Dima loaded the god with stupid questions with one specific purpose, any information was useful to him, and in his heart the guy hoped for one more reservation.
"You can leave a complaint to the name of the creator of all things, whose working hours will begin after the destruction of the entire universe, you will need a certificate of employment, education, residence registration, your complaint will be considered during 100 million working years, without days off, to apply for clarification of the status of the complaint can be every even Monday, odd month from 15.00 to 15.05. Thank you for using the services of JSC 'Chorus'."
"AAA." That was all Dima could squeeze out of himself.
"You're not the only one who can be sarcastic." hundreds of voices reported back with undisguised schadenfreude.
The guy had no time to finish the sentence, he was interrupted by a knock at the door, he instinctively opened his eyes, there was no sign of Chorus.
The boy glanced warily towards the exit of the room.