"Even if someone manages to defeat the Inquisition, and sooner or later this moment will happen, someone will have to take their place. Become a new ruler, with whom others will fight. Aah have killed not a single thousand metentises of darkness, aah have fought against those who rule Agernox… And then a lapse in memory, as if aah had fallen into a dream of a lifetime, and aah woke up when a hundred newborn children were buried in front of mah eyes, which we used… For the sake of an experiment that was supposed to bring victory ... what kind of victory is this that requires such sacrifices? Now aah understand: such a shock is caused by a false way. Go along the path and turn where your soul tells ye, until ye get out of the forest, ye won't understand whether ye were right or not. And so, aah got out and there is a clear picture before mah eyes – aah am at the beginnin’ of the path, and aah am now. There are no words needed here. And so everythin’ is clear. Aah'd rather go to the farm, away from all this. Away from everyone."

Matthew began to cry again, he could not contain his emotions, he repented, fell to his knees, no longer feeling pain in his joints, bowed and asked Blake from Tantoria to forgive him and take everything given to him, repeated that it took him too long to finally understand him, to understand why he did this.

"When you said "away from everyone", who did you mean?" Homer asked and tried to calm the old man down.

He turned to him and answered:

"Away from the evil that came to us from another world and from which everythin’ began."

"Can you tell us more about it?"

"Probably. Aah think so. At that time, aah was youn’, inexperienced. The events of the past are blurred over time, and the desired is perceived as real. Aah'll tell ye what aah remember. Who knows, maybe this will help ye… At that time, there was a metentis who was chasing power… He was honest, noble. He developed better than others. Many people thought he was a genius, but, in truth, he was just a hard worker. When everyone went to the bar after a long day at work, he sat down to his books. This metentis dreamed of changes and didn't stop searchin’ for new information not only about our world, but also about the worlds of others. As a result, he reached the highest level of metovis that I've ever seen, until now aah haven't met people who have repeated his power. He called beings into this world, at least that's what the witnesses told me. How he did it, I don't know, now no one will ever know, he left nothin’ behind. Okay, I'm getting ahead of myself. Metentises, especially those who were at the leadership of our country, were afraid either of him, or of those to whom he opened the door to our world. Of course, there was no question of any interaction. It is very difficult to convince people who are driven by fear of somethin’. The logic is this: destroy what you don't understand. And they destroyed this metentis, to such an extent that the body could not be identified. I don't remember the name of this poor guy. It doesn't matter anyway. Then they set about the creatures of the world of darkness, where, as they say, even the sun did not come out from behind the horizon, they staged a war, which was later called the "Great Metentises War" or somethin’ like that. In fact, initially all the metentises came together to destroy monsters with a terrifying inhuman appearance, but they turned out to be too strong. They presented each defeated enemy with a choice: a contract or death. The ranks of the first followers of darkness appeared. They were guided by the fear of death, and they rebelled against us. At that time, it became a common practice to see rivers or lakes filled with blood on an empty land. Everyone went mad. They were grabbing for their lives. Which is natural. I was one of them. The only difference is that I was just lucky enough to avoid this terrifying choice and join the metentises of light in time. And the more we lost warriors, the more their enemy gained."

"An awful thing," Homer said.

Matthew continued:

"Our beautiful world has turned into an arena littered with burning coals and hot sand. But we bravely fought not a single century. The will to live tirelessly generated unrealizable desires in our hearts, like a single oasis in the desert."

Matthew nodded his head, put his palms in the snow and continued:

"The will to live anesthetizes, dulls for a while oppressive volitional impulse. It is also present in you. I can see that."

Guillotine nodded his head and confirmed it.

"What happened to those creatures?" Ofir asked.

"With Gennox?"

"Gennox?" Egon shouted.

Matthew looked at Egon, still not understanding what was wrong with him.

"Are ye familiar with ‘em?"

"They come to me in my dreams. At first, I thought it didn't make any sense, but they came so often that I thought about this mysticism. And after that, I hadn’t met this name even once, only no one could tell me who they really are."

"Strange…"

"What is it?"

"I don't know how ye have a connection with ‘em, but ain’t possible to deny that it exists."

"Who are the Gennox?"

"They are the secret rulers of Agernox."

After these words, all four of them were paralyzed. They couldn't move their body or their tongue. The eyes were round, filled with fear. Egon fell to the ground and trembled.

"I remember them as kind," Matthew continued, "but most likely it was a mask. Now, they kill for pleasure. Extremely cruel and powerful creatures."

"It turns out that they forced you to kill children for the sake of an experiment?" Homer asked.

Matthew could hardly contain his emotions. The snowstorm intensified. He said very quietly:

"No. This experiment was directed against them."

"Then who made you?"

"No one. Aah took this step myself, not realizin’ to the last that aah had crossed the moral line and become like the enemy. Although even the Inquisition ain’t capable of this. They can do a lot of bad things, but aah don't remember any of them touching children with a finger."

"Who did you work with?"

"The name will hardly mean anything to ye. It was an inquisitor who was tired of the rule of this evil. He lived surrounded by darkness and died, having sunk into darkness… A sad story…"

"What was his name?" Egon asked, and felt his eyebrow twitch nervously, and a lump rose in his throat.

Ears were blocked because of a heavy snowstorm. Everyone's eyes narrowed, and the body was cold to the bone. The first snowdrifts appeared in small mounds on the plain. And it was at that moment, when nature raged, as much as possible, one name was called, which no one heard, then Egon asked again, and not just asked, raising his voice, but shouted with all his might. Everyone came closer, so that this time they would definitely find out who his accomplice was. The name was called a second time, and Egon involuntarily vomited, his eyes immediately turned bloodshot. He fell to his knees, put his hands on the snow, and saliva flowed from his mouth.

"Oh, fuck!" said Guillotine.

Ofir ran up to Egon and began to help him recover.

"What name did he say?" Homer asked.

"Metyr."