“Oh, there is Eugene over there,” said Andrew merrily.

As it turned out, Eugene was with his friend Stas. Having greeted each other, we moved into the unknown, or to be more exact, pitch-dark direction.

“They should’ve at least hung lamps here,” remarked Tatyana, once again stumbling over something.

“Aha,” agreed Kostya, “it’s not a residential area but a real steeplechase zone.”

“Why should they waste the government’s money for electricity?” grinned Eugene. “Besides, we already know everything around here perfectly by touch. Moreover, it’s unlikely that strangers would like to come to this area, especially by their own will.”

“And why is it so?” asked Slava anxiously.

“This place is unusual, remote. Not every beast will run over here, not to mention people. And dogs, do you hear how they howl?”

And really, somewhere close by in the village, a couple of dogs were drawlingly howling.

Tatyana slightly shivered, grabbing my hand.

“And dogs feel danger well,” he continued.

“Come on, stop scaring people with fairy tales!” said Andrew, trying to make a joke.

“They aren't fairy tales at all. Try to live here for some time, and you’ll find out what sort of devilry is going on here… if you survive, of course.”

After that statement, our good mood quickly disappeared. For some time we walked silently looking around. But no matter how much we tried to peer into the pitch darkness, nothing could be seen. Only dim silhouettes of old houses. And what was strange, there was no light there. Dogs alone with their mournful howls showed at least some signs of life in this Godforsaken place.

“Where are we going?” panicked Kostya.

“Where?” mimicked Eugene. “Right where you’ve ordered… to the black glade.”

“Where?!” we exclaimed, horrified, almost at once.

“Gosh, don’t yell like that” said Eugene, rubbing his ear deafened by our wild outcry. “I told you, we are going to the black glade.”

And stumbling over another pothole, he slightly cursed, “What the hell?! Evil forces try to set a trap everywhere. It’s very likely that they will drag away those who remain behind.”

Tatyana, who was holding my hand just to be safe, grabbed Kostya’s hand with her other hand. I felt how she started to tremble all over. Slava, slightly lagging behind after those words, quickly moved ahead of us. Andrew was walking silently and looked around.

“Where have you seen evil forces and a black glade?” Kostya uttered with fear. “Why should they be here? Absolute nonsense…”

“Where? Over there!” Eugene confidently waved his hand somewhere to the side.

“Why have we come here?” mumbled Tatyana with fear and trembling. “We could have been at home, without caring about anything.”

“But you wanted to learn black magic. And now you say ‘Why have we come?’” Eugene answered, shrugging his shoulders.

“To learn what?” we asked again all together in amazement.

“I can’t believe it!” Eugene made a surprised face. “Didn’t you know that Sensei is the most powerful wizard, so to say, the right hand of Lucifer?”

Now it was our turn to stare wide-eyed.

“Who? What? And who is Lucifer?” An avalanche of questions rushed on Eugene.

“All right,” our guide grandly stopped the torrent of our questions. “I will explain everything to you now. ’Lucifer’ means an angel of light, the right side of God. For the majority of people, he is known under different names. For example, Satan or Devil, whatever you prefer. He is a ruler of the Earth. Second, I emphasize once again that Sensei is his right hand. And his power doesn’t have boundaries. For him to bend spoons, it’s nothing. He is able to do such things that you can’t imagine even in your most dreadful dream! And third, you are very lucky that you can master what you want. You can get extraordinary abilities almost for nothing. Just for a soul about which you don’t know anything and you don’t even feel. But why am I telling you all this? You will see it now yourselves.”