"Look mommy, there's an evil man", a small girl in a red suit shouted while holding her mothers hand and pointing at Vladimir. How has they got into this place, it was a highly important and well-guarded science lab in the middle of Siberia. Or it had been just a minute ago, now it was a small park in the middle of some great city, probably St. Petersburg looking at the fine houses, well they were finer than most Russian houses at least; several of them were falling apart, left unattended for half a century or more.

Blink.

Now it was the familiar laboratory again. Solid white walls, computer screens hanging from the roofs, tables, chairs, a bulletproof window showing an examination room. The small girl and her mother were inside it, still looking at him.

"They found their way inside here. We cannot let anyone know of this place, else the counterrevolutionaries find out where we are. Kill them." a voice said behind him. Who was that, Vladimir wondered.

As he turned around, he saw that it was Isaia standing there. Honourable minister of space in the Soviet Union, High-Leader of the People's Casters Union, or so the man liked to call himself at least. I am supposed to be the leader of the Magicians, Vladimir shouted inside his head, but there was no one there to hear him. Isaia had taken full control of the Union. Vladimir didn't doubt the man had done the same in the Space Ministry. He was a man you didn't say no to. But now there was no choice, was there?

"No, I won't do it.", Vladimir answered back. I will not become a murderer, or will I, he wondered in his head. The girl had called him evil after all. Was she right? Was she wrong? Did it matter?

As Isaia took a cigarillo out of his mouth, strange Vladimir though, he was sure the man didn't have one when he had turned around, Isaia drew a loud sight and started talking "And why not? Well my friend, you don't need to answer that question anyway. I'll take care of it." and he reached for the intercom. "I have just received evidence that comrade Vladimir here has been sympathise with counter-revolutionaries. Take him to the examination room and kill him. Oh, and kill the two persons already there too, they are enemies."

Before Vladimir could understand what was happening, all three doors to the room were opened, with a flood of soldiers in brown uniforms entering. They took him by the arms just at the moment he understood what they were doing here. He tried fighting them as they started moving him towards the door to the examination room, a door which he was sure just had appeared. Finally, when he was already in the white examination room, he tried reaching for the source, the magic source it was officially termed, but everyone called it the source by now. But he could not reach it. Something was in between. Then he saw something what he could only call tendrils of darkness reaching out from Isaia from the other side of the window. They blocked him from the source. He tried reaching it again, in vain. He could hear Isaia laugh from the other side of the window, even if he was sure this room was sound proof. Maybe it was the door, but when he looked for it, it was gone. Two loud bangs and on his right side the girl and her mom had fallen in a pool of blood. Then it started ringing. It was as his head would fall apart, the loud was so great.

Blink.

Vladimir sat himself up in his bed while the wake-up clock was ringing as the last day had come. It was just a dream he realized now, but it was a magnificent dream. Any other person would probably call it a nightmare, but not he. He had said no to Isaia, and that alone made it a more beautiful dream than he could imagine. Yet sweat dropped from his bare chest. He had to get a shower. He was one of the lucky few to have his own shower, or he would be later at least. So far they had only had five days on themselves to draft magicians, if that was the right word that is, into the Union. Only about one hundred had come so far, all of them volunteers. This base was meant to accommodate five thousand people, it was a military base, emptied five days ago, after it had been taken for the Union. Right now everyone had a shower of his or her own.

After he had finished showering and had gotten himself into uniform, the intercom found in all officers' rooms rang. I am sure that Isaia had created a weave, they liked to call the spells that, which showed him when I'm ready to go to work. It was no wonder if he had of course, something like that would probably be easy to create. It would be hard to spot too, the male magicians all agreed they couldn't see each others weaves any good, if all. The females, there were thirty of them, said they could see each others weaves quite good, and also know if any female was a caster, how strong she was and if she held the source. The males could do some of that too, but in a far smaller degree.

Suddenly waking up from his thoughts and quickly pressing the receive button on the intercom, Isaia's familiar voice said trough the intercom "Comrade Vladimir, I hope you had pleasant dreams. Come to the main compound, room 5B, there is something I wish to ask you."

Hmm, something wants to ask me. Usually he demands that I explain something to him, or does something anyway. I wonder what it is. I better hurry anyway, Vladimir though. It was good that most of the buildings were connected trough and underground net of tunnels, it was freezing outside. The floor in the tunnels even had a nice red carpet, he only needed to put on his indoors black leather shoes.

As he reached into the room, holding a cup of coffee he had picked up from someone less important than him along the way, seeing what was in the room, he almost dropped his mug. Actually he dropped it, but he managed to seal it in a weave of air, then picking it up again. But happy about how his reflexes had managed to use magic was the least thing on his mind. The room he entered was the same room he had been in the dream at. The walls, the doors, the computers, the window leading to the examination room, everything. There were several rooms alike this one of course, and the door to the examination room was missing, you entered it from the other side. But inside that room was the girl and her mom from the dream last night. Was it possible to change someone's dreams with magic. It might be, but no one should be able to learn to do that so fast. So far they had only learned how to do the most basic magic, using one of the four elements they had found the source to hold so far. Few weaves held two elements, none three so far.

Isaia started talking, at least he didn't have a cigarillo Vladimir noticed "These two were found walking at the outskirts of the base. I think that they may be counter-revolutionaries, fighting against the communistic revolution. Don't let them deceive you, many of the enemies use small children, even their own, as deception. What do you think we should do with them?" he said in a low, monotone voice.

Vladimir's thoughts ran without direction. The girl in the examination room was crying while its mother tried to comfort it. The two doors leading to the rooms beside this one were closed, were there soldiers behind them? Maybe, but then again maybe not. He remembered what had happened in the dream. He had said no, and he was about to die. He didn't want to die, no he wanted to live forever. Once when he was in his two year period in the army, he had been forced during the last half year of his training to fight in Tjetjenia, his commander had led them into a fight while shouting "Who wants to live forever?". He wanted to do that, and had hid himself under a rock. Ten minutes later he was the only survivor of his group. He had made up a fine story, which gave him a medal even. And he still wanted to live.

"If you think they are counter-revolutionaries, I'm sure you are right. We might have use of them living to tell us who their contacts are, but if you want to kill them, go right ahead." he said. Those two would probably die, but rather them than him.

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