The red brick building stood like a stubborn witness of the past. Its walls, darkened by Siberian winters, held centuries of history. It no longer shone as it once did, but it commanded respect. Every stone remembered fallen empires and generations who believed they were guarding the last reason of the state.

  The bricks seemed to whisper ancient secrets to anyone daring enough to cross the courtyard. Sasha shivered. Every step on the uneven pavement echoed pride and defeat. His limp worsened. He needed strength. He needed to believe.

  As if answering his thoughts, the clouds began to part. A shaft of light fell across the walls, illuminating cracks that told stories of cannons and soldiers. A warm breeze, carried from the wooden houses behind the academy, brushed his face. That fragile wood had survived decades of cruel winters.

  If it had survived…

  Why couldn’t he?

  The image of the professor appeared in his mind. Her half-smile lit up her eyes, a balm that closed invisible wounds. Sasha’s heart clung to that moment.

  The phone vibrated. It was no ordinary device: the murmur of the fountain seemed to follow each vibration, as if Ksenia’s voice had traveled through invisible threads of air and memory.

  —Hello! —he answered, voice tense, urgent.

  —It’s Ksenia —she whispered, close, almost tangible.

  —How are you?

  —Bad —she said—. Terrible.

  —What can I do for you?

  —Listen… —the silence pressed against him— and maybe… help me.

  Her words acted as a bridge across an abyss. Sasha felt something ancient and powerful awaken within him. Like a star riding through darkness, Ksenia offered him the faintest thread of hope.

  The wind stirred the black pines and birches. Birds fled their branches.

  A voice came from behind. Sasha jumped and turned. A man in a long dark coat and golden-rimmed glasses, thick eyebrows peeking over the lenses, watched him.

  Stolen novel; please report.

  —What do you want? —Sasha asked.

  The man didn’t answer. He started walking, gliding through the narrow streets of the old city. Sasha followed. Every corner pressed on his chest. Between shadows and flashes of sunlight, they advanced until the Gorodskoy Sad, the historic park, appeared.

  The gravel crunched beneath their feet like a secret drumbeat. The birches remained bare, their white trunks contrasting with the fallen petals and grass fighting to emerge.

  They stopped beside the central fountain. The water barely flowed from the last remnants of ice. Its streams murmured like millennia-old secrets. The breeze brushed their faces, insufficient to dispel the feeling of being watched.

  The man pointed to a semi-hidden nook: a bench beneath some pines, behind a small mound of still-melting snow. From the main paths, they were invisible. Sasha followed silently, feeling the dampness and the scent of mud mixed with the first green shoots. Winter had not yet left.

  They sat. The stranger leaned his coat forward, covering part of his face and a worn notebook. The air was thick with wet earth, growing vegetation, and a whisper of ancient magic, as if the trees and the fountain were listening to every word.

  —What do you want from me? —Sasha asked, voice tight.

  —To help you —the man replied—, as I have done all along.

  —Why?

  —Do you like chess?

  —Who doesn’t? —Sasha answered.

  —We are both pawn strategies in a larger game. Moved to open lines, block attacks, protect our more valuable pieces —he said, wiping his glasses—. Your room was searched. You’ve been in danger since you received the information.

  —They destroyed my room… —Sasha shivered.

  —Perhaps it is your salvation —the man said—. You were lucky with the judge who will decide your fate. But if they discover us… we’ll both be in real danger.

  The man slid two books across the bench. Sasha read the titles:

  “The Men of the Lyudí System” and “The Red Legacy of Kraínuye”.

  —Before taking another step —the stranger whispered—, you need to understand what’s happening around us. This is bigger than either of us. And the academy, the city… even the fountain —he gestured at the murmuring water— knows more than you imagine.

  Suddenly, a strange reflection shimmered in the water. Sasha saw fragments of his searched room, Ksenia’s gaze, and something impossible: a chessboard floating above the city, its pieces moving on their own.

  —Sasha… —the man said— the game has begun. And you’re already inside.

  The water vibrated, as if time itself were breathing around him. A chill ran down his spine. Everything was alive. Everything was watching.

  Then—the man vanished in an instant, leaving only the notebook and the books on the bench.

  Sasha stood alone before the fountain. But it was no coincidence.

  It was a summons of destiny.

  In that instant, he understood: he could not look away from the water, because it showed him not only the future… but who would move him like a pawn in the final game.

  The fountain’s murmur rose. A flash of light streaked across the park’s sky, forming the silhouette of something immense, something not of this world.

  Sasha swallowed hard.

  The game had only just begun.

  And losing… was no longer an option.