Ариана Баженова – Intertwined Fates (страница 1)
Intertwined Fates
Ariana Bazhenova
© Ariana Bazhenova, 2025
ISBN 978-5-0065-7460-1
Created with Ridero smart publishing system
All events and characters are fictitious. Any resemblance to real people is purely coincidental.
Part 1. Flame
Chapter 1. Destination – Saint Petersburg
–
I immediately realized that this was a dream.
Leaning my forehead against the cold glass of the porthole, I watched the huge white wing of the plane cutting through the thick gray clouds.
«I wonder where we’re flying to?»
«What do you mean where, girl? To Moscow, of course!» I heard a voice in my ear.
I shuddered – apparently, I didn’t even notice how I said it out loud.
I continued to watch the sky, endlessly stretching before my eyes. And suddenly I saw a golden stripe on the horizon. It was expanding more and more, filling with amber colors. I squinted and suddenly realized what the stripe had turned into – a raging flame.
«A fire? Here, in the sky?» I shuddered in surprise and pressed myself into an uncomfortable chair, continuing to watch the phantasmagoric spectacle in fascination.
«Well, what are you surprised about?» – the voice next to my ear continued, as if it really was reading my thoughts directly, but for some reason I couldn’t turn my head and see who it belonged to. – After what happened to you, you can’t be surprised at anything at all.
I froze, trying to figure out how best to answer so as not to look stupid – after all, I didn’t understand at all what they were talking about.
– What happened to you? And you don’t remember? – the voice sounded even closer, getting into the very depths of the soul. – I can read minds – and so can you. Have you forgotten? I understand – a broken heart is a trauma worse than a concussion. Psychological trauma can completely cut off the path to memories.
– A broken heart? Psychological trauma? – I frowned, trying to remember at least something – but my head was foggy, as if the past had never existed at all.
I made a sharp jerk and… saw a young man in an elegant business suit. The firelight was already playing on his face, reflecting in her expressive brown eyes, looking at me from behind her glasses. The flames were playing on the thin gold frame and… on his ring on his ring finger.
I looked into his eyes and held my breath, feeling my heart pounding with horror.
– Forgive me… – I whispered with dry lips, as if I had known this man for a long time.
– You forgive me. If I hadn’t broken your heart, you would never have decided to leave St. Petersburg for Moscow – and it was your dream!
I closed my eyes, feeling hot tears rolling down my face. And I began to mentally pray to invisible forces that the plane would reach its destination, to a new life, faster than the fire and painful memories of the past would overtake me.
***
The plane’s landing gear touched the runway of Pulkovo Airport. A couple of minutes later, a huge sign on a bright board became visible in the window: «Welcome to St. Petersburg,» standing out sharply against the bright cloudless sky.
«I can’t believe I actually did it,» I whispered.
The day in St. Petersburg was just beginning – the clock showed exactly nine in the morning. But I had already been on my feet for a long time: the flight from Novosibirsk took four hours, and I got up early to have time to check my things, have breakfast with my family, and pet my old cat for the last time. Our journey to the airport was silent: everyone felt that attempts to dilute the silence with casual chatter were inappropriate, and very soon the plane would take their daughter away from her parents and carry her to the other end of the country.
I got off the plane and stepped into the labyrinth of wide glass corridors of the airport. It was as if my soul was under anesthesia. What should you feel when you take your first steps in a new city, where you moved all alone? Excitement from the sea of possibilities that open up before you? Or sticky fear, confusion and lack of support? I remembered the last hugs, the farewell to my parents five hours ago. «We are proud of you,» they said quietly. My father, who gave his life to military service, holding a high position in the regional administration, did not give vent to his emotions and looked at me with calm joy. My mother, usually an iron businesswoman, could not hold back, and hot tears streamed down her cheeks. «I will miss you,» I whispered back to them and went to board the plane. As soon as I turned away from them, tears streamed from my eyes, which I quickly wiped with my sleeve. I picked up my luggage, took the handles of a heavy suitcase with the bare necessities for the first time and went in search of a taxi that would take me to my new home – a small apartment on the outskirts. The airport was filled with an unusual noise and hum of many voices, crowds of people flashed before my eyes, and I, awkwardly making my way with my suitcase between the groups of meeting and arriving passengers, squeezed towards the exit, trying to find my taxi. When the yellow Ford was found in the buzzing hive of cars, I exhaled contentedly, preparing to finally enter a new city and a new life.
Outside the car windows, high-rise buildings that were unfamiliar and unusual in their scale for me flew by, wide highways flashed by. I was no stranger to moving to a new city on my own. I had lived alone since I was seventeen: I went to study at a university in Novosibirsk. Perseverance, the ability to aim and achieve what I wanted, combined with flexibility, observation and strong intuition helped me to «put down roots» in the new soil without any problems, but only for four years.
I closed my eyes and plunged into sweet memories. The end of August, the warm, viscous honey light of the sun. I was standing on the porch of the dormitory with a suitcase in my hands and watching my parents’ car drive away, then I went in the door and climbed the narrow stairs to my room. A turquoise closet, sixteen square meters, one table, two closets and two bunk beds – and four first-year girls, so different in character, who had yet to get used to each other and learn to get along together. In the next room lived noisy boys – after a few months we became friends and were inseparable, spending evenings at each other’s, doing homework, cooking dinner in the shared kitchen with antediluvian stoves, chatting about life, supporting each other. Comfort did not mean much to us then, on the contrary, it was in these «Spartan» conditions that the strongest friendships were formed. We were all torn from our families, hometowns, immersed in a completely new environment and intensive study all day long – common trials brought us closer. Within the walls of the Novosibirsk University, surrounded by a spacious landscaped grove, in these ancient corridors to this day reigned the spirit of respect and the desire for knowledge. On the walls of the main corridor hung quotes from the Latin anthem of students – «Gaudeamus», carrying from antiquity the tradition of respect for knowledge and science. This city and the university existed in contrast: the slow and measured flow of life, cultural heritage, ancient architecture were amazingly combined with the stormy student life. For four years I gnawed at the granite of science, comprehended the basics and subtleties of psychology, worked hard to get myself all sorts of awards and increased scholarships. And at the same time I was learning life lessons: first love and the thrill of meeting his parents, my first job on weekends and between classes.
In my free time from studying, I did not disdain all sorts of work, so a tidy sum of money, earned by hard work for a bright future, flew with me to St. Petersburg. «I would have stayed there, but I need to move on, there is still so much interesting in the world. After all, I’m only twenty-one,» – this positive thought summed up all the bright years of my student life, I opened my eyes and again began to watch the landscapes of the new city.
I did not make it to the diploma ceremony in Novosibirsk. I defended my graduation thesis on mythology and archetypes in modern psychology with excitement before a strict committee. The topic is not the most common in the scientific academic environment of psychologists, but over the years of study I recognized that I was drawn to look deeper, behind the curtain of scientific experiments and theories. Knowledge of human psychology was not enough for me – I wanted to feel their character, motives, to foresee their actions. I found the answer in more ancient knowledge – mythology, where it was clearly visible what forces can move people, why they act in one way or another, and this has not changed for centuries – from the moment myths appeared to this day. That is why I used to sit late within the walls of the ancient university library, in the anthropology room, leafing through ancient works that shed light on the myths and secret knowledge of different peoples of the world. The committee accepted my work that day. But I didn’t share with anyone that I was increasingly drawn to studying magical practices that allow you to see and do much more. By the time I graduated, I had learned a lot from old publications about how magic works, but I couldn’t figure out how to apply this knowledge. I won’t lie – since childhood I noticed how my words and even thoughts almost immediately came true, and I understood that I had unusual abilities – for example, to sense the future and see prophetic dreams, but I still couldn’t control them, and for many years I drove them deep into the subconscious.