Protest against age-old family foundations turns for a young aristocrat into exile to an abandoned family estate. Already, it would seem, the acquired freedom turns into the acquisition of freedom, and a journey through the expanses of the Empire encounters the traces of someone who leaves no traces. A mysterious wise mentor with a sauce stain on his robe, a virtual cat in material gloves, a legendary hero in the guise of a drunkard, large and small atrocities of insignificant and great villains, shadows of ancient cults rising from the past, cities crushed by the heat, icy steppes, a pencil that saves where the sword is powerless, the life that is given by those who wanted to take it away, the love that separates those who wanted to love... What kind of patterns is the Thread of Fate woven into when you undertake to weave the fabric of your own life! And the energies of the wrong side - an alarming, alluring, persistent ghost of the world on the other side of the world...

Book I is finished.

I would like to thank those who supported and are supporting the author.

To the commentators and those who give ratings - many thanks! Your responsiveness helps to write.

Inspiration and first reader Ola - thank you!

Critic and demanding reader Georgy - thank you!

Fight scene director and part-time husband Alexander - thank you!

Editor-in-Chief, joint finder, sausage buddy, Margarita Dulina - thank you so much!