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[Alexandr Korol]

and retrieve it. And maybe there is a storage there for me — only the time hasn’t come yet, which is why I haven’t found it. But it is there, somewhere. And I have a map of these places, where everything is hidden. But I cannot physically retrieve it right now, though it exists somewhere out there. But imagine — if hundreds of thousands of years have passed, then... I don’t even know what kind of technology would be needed to access it. Only if people were to dig it up like they dig metro tunnels — only then could it be retrieved. And I realize — this is simply for the next volume of the book. The time just hasn’t come yet. Not everything has yet come for practice — so far, it all remains in theory. But something is lying there, waiting for the future. It cannot be a coincidence that in “Alternative History” Volume One, there is a moment where a woman takes me to Tsarskoye Selo, to the town of Pushkin, near St. Petersburg, where the imperial residences were, and tells me that I am home. That couldn’t have been for nothing. This will all come back again. And the places of power in St. Petersburg — none of it is accidental. It will return again, and everything will lead back to St. Petersburg — this will all be revealed in the later volumes, just as Karelia will also be fully revealed. So do not underestimate “Alternative History” Volume One. Just because you currently see something as just a stick does not mean it is merely a stick. It is only a stick to you, but once someone tells you that if you ever come across a stick with holes in it, that means it is called a flute — then, when you reread “Alternative History” Volume One, you begin to see this “stick” differently and no longer want to call it a stick. You can’t even unsee it anymore — it is no longer a stick, but a flute. You can’t erase this from your mind. It is like an idea that has been born in your head — you simply cannot remove it. And you realize that even a person who has read “Alternative History” Volume One from beginning to end, when they read it for the first time, might think, “Some boy, some voice, some messengers...” They read this long story and, in the end, suddenly discover, “Oh, this voice—it was himself from the future!” But now, they must go back to the beginning of the book, and now that they understand that it was never just a stick but a flute, rereading “Alternative History” Volume One becomes a shock. Because now they realize that these messengers were the voice — more precisely, the Spirit, which enters from the future, or rather, from something otherworldly. And suddenly, the book takes on an entirely new meaning. And once you have gone through the second, third,