"You knew.
"Yes.
Stoyan looked at the glass vessels.
These things are anchors.
What anchors?
Objects that hold the last clear memory of a man.
Daniel laughed nervously.
That sounds like crazy.
"I know.
"You're dead and you're sitting in a chair in an underground lab. Don't talk to me about madness.
His grandfather almost smiled.
Then his face darkened again.
When they take a man, they don’t always take his life. Sometimes they take what a man does to him.
Daniel looked at the court with his father's name.
"So Dad's alive?"
Stoyan did not answer.
"Tell me!"
"He was alive.
The world has shrunk.
What does it mean to be?
When he was brought here, he was still alive.
"WHEN?"
In 2011.
"You knew?"
Stoyan closed his eyes.
"Yes.
Daniel threw himself at him.
You grabbed him by the shirt.
"YOU KNEW!"
The straps creaked. The metal pipes above them trembled.
Danny, stop! If you break the system, they'll wake up!
WHO WILL WAKE UP?
Then one of the glass chambers heard a bang.
Daniel turned around.
Inside, in the court with the label “Ivan Yordanov — 1974”, the clock began to tick.
He wasn't up.
He wasn't touched.
But it was ticking.
Then, in another vessel, the ring swung alone.
Then an old children's shoe leaned to the side.
The lamps over their heads blinked.
And from the dark tunnels behind the shelves came a sound.
Steps.
Slow.
Very slow.
Stoyan whispered:
You have to untie me.
Daniel stepped back.
Why are you tied up?
I can’t leave without waking them up.
"Which?"
The Guardians.
What guardians?
Stoyan looked at him.
"Those who stayed here when everyone else ran away.
Daniel didn't want to listen.
He wanted to run away.
He wanted to return to the rain, the cemetery, the open grave. He wanted to find his mother, to tell her that his grandfather was not dead, that his father was here, that there was something under the ground that should not exist.
But the way up no longer seemed simple.
He remembered the shaft.
The door.
The bone door that had closed after him.
And the note.
“Don’t let the secret remain buried.”
His grandfather had called him here.
Not to save him from the secret.
And to give it to him.
"Why me?" asked Daniel.
Because you are the last.
"What does that mean?"
The last one of our line.
I have a mother.
"She doesn't know. And he shouldn't know.
"Why?"
Because you have already lost too much.
Daniel felt his anger rising again.
She lost my father because you were silent.
Stoyan bowed his head.
"Yes.
Now you want me to be silent too?
"I want you to survive."
The steps in the tunnel came closer.
Stoyan whispered:
Look behind the chair.
Daniel squatted.
Behind the metal base of the chair was a small panel. Three symbols were drawn on it: a circle, a key and an eye.
"Pull the circle," Stoyan said.
"Why?"
"Just do it.
Daniel pressed.
Somewhere under the floor, a mechanical sound was heard.
One of the shelves with glass containers shifted to the side. Behind him was a narrow corridor, illuminated by weak red lamps.
