History Sandbox / MefodiyBuslaevRecap

* ActuallyPrettyFunny: Zozo at first laughs at Edya's joke (about men's relationship with women), but then pretends to be offended by his cynicism, feeling that she shouldn't encourage him.
* ApatheticStudent: Daphne somehow skipped entire course of lectures about foretelling the fates of items. She [[BlatantLies tries to lie that she "was sick" at the time]], only for Essiorkh to point that the cycle of lectures is 300 years-long, with 70 more years for practice.

** While she was still disabled, Irka, whenever leaving her house with Babanya, used to always wear sports pants, to hide her legs, as just looking at them was unbearable to Irka, as they were the symbol of her helplessness and miserable life. Now, when she can walk again, she's eager to try something else, which would actually show those legs; too bad, her garderobe lacks fitting clothes.

* ArtifactOfDoom: In penultimate chapter, we finally learn the true purpose of the poppy flower: it fed on Daphne's energy for activation, but main role was to force Mefodiy to go into basement, so Kvodnon can possess him.
* AscendedExtra: Irka, previously episodic character in the first two novels, gains the Valkyrie powers, and becomes additional main character, besides Mefodiy and Daphne.

* TheBeastmaster: Mefodiy tries to use magic to deal with attackers; it results in him provoking a dog pack to attack them; they don't cause any harm, instead just pushing the guys to the ground and scaring them to no end.
* BeethovenWasAnAlienSpy: Famous Russian psychiatrist [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pyotr_Kashchenko Kaschenko]] was actually an undercover Light Guardian.

* BigDamnHeroes: Irka (with Essiorkh's help) arrives just in time to face Kvodnon's spirit in battle, and defeat it.

* TheCavalry: Essiorkh arrives before Whimper can trick Zozo into selling her eidos, and captures succubus. As he later explains, he thought about Daphne, and intuition told him to check on her at home.

* CharmPerson: Nata shows her main power -- ability to turn males into dumb obedient servants, through eye contact, mimics and touching -- by using it on Mefodiy. It only partially works on him, due to his own powers, and he manages to shake it off after twenty minutes of resisting. She then reveals that it normally takes two-three minutes to achieve full control, and it's easy to overdo, driving person insane (she actually did this with her teacher when it originally manifested, and learned to be more careful since then).

** The magic poppy flower finally plays its role in penultimate chapter; at night, it turns into a snake, which incapacitates Daphne, and then hijacks control over Mefody's body. Daphne has just enough time before falling into magic sleep that [[NiceJobBreakingItHero she'd doomed Mefodiy herself]], by falling for Whimper's lies.

* ChildProdigy: Irka is way above the school level of knowledge, to the point that she gets bored by wasting time on writing down the solution when she can solve everything so quickly in her mind. She's around Mefodiy's age, but she'd passed exams for the first nine grades already, just because she can. The only reason she gave up on idea to go to university right afterwards is because she doesn't believe that anyone would take fourteen years-old student seriously, and she can't stand being seen as some "talking exotic critter".
* TheChosenMany: Turns out that not all Kvodnon's powers were absorbed by Mefodiy; some leftovers were received by three other kids. Now, Arey wants to find them and take as the new students: if previously, it was deemed unnecessary, now situations has changed.
* {{Cloudcuckoolanguage}}: For unknown reason (it may have something to do with his kikimora heritage: those are known for weird speech manner themselves), Antigon is tend to mismatch compliments and insults, and invert opposites in general. He gets confused when Irka says "good morning" (it's "terrible evening", thank you very much!), and feels offended when she calls him "funny", insisting that he's "boring and disgustingly ugly". The rest of his speech goes like this as well: for example, he gets offended when Irka calls him "friend", but calms down when she "corrects" herself to calling him enemy.
* ColourCodedForYourConvenience: The magic poppy flower gifted to Daphne by Whimper indicates Mefodiy's feelings for her, by changing its colour. If it's red, it means that the partner loves you. If it's pink, it means that they starts getting colder to you. Blue is the colour of boredom, brown -- of disdain, yellow -- of betrayal, and black means hatred.

* DatingCatwoman: Turns out that Ulitha and Essiorkh actually started dating at some point, offscreen -- despite her being a Dark witch, and him being a Guardian Angel.
* DangerousForbiddenTechnique: Daphne warns that the rune of wisdom has a side effect: once its power runs out, you become much dumber for a short amount of time. As is, "let's start vandalising and beating up people" kind of dumb.

** Antigon's HulkingOut ability wouldn't be used or even referenced in subsequent novels, even where it would be perfectly expectable and highly usable.

* EstablishingCharacterMoment: Petruccho, Nata and Moshkin shows some of their key traits in their first appearance:
** Petruccho shows weird speech manner, vindictive personality and interest to weird and creepy stuff.
** Nata is eccentric, somewhat narcissistic and has dark sense of humour.
** Eugesha Moshkin shows right away his weirdness, pathological shyness and lack of social skills.

* EvilDetectingDog: Depresnyak feels the black magic in the cursed poppy flower, and reacts hostilely; Daphne misses this warning, and pays for it dearly.

* FiveSecondForeshadowing: Essiorkh sensed some danger while Daphne was talking with Whimper, but neither he nor Daphne are sure what this danger is (it's certainly not Whimper himself). Is there some unseen enemy they don't know about? In the end of the same chapter, Daphne gets attacked by unseen enemy, and only survives by hiding in the (rather dirty) sandbox: turns out that the only way to survive this magic attack is by lying in the pine coffin, and the magic somehow interpreted the pine sandbox with a plank over it as a coffin. Fortunately for Daphne, attacker assumes that NoOneCouldSurviveThat, and doesn't check. Turns out that Essiorkh yet again foresaw the danger before it really happened.
* {{Foreshadowing}}: There's some unknown third force which is interested in claiming the Dark residence, and it's clearly not someone human, even if it uses them as a cover. Also, Arey pays attention to what Mefodiy replies when offered to sell the building, and feels relief when he refuses (which Mefodiy notices), for the reasons known only to himself. Only later, we learn that it's not so much about the house, as about its basement: it's there where Kvodnon may perform his ritual.
* GeneralRipper: Kvodnon would not stop until the Light is utterly destroyed. He completely ignores the fact that this would destroy mortals as well (since they can't exist without the Light), and that without mortals, the Darkness would starve to death, since the Dark Guardians desperately needs eidoses to empower themselves; he either went completely nuts after exposure to Chaos, or, which Arey finds more probable, never cared to begin with.
* GlamourFailure: Edya briefly sees through Whimper's disguise, noticing him being stitched up.
* {{Golem}}: Petruccho's main power is ability to animate artificial constructs he creates from whatever stuff available; Daphne actually meets some of them. Petruccho particularly values Zuduka, a crazy prankster whom he considers the smartest of them all (he even can play chess). None of them can talk, however.
* GoshDangItToHeck: [[OnlyKnownByTheirNickname Dron]] uses slightly modified (it's children novel, after all) cuss word as his VerbalTic.
* GrandTheftMe: The magic poppy flower turns into a snake, which allows Kvodnon to intercept control over Mefodiy's body. His ultimate plan involves taking that body over permanently.
* {{Hellgate}}: Besides Tartarus, there's one even worse place; behind the impenetrable Dreadful Gates is imprisoned the Primordial Chaos -- absolutely destructive power, which, if released, would end the entire universe, be it Light, Darkness or mortal world; naturally, no one wants that. There're only two instances of these gates; one is rather well guarded by mages of Tibidokhs, another is in Tartarus -- right below the Dark residence in Moscow (which was one of the reasons why this exact place was chosen to begin with).

* HulkingOut: Antigon, when annoyed by Irka a bit too much, heavily increases in size. [[EarlyInstalmentWeirdness He would not use this ability ever again]].

* HumanSacrifice: Seer Stone tells the future, but it requires a human sacrifice in order to work; it would consume its victims by gradually sucking them inside (Arey doesn't describe the process in details, probably for the best); when Mefodiy hears about it, he immediately asks whether they plan to sacrifice Tukhlomon to it, which makes Arey laugh. Ironically, for the Stone's last revelation it must be destroyed by Arey, since information he seeks (three other kids with Kvodnon's powers, besides Mefodiy, and where to find them) can only be seen on the internal side of the Stone.

* InvoluntaryShapeshifting: Irka, who previously only bothered with swan transformation, but not the wolf, loses control over her wolf form while at Moshkin's house (something about which she was warned), resulting in her transforming into wolf and run away. She regains her consciousness soon afterwards, when appearance of Mefodiy and Daphne shocked her, allowing Irka to regain control. By the last chapter, she figures out that she must give her animal forms some attention, or this situation may repeat.
* ItCanThink: Arey believes that the Dreadful Gates have some sort of sentience on their own; that's why the ring from it mesmerised Depresnyak and forced him to bring it to the Dark residence, which is right above the second pair of Dreadful Gates (besides ones in Tibidokhs).
* ItsAllMyFault: Mefodiy laments what happened to Petruccho, Nata and Eugesha, as it was him and Daphne who gathered them here. Arey snaps him out of it, saying that there was no way to hide them from Kvodnon, not even by putting them all in Tartarus. Also, they're not dead yet, and wouldn't be, until Kvodnon gets Mefodiy himself, so they have a chance.

* KilledOffForReal: Arey believes that this time, Kvodnon was put down for good.
* LeakingCanOfEvil: Kvodnon managed to disrupt protective magic of the Dreadful Gates and send a small part of his spirit on Earth, where it possessed a mortal body.
* LikeFatherLikeSon: Petruccho is just as eccentric as his mother, only shows it through other ways.
* LimbSensationFascination:
** The first thing Irka does after gaining new powers is to test her new legs, as being able to walk is new for her. The fact that she still remembers how to even use them surprises her.
** Continuing from the first experience couple of chapters later, Irka feels excitement over ability to walk again, and, when walking outside, somewhat wishes to get noticed by people, so they would share this feeling with her.

** Essiorkh's bike was stolen that way, too. It was supposed to be used to "steal" someone's wife, then stolen and used for ATM robbery, only to be then drown in a lake; Essiorkh is [[SkewedPriorities most concerned by the last one]]. However, ultimately it would change nothing, as the wife would still leave her husband, just on metro instead of a bike, while ATM would be robbed on a car.

* LoveIsAWeakness: Kvodnon doesn't believe that Arey would kill Mefodiy: his attachments made him too weak for it.

* LovePotion: If the magic flower starts changing its colour into something besides red (the optimal colour, which means that you're loved), you can spring it with your blood, then put the flower on your partner's clothes to make them love you again.
* LoveTriangle: Irka learns about Daphne and Nata in her dream, and feels jealous towards Mefodiy; she dislikes Daphne more, with Nata she's not even sure that she's real.
* MakingASplash: Moshkin's main power is the ability to control water, be it liquid, [[IceMagicIsWater solid]] or steam, and easily interchange them.
* MeaningfulName: Tiberiy Cezarovich Samtsov; every part of that name indicates his overblown ego. Surname, in particular, is based on the word "samets" ("male animal"), which is often used to call sexually active, dominant "real men"; Ulitha actually comments on how weird it sounds.
* TheMindIsAPlaythingOfTheBody:
** The dying Valkyrie warns Irka about the danger of losing control why in the animal form: never let the beast's instincts overcome you.
** Irka, when visiting Moshkin, smells fresh meat in Eugesha's fridge, and feels strange urges to eat it raw. She quickly realises that it's hungry she-wolf taking over, just like the dying Valkyrie had warned. Then she [[InvoluntaryShapeshifting outright transforms into she-wolf]].

* NeverHurtAnInnocent: Daphne reveals to Tiberiy that Arey is bluffing, and can't actually kill him: Dark Guardians are unable to (directly) hurt mortals with intact eidos, unless they voluntarily align to either side. Arey confirms that it's indeed true.
* NiceJobBreakingItHero: Essiorkh manages to pinpoint Whimper and force him to answer three questions -- which he can't ignore or lie to; but once he answers them, he would be banished to Tartarus. He asks first two successfully, learning that he plans to destroy Daphne's and Mefodiy's love, because the Darkness considers this to be too dangerous for their cause, but before he learns ''how'', Zozo (whom Whimper tried to seduce into giving up her eidos when Essiorkh busted him) loses her temper and recklessly asks wether he lied when promised to marry her. He gladly answers that yes, he lied, and gets sucked into Tartarus, leaving Essiorkh without last part of the puzzle. He actually calls her out on this.

* NonhumanHumanoidHybrid: Antigonius has a rich genealogy of various kinds of wights, mostly from Slavic folklore. His father was domovoi ([[HouseFey house-keeping spirit]]), and mother was kikimora (swamp spirit, which in this verse look like some [[FrogMen amphibian]]). Besides them, his grandpa (from mother's side) was a vampire, and grandparents from father's side were a mermaid and leshiy (forest spirit). And then there're the rumours about Snowhite and her dwarves being somehow involved as well.

* NoodleIncident: Antigon was forced to serve the Valkyries for "being naughty", for ten thousand years (three already passed); he can't say the details, or it would increase to fifteen thousands. If Irka ''really'' insists, he may tell anyway, but she takes mercy at him and doesn't press, to Antigon's relief.

* NotWorthKilling: Ulitha survived solely because she managed to par the strike with her rapier, resulting in her being knocked out instead of killed, and Kvodnon (who was in control of Mefodiy's body) didn't bother with checking, not seeing her as worthy of his attention.
* AnOfferYouCantRefuse: The reason why Antigon serves the Valkyries is because he was cursed, as a punishment for [[NoodleIncident "being naughty"]]. It should take ten thousand years, with three already passing.

* PlayingBothSides: Ligul subtly assists Kvodnon; not much, just enough to ensure that if Kvodnon wins after all, [[XanatosGambit Ligul would be on his good side]].
-->'''Ligul''': We should give the overlord a chance. Let them say that I assisted Kvodnon and it's unfair, but, if he returns to power, I want him to owe me. At least somewhat, at least for something. The key to victory is to bet on all favourites at once.
* PredecessorVillain: Kvodnon is the Third Horseman of Darkness; before him, there were two other entities of equal evilness, but only one -- Troyan (from ''Tanya Grotter'' series) is mentioned, and he's [[KilledOffForReal dead and gone by now]].
* PunBasedTitle: Fifth chapter's name is based on the common way to mock Petruccho's surname "Chimodanov" (which is itself a pun on the word "chemodan" -- "bag").
* RattlingOffLegal: Whimper puts his marriage proposal to Zozo and request to sell out eidos into same sentence, with first part being loud and clear, and second part being quiet and mangled.

** Edya tries his usual approach, acting so familiar and audacious that he would get away with it (at most, he would be chewed out by the boss; not first, not last time); it doesn't work this time, as the client whom Edya annoys turns out to be a sister of someone important to Edya's boss, and he decides that it would be easier to fire Edya.

* SavedForTheSequel: When the story about Edya's creepy babysitter [[CallBack gets brought up again]], the footnote explicitly states that it would have a followup later.

* SecondEpisodeIntroduction: We finally receive some information on how succubi looks and works (through first succubus character); previously, they had bare minimum of attention, with more attentions being dedicated to commissioners.
* SeriousBusiness: During the time between this and the previous book, Essiorkh, following his body's influence, had become a bike enthusiast. Amongst the other things, he now seriously deals with tuning his new bike to match his tastes, and reacts badly when Daphne makes a joke which questions his skills. He also reveals that the bike originally was supposed to be destroyed, but he "stole" it (there's a {{loophole|Abuse}} which allowed him to do that), as he considers it to be a horrible atrocity.

* SoapBoxSadie: PlayedForLaughs with Petruccho's mother. She treats things like local road signs or "double-meaning" blinking of the yellow traffic lights as matters so important that she must unite the whole humanity to fight for their "correction"; in fact, she treats any minor problem which annoys her like this. And if she starts talking about it, It's not possible to shut her up.

* TakingUpTheMantle: Irka gets visited by a dying Valkyrie, who asks her to accept her helmet and spear (gaining the Valkyrie's powers and the ability to walk) and continue her unfinished mission -- to stop Kvodnon's messenger.
* TemptingFate: After learning that his bed has some dark history (it used to be a part of mortal trap), Mefodiy wonders whether the chair has similar backstory. He immediately sees a vision how one guy tried to hang himself while using one, only to change mind at the last moment, but the chair broke its leg, so the guy ''did'' hang himself. Mefodiy feels so much hatred to the chair that it gets set ablaze.
* TheyCallMeMisterTibbs: Each of the three kids has preferred form of pronouncing their name, which immediately and permanently gets accepted as the norm.
** Pyotr Chimodanov insists on being called "Petruccho"; he also forbids using nickname "Petrusik" given by his mother.
** Natalia Vikhrova insists on being called "Natalie" or just "Nata"; everyone sticks to the latter.
** Eugeniy Moshkin prefers to be called "Eugesha".

* TrappedInVillainy: Arey states that the only reason why he still serves the Darkness is because it's far too late to return to еру Light; he has ''no'' loyalty to neither its cause, nor its leaders, be it Ligul or Kvodnon (whom Arey, amongst other things, blames for passing the rules which indirectly led to the deaths of his family).

** The reason why Arey even bothers with Tiberiy Samtsov and pretends that there's an actual office? To mess with him. Ulitha and Mamzelkina plays along, and Mefodiy soon joins the game, too. However, later Mefodiy realises that it was a test for something regarding Mefodiy himself; and Mefodiy has passed.

* YouCantGoHomeAgain: The dying Valkyrie warns Irka that no one who knew her from the past life can recognise her; and if she deliberately tells them, they would die. Somehow, it applies even to objects, as when Irka tells that she's a Valkyrie to the mirror (which "[[ExactWords knew]]" her from the past), it shatters.
* YouCantThwartStageOne: Kvodnon succeeds in putting three kids into holes in the basement; now he only needs Mefodiy in specific place at specific time to complete the ritual.

Edya finds weird poster promising reward for brining in "Three-Thumbelina fairy", and obviously thinks that it's fake, but then he nearly sits on said fairy. Still unsure wether it's not a hallucination (Felix hit his head more than once), he recognises her as the one from wanted poster. He quickly decides that having living fairy is much better than whatever monetary reward they can offer, especially if the currency sounds so ridiculous. Three-Thumbelina, when asked, reveals that the reason for the hunt (real reason, not excuse about illegal future-telling) is her helping with stealing an important artifact. After clarifying about her problems, Three-Thumbelina (who plans to lay low at Edya's) warns him that she has one issue: she shares the body with her twin sister, Two-Thumbelina, who takes over from time to time. She's not the nicest person to be around, and can be quite dangerous, due to specialising in dark magic; the two are constantly at odds, and tries to hurt each other through abusing their shared body.

* UnfazedEveryman: While unsure at first wether it's for real, or it's result of Felix hitting his head before, Edya quickly decides that the fairy is real, and starts talking with her as if it's completely ordinary situation and he actually understands what she's saying.

Thirteen years later, Mefodiy Buslaev, "the Dark Inheritor", lives mostly unremarkable life with his mother and uncle in a small flat at the outskirts of Moscow, and thinks that his future would be just as unremarkable -- despite various strange and unexplainable things occurring around him on semi-regular basis. While Mefodiy's mother Zozo prepares for a date (ever since divorce with Mefodiy's father Igor, she seeks to find a replacement, so far unsuccessfully), she sends Mefodiy elsewhere, and he goes to his friend, Irka -- a disabled wunderkind girl, whom he can entrust with his insecurities, like his recurring nightmare about the marble coffin, ''something'' inside which calls for him, yet poses some unknown danger. Just before leaving, he goes into conflict with the latest of Zozo's would-be suitors (a hog-like aggressive man), and, just to spite him, sabotages his car. Soon afterwards, "the hog" catches him, and threatens to hurt both him and his mother, but someone intervenes and orders him to release the boy.

That someone is a tall, fat and eccentric young woman named Ulitha, who, after shouting some ridiculous threats at the "hog", somehow damages his precious car even more, clearly using magic, and then outright scares him away. Ulitha then tells Mefodiy that he has a special purpose, and that he must meet her master at Skomorokh Sloboda; for that purpose, she gives him a special box, containing a rock which he has to use to draw a rune, to just teleport to his destination -- he only has one chance to draw it right, or he would be incinerated. Mefodiy accepts the box, but he's still sceptical whether he's ''that'' Mefodiy Buslaev, or she just mistook him for someone. Still, he decides to use the rune after all: even if it kills him, it would be preferable to living his old life.

The story cuts to some time prior to the current events, showing how former Skomorokh Sloboda (now the Big Dmitrovka street) became the Dark residence, and how current Dark chancellor, Ligul, installed the swordsman Arey as its chief and Mefodiy's mentor. The two are clearly at odds, with Arey previously being sent into exile for killing some Dark Guardians over something bad which happened to his (''mortal'') family, and Ligul seeing Arey as a valuable, but too free-spirited asset.

When Mefodiy arrives to place, and discovers a way inside, he gets "greeted" by a crossbow arrow into face, which he instinctively blocks with his magic, confirming that yes, he's indeed the person Arey seeks. Arey properly explains to him just what he's getting himself into, and gives a chance to reject and return to his old unremarkable life. Mefodiy accepts; when asked how they would explain it to his parents, Arey promises to deal with it by himself.

The story then switches to Eden. Daphne was always rather... unusual Light Guardian; besides her having a hellish cat named Depresnyak as her pet, she's known for certain "informal" habits, small pranks, and dark sense of humour. Eden feels rather boring for her, being just too good and nice. While trying to find some entertainment, she runs into the ghost of Retired Fairy, known for two things: messing up with people by fulfilling their wishes with major drawbacks, and foretelling the future; the Fairy warns her that putting the winged necklace (the source of any Light Guardian's powers) on the neck of a mortal would make her fall in love with them. There are no mortals in Eden, but the Fairy disappears without explaining further. Daphne then gets summoned by Supreme Guardian Troil himself; made all the more strange by how bad Daphne's reputation is. Troil tells her about Mefodiy, who's inherited powers of Kvodnon, the previous Lord of Darkness, who once nearly destroyed Eden itself and was stopped at the cost of great sacrifice. It's up to Daphne to find Mefodiy, convince his mentor Arey to take her in, and ensure that Mefodiy would never succumb to the Darkness completely; her inner Darkness would make both sides believe in her "betrayal", but she should not get caught, as no one but Troil himself would know the truth.

Back on Earth, Mefodiy, as a cover story, gets accepted into elite gymnasium "Treasure of Wisdom", run by the man named Glumovich, who's actually one of the Darkness' mortal servants. Returning to the Dark Residence, Mefodiy gets assigned some easy paper work, which is when he meets Aida Plakhovna Mamzelkina -- the "Senior Manager of Necrodepartment", or, if you insist, the Grim Reaper. She's here not just to drink with her old friend Arey; she wants to warn that Yaraat, Arey's old enemy, has escaped his custody, and would now likely hunt for Mefodiy, believing him responsible for his imprisonment. Arey, convinced that they have some time before Yaraat starts acting, sends Mefodiy back to Glumovich, giving him the Book of Chameleons to communicate.

Mefodiy gets settled into a same room with a haughty guy named Vova Skunso (accent on the last syllable). The two immediately goes into conflict, with Vova inventing all sorts of silly rules on the go just to show Mefodiy his place, and generally shows that he doesn't consider him as his equal; Mefodiy replies in kind. Bored, Mefodiy accidentally uses the Book of Chameleons to connect to a magic news channel, and learns that renegade Light Guardian named Daphne is on the run after stealing a dangerous artifact, the Horn of Minotaur. At night, Skunso cooperates with his lackeys to humiliate Mefodiy, but gets humiliated himself instead when Mefodiy finally manages to make his magic work.

Meanwhile at Eden, Daphne, using some questionable magic (with side effects including temporal madness and memory loss) steals the Horn of Minotaur and escapes. She visits Mefodiy's parents to learn his whereabouts. On the way out, she accidentally helps commissioner Tukhlomon, who nearly got banished to Tartarus, but in process causes two Light Guardians to lose their wings. She then forces Tukhlomon into leading her to Mefodiy.

While Daphne was busy looking for Mefodiy, Mefodiy just received a package: a sword that once belonged to Drevnir, which his son used in his ill-fated duel with Arey, and which now would belong to Mefodiy, obeying his commands and responding to his every thoughts and emotions. After making sure that the sword accepted Mefodiy, Arey trains his intuition, leading to Mefodiy realising that they have a visitor... a female Light Guardian.

Tukhlomon immediately tries to backstab Daphne and suggests Arey to kill her. Arey ignores him and lets Daphne inside. After hearing he story, he lets her stay, ordering to hide at Glumovich's for a time being, under fake name.

Near midnight, Ligul pays Arey a visit, and informs that the plans have changed; they can't wait until Mefodiy hits thirteen, he must be in the Temple tomorrow, or never. Additionally, Daphne should be there too (yes, Ligul already knows; no, not from Tukhlomon). Arey summons the two, and explains about the Temple of Eternal Battle. As Mefodiy's swordsman skills are non-existent yet, they have to summon the spirit of Second Sword of Darkness, Hoors, who was second-best fighter after Arey, who slayed him on a duel. Mefodiy gets taught a safety technique, which should prevent Hooros from usurping his body, but he botches it and lets Hoors take over; Hoors nearly overpowers Arey, but agrees to leave once he hears whose body he stole, putting the needs of Darkness above his vengeance, for now.

Arey escorts the two to the Temple, but stays behind, feeling that only they are allowed inside. The two enters, and Mefodiy realises that he can sense all traps, carefully leading Daphne to the heart of the Temple. But the last plate refuses to reveal its secrets, and, since it's unavoidable, Mefodiy steps on it... only to start fighting with himself, believing that he's fighting his evil doppelganger. Before he kills himself, Daphne calms him down by putting her winged necklace on him, remembering too late that it would make her fall in love with him. They enter the room together, finding the marble coffin from Mefodiy's nightmares. Mefodiy realises that the Horn was manipulating Daphne all this time, to make her bring it to this room, where it serves its last purpose, opening the coffin like a key of sort. Inside, Mefodiy finds the power; unlimited power that would be his one day, if he ever becomes ready to accept it -- and it would be his own choice, whether to use it for evil, or for good. With its treasure claimed, Temple lets them out safely -- and they finds Arey and Ligul, the latter slightly injured: it's Ligul who let Yaraat out, and Yaraat, on Ligul's orders, who arranged for Daphne's mission; they also tried to get rid of Arey, but failed. Unfortunately, Yaraat escaped, and who knows when he would show up again...

Daphne, who was asked by Arey to go somewhere and not mess around, goes on a walk, only to notice that she's clearly pursued by a weird black limo; made stranger by Depresnyak, normally suicidally fearless, feels that it's extremely dangerous. Attempt to scan it with magic fails completely, confirming that it's magic in nature, and was sent by someone ''very'' powerful. Attempt to scan deeper scares the "car" off, leaving Daphne wondering who'd sent it: it's clearly not Light Guardians, but it doesn't look like Ligul's spy either. On the way back, she notices that some weird and threatening guy is spying on her, badly pretending that he doesn't. When she fails to escape from him, he finally introduces himself. He's Essiorkh, a Guardian Angel from the Transparent Spheres, and he's here to help her. It's weird that the guy who's clearly looking like biker is a Guardian Angel, but then again, she's weird Light Guardian herself. Essiorkh tries to warn her about some danger to her very essence and her wings, as well as scold for giving a seal of her wings for some Dark scroll, but then he realises that he somehow preceeded event in question, which would only happen in several days. He leaves without elaborating further, but it gives Daphne another clue that some third party is involved -- likely related to that strange limo.

Meanwhile, Mamzelkina visits the Dark Residence, giving vague warning about upcoming danger. Soon afterwards, Arey receives an invitation to adhere a celebration held in London by Wilhelm, high-ranking Dark Guardian; he also invited Ulitha and Mefodiy, but obviously not Daphne. Arey decides to pay him a visit, wondering whether Ligul is trying to get something from him. He also learns, through Tulkhomon, that there are fresh news about ''those'' magic boxes; one was already pinpointed, being in possession of lopukhoid Anton Ogurtsov.

Anton Ogurtsov, neurotic and paranoiac obsessed with his health (to the point that his actions actually causes more harm than good), after failing to hit on Zozo (whom he scared away with his pathologic behaviour), returns home to take another dosage of his medicine, which he stores in unique antiquary box which he obtained not long ago... and runs into strange ugly imp, armed with a pistol. The imp introduces himself as Tukhlomon, and exploits his phobias to force him to open the box... only to realise that it only contains the medicine. Disappointed, Tukhlomon leaves, not forgetting to make him give up his eidos first.

When Mefodiy arrives to the party, Arey and Ulitha suddenly gets summoned to Tartarus, leaving him alone. Mefodiy quickly gets drugged with something and forced to play blackjack without even learning the stakes. As Ligul explains to him, having nothing of value, Mefodiy by default "agreed" to put his eidos on stake. But, despite having all odds against him, Mefodiy somehow still prevails, gaining exactly 21 points versus Ligul's 20. That's when Arey and Ulitha returns, with Ulitha confirming that Ligul was cheating. Ligul's intentions are clear (who controls the eidos, controls its owner), but Mefodiy feels that something (or, rather, some''one'') just gave him a second chance, for some hidden purpose.

Daphne meets Essiorkh again, who tells her several news. Firstly, the Light Guardians have caught up with her using magic in this district, so she can't stay in "Treasury of Wisdom" anymore, and has to migrate to Mefodiy's parents for a time being: it's so bold that no one would actually believe in her being there; to make it easier, he gives her a new mouthpiece for her flute, to mask her magic. Secondly, she was officially assigned as Mefodiy's Guardian Angel. And lastly, but most importantly, he tells her that the first of two boxes the Darkness is hunting for was discovered, and turned up being the wrong one, meaning that the artifact they need is in the second one; as Daphne fails to understand him, he tells about the Scroll of Desires and its time-altering powers: it can only change one little detail, but in wrong hands, can change entire history. On the way to Mefodiy's parents, Daphne gets attacked by the "limo" again; this time, she actually tries to attack it -- and breaks its disguise, revealing that it's actually a Tartarian wyrm. She manages to cause it enough harm to force it into retreating. Once she reaches Zozo and Edya, she successfully hypnotises them into accepting her and Depresnyak, albeit Edya resists most of the magic (due to innate resistance to it) and remains a snarky jerk.

Arey learns that the second box has just materialised in the theatre (the patterns of its teleportation was finally understood), and both he (along with Ulitha, Mefodiy and Daphne) and a team of Light Guardians would contest it. In the resulting fight, Arey's team gets easily defeated, leaving only him, and he offers the leader of the Light Guardians, Alkid, a duel which would decide the outcome. But before they can do anything, some third party intervenes and steals the box for itself behind their backs.

Daphne somehow falls sick with angina, and stays at home. When she's sleeping, she gets visited by the stranger, who attacks and nearly kills Depresnyak, and uses Daphne's winged necklace to leave a seal on the Scroll. Meanwhile, at the Dark residence, Mefodiy wonders ''how'' Daphne managed to catch angina. Mamzelkina, who was visiting Arey at that time, tells him that the mortal world starts affecting her, and slowly changing her to become more human -- and less like an angel. Mefodiy and Ulitha then departs to deal with one of Ligul's "clients" (who's not fulfilling the conditions of his "rent"), only to get attacked by some thugs on the way back. The thugs turns out to be armed with enhanced bats, which allows them to easily defeat Mefodiy and even knock out Mamai, who's not even human, while Ulitha attacks the thugs' boss and predictably loses. They gets saved by Essiorkh's intervention (who only actually fights when one of the thugs tries to hit ''him'' -- fighting unless threatened would be sinful!), but not before Ulitha's darkh's seal gets put on the Scroll as well.

Daphne, when talking with Edya, learns the story about his weird babysitter (a creepy crone who was always wearing shades), which somehow killed his pet parrot by just looking on it. From description, Daphne recognises her as a Midnight Witch, a creature of Darkness. But what she needed from Edya, long before Mefodiy was even born? Especially given the vague warning she gave to him: "your blood is my blood, your will is my will; wait till the black swan calls you"... Meanwhile, Mefodiy decides to pay a visit to Irka, feeling shame that he ignored her for so long, and sees that his long absence had hurt her much. He apologises and tells her that he ''must'' stay away from her, for her own safety -- because not in the last turn, the danger comes from Mefodiy himself. He also warns her about Tukhlomon, who clearly has plans for her. On the way back, he learns that she secretly developed feelings for him and now feels betrayed, which makes him feel even more disgust towards himself -- but also understand that, perhaps, he's far worse than he used to think of himself; otherwise, why he was chosen to become the Dark Inheritor? He suddenly receives a notification from Arey through "Book of Chameleons": Arey wants to discuss something important.

Arey tells Mefodiy who their mysterious enemy is -- it's no one else but Yaraat. He then reminds Mefodiy that the Darkness forbids its servants to love -- it's one of the very few laws which its servants actually respects and obeys, and punishes disobedience ''harshly''. Mefodiy can't resist asking what's the story between Arey and Yaraat, and Arey tells him. Long time ago, Arey had fell in love with a mortal woman, and, against all laws, didn't force her to give up her eidos. Somehow, despite all laws of creation, they had a daughter. They were hunted for, but Yaraat, a rebel like Arey himself, whom Arey considered his close friend, agreed to take care of them while Arey would deal with pursuit. But, when Arey returned back, he'd found that Yaraat is gone... and his family are dead; Yaraat forced them give up their souls in futile attempt to protect each other, then murdered them in cold blood. Yaraat was staying on a run ever since then, only finally caught when Mefodiy was born thirteen years ago and stripped him of his powers, while Arey was exiled to a remote lighthouse after killing Hoors for his role in Arey's family's downfall. Mefodiy, confidently, promises that he would find and kill Yaraat, but Arey tells him to not give a promise that he can't fulfil -- and that he doesn't need to search, for Yaraat would find him first... and Arey would be there to face him. He then tells Mefodiy to not repeat his mistakes: the Darknes ''would not'' let him be happy with Daphne, and if he tries, he would doom not only himself, but her as well.

Arey and Ulitha gets summoned to Tartarus, temporarily leaving Mefodiy alone in the Residence. Tukhlomon uses the opportunity to try and blackmail Mefodiy, using a page from Irka's diary where she says that she's almost ready to sell her soul, but Mefodiy tricks Tukhlomon into giving it up and then destroys. Out of boredom, Mefodiy starts reading various magiczines (mostly useless and outright silly stuff, but there's an advice how to deal with shapeshifters). He gets interrupted by a magic talking head, clearly made through necromancy, which claims that it was sent by Daphne, and wants him to follow it; he agrees.

Daphne receives a message from a similar talking head, which claims that it's from Mefodiy, who needs her help. When she tries to check where is Mefodiy, she only sees that he's stressed and is running somewhere, so she decides to believe the head and follow it. Meanwhile, Mefodiy, who's still following the head, reaches some abandoned house. He feels, through his sword, that there's some danger awaiting. He finds no traces of Daphne, and instead gets attacked by the Tartarian wyrm, which he barely kills when it crushes on him and gets penetrated by Mefodiy's sword, but Mefodiy loses consciousness due to pain.

Daphne arrives just in time to save Mefodiy before he suffocates to death under the corpse of the monster, but they can't take the sword out. They realise that neither head was sent by them, and that's when Yaraat reveals himself, disarming Daphne. Yaraat takes Daphne hostage, ready to drain her of life force, and reveals his plan: he ''may'' claim the chain from Kvodnon's darkh before Ligul and take his place, but he would rather kill Mefodiy before he was born and thus before Yaraat lost his powers; that's also why he needs Mefodiy's eidos specifically: so the soul would erase itself, otherwise it's not gonna work. Mefodiy is ready to give up, but Depresnyak attacks Yaraat, giving Mefodiy a chance to start draining Yaraat of magic. Yaraat distracts him by shapeshifting into his mother, but that's when Essiorkh arrives.

Yaraat recognises him, and feels... dread. He tries to just kill him with dark magic, but it doesn't work: the body still remembers Yaraat and his crimes, and the holy wrath of its original owner's eidos gives it protection. Essiorkh teleports the scroll to himself and destroys it before Yaraat can escape with it, after which he proceeds to remind Yaraat about how the biker entrusted him with protecting his injured girlfriend while he was looking for help, only for Yaraat to murder and eat her, which made the biker lose the will to live and soon perishing in a road accident. Yaraat starts losing self-control, and that's when Arey arrives as well. Yaraat regains composure and prepares for last stand; Arey orders them all to leave, it's only for them two. Arey emerges victorious, and says that he now just needs some time alone.

Yaraat snaps and screams that he needed powers, and that no one has the right to judge him: he needed powers, and she refused to give up her eidos, making him snap... Mefodiy asks whether he "snapped" the same way with Arey's family, and Yaraat's hysterical reaction confirms it. That's when Arey finds them all. Yaraat regains his composure, and prepares for the last stand. Arey orders everyone to leave them alone; it's ''his'' fight. When the fight ends, and Mamzelkina comes to take the victim, Essiorkh gets asked to leave, by everyone including Ulitha, which he reluctantly obeys; soon, Arey emerges, and says that it's done... and now he just wants some time alone.

* ArtifactOfDoom: Unsurprisingly, the poppy flower which Whimper gave to Daphne turns out to be dangerous: it's a part of Ligul's plan, which involves weakening Daphne and corrupting her love to Mefodiy; it also plays some crucial role in assisting Kvodnon.

* BaitAndSwitch: Ulitha starts what seems to be another jab at Ligul, and Tukhlomon prepares to listen, so he can snitch on her... only for her to finish the joke with Tukhlomon's name instead.

* TheCaligula: ''No one'' wants Kvodnon back, not even Dark Guardians, as he was too insane and [[BadBoss violent]].

* ChekhovsGun: When the ring from Dreadful Gates falls on the floor and starts digging deeper and deeper, Arey says that it seeks the shortest path to the place it was taken from. That basement would later play crucial role in the story ''precisely'' because it's the shortest path to Tartarus, specifically to the Dreadful Gates there.

* DemonicPossession: Kvodnon managed to exploit the sole vulnerability in the protection of the Dreadful Gates, and possess someone whom the Valkyrie guarding the Gates never expected, after which he mortally wounded the Valkyrie. There are four bodies he can possess, but one is currently unavailable for him (all but explicitly said to be Mefodiy). Later it gets revealed that he possessed Nata, for her mind control powers.

* InvoluntaryShapeshifting: Irka, who previously only bothered with swan transformation, but not the wolf, loses control over her wolf form while at Moshkin's house (something about which she was warned), resulting in her transforming into wolf and run away. She regains her consciousness soon afterwards, when appearance of Mefodiy and Daphne shocked her, allowing Irka to regain control.

[[folder: Chapter Twelve. ''Not Boom, Not Blam, Not Ouch-Ouch-Ouch'']]
Daphne's attempts to teach Mefodiy and the rest some runes gets interrupted by a gunshot; Samtsov's sniper just shot Arey (who let it happen), not knowing that it would be of no use. And Arey is planning to let him go in this night, to not miss the fun. This is also the good excuse to take Daphne's lessons more seriously: if the kids wouldn't learn protective magic, they may get killed.

After messing around for some time, Arey captures Samtsov and learns that he was brainwashed and sent by someone else, who cleaned up all traces. He fails to gain any information from Tiberius himself, but then he learns that, while they were busy, Petruccho disappeared, and realised that it was merely a distraction. Petruccho gets found in the basement, put into hole which was previously hidden under marble floor. Arey breaks the marble and finds three more holes. He realises that Kvodnon wants to put three other kids besides Mefodiy into those holes, so when the time comes, he may suck out their powers. And there's a fourth floor, the only one with direct link to Tartarus, which is intended for Mefodiy, his main prize...

* BaitAndSwitch: The rune Daphne used on Petruccho silences the person it's used on for seven times seven years, allowing them to say one piece of wisdom after each seven years period, and can't be cancelled... but she used weakened form of it, which would wear off after thirty minutes -- assuming you don't try to say something stupid, or think anything bad about women, otherwise, it prolongs its effect by one hour per bad thought! Knowing Daphne, it's hard to tell whether last part is true, or she's just messing with him, but Petruccho believes in it.
* BullyingADragon: Tukhlomon makes a silly joke at Ulitha's expense, which involves her interest to males (dumb pun based on Samtstov's EmbarrassingLastName) and her being "chubby meanie"; she reacts [[BerserkButton as well as may be expected]], and he has to explain that he didn't say "fat" before she tears off his nose.
* CantGetAwayWithNuthin: It's often said that "words are material"; in the places filled with so much magic like the Dark residence, it's true as nowhere else. One of the bandits, who made comment about him being damned actually ends up killed when Samtsov shoots Arey, and then his eidos fails to escape, allowing Tukhlomon to take it.
* ComplexityAddiction: While Arey ''can'' just summon Mamzelkina and slaughter all the bandits, it's too boring and would make them lose any respect from the other Dark Guardians. No, they must let Samtsov and his men in, [[{{Troll}} and milk the situation for all its worth]], even if it puts Mefodiy's and the others' lives at danger.
* CrisisMakesPerfect: Arey mentions that Samtsov would pay them a visit at night, so, unless the kids wants to get shot, they should memorise protective magic; Daphne comments that the best motivation to start learning is a life-or-death situation.
* DangerousForbiddenTechnique: Daphne warns that rune of wisdom has a side effect: once its power runs out, you become much dumber for a short amount of time. As is, "let's start vandalising and beating up people" kind of dumb.
* DealWithTheDevil: Arey offers Mefodiy to give him his eidos "for storing" and agreeing to serve Arey in this life and the next one, in return for immortality, invulnerability, and other, smaller bonuses, insisting that not only Mefodiy is at risk of dying otherwise (and they both know that he wouldn't end up in Eden if it happens), but it's different from just selling or giving it away, in that Arey can actually give it back one day. Mefodiy refuses, and Arey at first seems like he's about to explode, but then he calms down.
* HoistByHisOwnPetard: Samtsov gets ordered to blindly take a card, with Diamonds giving power, Hearts giving love, Clubs giving long road, and Spades giving death. Samtsov almost grabs a card, but changes his mind in the last moment and grabs another, sees something he dislikes, and tries to cheat by putting it back and drawing another (Arey lets it slide), which he then repeats two more times before Arey's patience runs out. Arey then tells him that first card (which he didn't take) was a Queen of Hearts, allowing him to get away easily by becoming a con artist specialising in fake marriages. The other cards he grabs? Valet of Clubs (which would've made him Scientology "missioner"), which he drew first, and Ace of Spades, which he drew last, thus dooming himself to die. {{Subverted|Trope}} in that, as Daphne points out, Arey has no power to hurt Tiberius until he sells out his eidos, so all he can do is to mess with him, which Arey doesn't deny.
* MuggingTheMonster: {{Downplayed|Trope}}; Petruccho thinks that he can disrespect Daphne, as she wouldn't be able to enforce her rule, and thus, he can blatantly ignore her attempts to teach him anything. She retaliates by demonstrating the silencing rune ''on him'', but does no long-lasting damage to him.
* RuleOfThree: The rune of silver scales, also known as fish rune, gives its user the ability to breath underwater; it can only be used three times total: on the fourth use, it grows gills which can't be removed by any means.
* {{Troll}}: When one of Samtsov's men shoots Arey, Arey dodges all three shots, while making mocking comments. First time, it's undershot. Second time, it's overshot. Then the bandit tries to shoot at point blank range, and Arey says that it's cheating. Then all bandits start shooting at once, and Arey just dodges them, while continuing mocking the bandits.
* YourSoulIsMine: Kvodnon still has power over souls which were once put into his darkh, and they assist him as the dark chorus which brainwashes people put into holes in the Dark residence's basement, as well as keeping them alive, but in stasis.

[[folder: Chapter Thirteen. ''Vegetable is Like Fruit Which Didn't Make It'']]
When visiting caffe, Daphne starts feeling even stronger jealousy towards Mefodiy, believing that Nata is trying to "steal" him, and he blindly falls for it. She barely resists temptation to check on the poppy flower's colour at first, but then snaps and does like Whimper instructed -- puts her blood on it, and attaches it to Mefodiy's shirt.

Suddenly, Moshkin disappears without a trace. Essiorkh feels that something terrible is about to happen, but as he can't openly help the servants of Darkness, he only gives Ulitha vague warning which instructs her to go back to the Dark residence.

* BeethovenWasAnAlienSpy: Famous Soviet psychiatrist Kaschenko was actually an undercover Light Guardian.
* CantGetAwayWithNuthin: Essiorkh plans to steal one woman's "unlucky" meal, as she once said that "be I damned if I ever eat after 6 p.m.", as commissioners clearly took note at this "oath", and may try to use it against her.
* ComicallyMissingThePoint: Essiorkh thinks that "money laundering" means actually cleaning up dirty banknotes.
* DatingCatwoman: Turns out that Ulitha and Essiorkh actually started dating at some point, offscreen -- despite her being a Dark witch, and him being a Guardian Angel.
* OOCIsSeriousBusiness: Ulitha realises that the situation is ''really'' dire when Essiorkh leaves ''without taking his bike''.
* ShipperOnDeck: Essiorkh not just steals the meal, but gives a part of it to the other guy (also via magic), which provokes conflict between him and the woman to whom it belonged, which resulted in both being kicked out from the caffe. Why? He can see the future, and and he knows that this conflict would eventually result in them getting married, and later their son Michael moving to the USA, to implement new method of money laundering; Essiorkh [[ComicallyMissingThePoint doesn't know what it means, and thinks it's something innocent]].

[[folder: Chapter Fourteen. ''The Unity of Ice and Flame'']]
Antigon tells Irka that tonight, Kvodnon would kill Mefodiy and the other three kids, and rebirth in Mefodiy's body. He already has two bodies in place, and only needs to put the last kid and Mefodiy himself.

Meanwhile, Arey shrugs off the ice put on him by Moshkin, and states that whoever brought both Eugesha and Petruccho there, it was someone with not only access to Drevnir's sword, but also with mind-control powers, which leaves out only one possible candidate... Before he can say the name, Nata tries to grab the sword and attack, but Mefodiy reacts first. Arey grabs his sword and tries to kill Nata, but Mefodiy blocks the hit, allowing Nata to escape and jump into the third hole. Arey calls him out on it, saying that just one death would prevent countless more if Kvodnon actually awakes. He also points that Mefodiy was under influence of Nata's magic, even if he partially blocked it.

Kvodnon needs Mefodiy in specific place at specific date, so all they need to do in order to win is to not let him capture Mefodiy until then; he can't manipulate him directly, but there are the others, more subtle ways. Arey and Ulitha would take turns guarding the basement, while Daphne should guard Mefodiy, preventing him from falling asleep at all cost. But when the two stays alone, the poppy flower turns into magic snake and bites firstly Daphne (putting her into magic sleep), and then Mefodiy (putting him into trance state, leading to him losing control over body).

* ArtifactOfDoom: We finally learn the true purpose of the poppy flower: it fed on Daphne's energy for activation, but main role was to force Mefodiy to go into basement, so Kvodnon can possess him.
* TheCaligula: Arey states that no one wants Kvodnon back, as his time has passed.
-->'''Arey''': The Darkness doesn't need old loser overlord who let the Gold-Winged slay himself. The Darkness needs a new master. Slightly less savage, flexible like a whip, cunning with mortals, predictable for their allies. Who can play by new rules, because the Medieval has long ended. Everyone understands it, Ligul included.
* CelestialDeadline: Kvodnon needs Mefodiy in the basement tonight; if Mefodiy avoids it, Kvodnon's plan would fail.
* ChekhovsGun: The magic poppy flower finally plays its role; at night, it turns into a snake, which incapacitates Daphne, and then hijacks control over Mefody's body. Daphne has just enough time before falling into magic sleep that [[NiceJobBreakingItHero she'd doomed Mefodiy herself]], by falling for Whimper's lies.
* DemonicPossession: It gets confirmed that Kvodon's messenger was in Nata's body all along. And now, when all three other kids are in the basement, he needs Mefodiy there in specific time, so he can posses his body, kicking out Mefodiy's own eidos in process.
* EurekaMoment:
** Irka realises that if Kvodnon only ''plans'' to possess Mefodiy, it means that his current host is one of the three other kids.
** Kvodnon wasn't in Chimodanov, as by putting him there, he would've been unable to leave and put in Moshkin as well. He wasn't in Moshkin, as it wouldn't explain how Chimodanov was put there without any violence. No, it was someone else who has mind control abilities ''and'' access to Drevnir's sword; as it wasn't Mefodiy, who lacks mind control powers, at least such elegant ones, it leaves only one candidate... Before he can say Nata's name, Nata (or, rather, Kvodnon's messenger in her body) attacks.
* EvilDetectingDog: Depresnyak feels the black magic in the cursed poppy flower, and reacts hostilely; Daphne misses this warning.
* ForcedTransformation: {{Defied|Trope}}; Irka learned the hard way that she must take the wolf form at least for one hour per day, or she may risk losing control and transform against her will again.
* GrandTheftMe: The magic poppy flower turns into a snake, which allows Kvodnon to intercept control over his body.
* ItsAllMyFault: Mefodiy laments what happened to Petruccho, Nata and Eugesha, as it was him and Daphne who gathered them there. Arey snaps him out of it, saying that there was no way to hide them from Kvodnon, not even by putting them all in Tartarus. Also, they're not dead yet, and wouldn't be, until Kvodnon gets Mefodiy himself.
* NoodleIncident: Antigon was forced to serve the Valkyries for "being naughty", for ten thousand years (three already passed); he can't say details, or it would increase to fifteen thousands. If Irka ''really'' insists, he may tell anyway, but she takes mercy at him and doesn't press, to Antigon's relief.
* AnOfferYouCantRefuse: The reason why Antigon serves the Valkyries is because he was cursed, as a punishment for [[NoodleIncident "being naughty"]]. It should take ten thousand years, with three already passing.
* ShootTheDog: When Mefodiy blocks Arey's strike, Arey says that by killing Nata, he would've prevented countless more deaths, but Mefodiy almost ruined everything.
-->'''Arey''': I tried to kill not her, but the one who took over her body. If Kvodnon would come to power, instead of a droplet of blood which wasn't spilled now, there would be an ocean.
* TheWorfEffect: Moshkin managed to freeze Arey, thanks to effect of surprise. Arey is shocked that he was defeated that easily, by some child, no less.
* YouCantThwartStageOne: Kvodnon succeeds in putting three kids into holes in the basement; now he only needs Mefodiy in specific place at specific time to complete the ritual.

[[folder: Chapter Fifteen. ''When You Die -- Move Away'']]
Irka goes to find Mefodiy before it's too late, but the time is running out; fortunately, she meets Essiorkh, who offers to ride on his bike (he returned for it, as Irka can't use teleportation).

They find unconscious Ulitha; when Essiorkh awakes her, he learns that Mefodiy took her by surprise, and she only surprised because she parried the blow with her lucky rapier (which is now destroyed), and Mefodiy didn't bother to double-check.

Meanwhile, Mefodiy faces Arey. But Arey easily disarms him and puts a sword to his throat, threatening to kill him if it comes to this. Kvodnon's spirit leaves Nata's body, and materialises as the massive ghostly figure of a horseman. Kvodnon states that he doesn't believe that Arey would actually kill the boy: the love wouldn't let him; and indeed, Arey pretends to kill Mefodiy, only to attack Kvodnon instead. Kvodnon effortlessly defeats him, knocking him out with a single strike -- even as a spirit, he's that much more powerful than him. But before he can proceed with the plan, Irka, Antigon and Essiorkh shows up. Antigon throws his mace, which causes Kvodnon to drop Mefodiy before he puts him into hole to complete the ritual, then Essiorkh distracts him, allowing Irka to throw her spear, which destroys the spirit.

Arey awakes and is ready to fight Essiorkh instead, but suddenly, Ulitha steps in and says that he saved her life (okay, not life, but still close enough), so he may be spared. Arey reluctantly agrees. Ulitha also insists on taking a day off, so she can go on a date.

* BigDamnHeroes: Irka (with Essiorkh's help) arrives just in time to face Kvodnon's spirit in battle, and defeat it.
* DatingCatwoman: Ulitha actually asks for a day off, so she can go on a date with Essiorkh, confirming that the two are together now. Essiorkh's behaviour clearly shows that it's not just her flirting with him, and he actually reciprocates.
* KilledOffForReal: Arey believes that this time, Kvodnon was put down for good.
* LoveIsAWeakness: Kvodnon doesn't believe that Arey would kill Mefodiy: his attachments made him too weak for it.
-->'''Arey''': Why do you think that I wouldn't kill him?\\
'''Kvodnon''': Why not? You were never able to step over people. That's why you never managed to achieve more, baron. A worm of sentimentality had always chewing at your heart... Even Ligul surpassed you... Go on! Kill the boy! Or you're attached to him?
* NotWorthKilling: Ulitha survived solely because she managed to par the strike with her rapier, resulting in her being knocked out instead of killed, and Kvodnon (who was in control of Mefodiy's body) didn't bother with checking, not seeing her as worthy of his attention.
* TrappedInVillainy: Arey states that the only reason why he still serves the Darkness is because it's far too late to return to Light; he has ''no'' loyalty to neither its cause, nor its leaders, be it Ligul or Kvodnon (whom Arey, amongst other things, blames for passing the rules which indirectly led to the deaths of his family).

! ''The Ticket to the Bald Mountain''

* Chapter One. ''The Three-Thumbelina Fairy''
* Chapter Two. ''The Spirit-Pygmy''
* Chapter Three. ''"The Boy with a Saber"''
* Chapter Four. ''Harpiy Zduffs''
* Chapter Five. ''A Throne for Ex-Waiter''
* Chapter Six. ''The Clay Dog''
* Chapter Seven. ''Not Very Not Bald Not Mountain''
* Chapter Eight. ''When Heart Doesn't Beat, the Wizards Laughs''
* Chapter Nine. ''A Hare Who Didn't Care about Wolves''
* Chapter Ten. ''A Black-with-White-Speckles Mage''
* Chapter Eleven. ''Second-Hand Happiness''
* Chapter Twelve. ''Dalila Petrovna and Gerostrat Andreyich''
* Chapter Thirteen. ''"Midget Bygup"''
* Chapter Fourteen. ''A Little Friendly Blackmail''

[[folder: Chapter One. ''The Three-Thumbelina Fairy'']]
Zozo is out on vacation, leaving Edya alone at home (hungry and without any money to buy food). Suddenly, he gets visited by a thug named Felix, who's here to beat some old "debts" out of Edya: allegedly, he and his friend were stealing money while working there, and said "friend" continued doing so even after Edya quit, and later ratted him out when caught. As it's painfully obvious that Edya is broke, Felix gives him three days to gather $3000 by any means, or he would return and beat him to the pulp.

Edya finds weird poster promising reward for brining in "Three-Thumbelina fairy", and obviously thinks that it's fake, but then he nearly sits on said fairy. Still unsure wether it's not a hallucination (Felix hit his head more than once), he recognises her as the one from wanted poster. He quickly decides that having living fairy is much better than whatever monetary reward they can offer, especially if the currency sounds so ridiculous. Three-Thumbelina, when asked, reveals that the reason for the hunt (real reason, not excuse about illegal future-telling) is her helping with stealing an important artifact. After clarifying about her problems, Three-Thumbelina (who plans to lay low at Edya's) warns him that she has one issue: she shares the body with her twin sister, Two-Thumbelina, who takes over from time to time. She's not the nicest person to be around, and can be quite dangerous, due to specialising in dark magic; the two are constantly at odds, and tries to hurt each other through abusing their shared body.

In a middle of a rant, Three-Thumbelina suddenly gets switched with her sister, who doesn't even try to hide that she's a jerk. Edya tries to convince her to create money for him, but she refuses, saying that there's a magic law which prevents her from doing so. No, creating gems and then selling them would not sidestep the law. And she can't create some cool invention, as she's not an engineer. But Edya comes with another plan: there's a pseudo-mystic show "Prophet" which specialises in future predictions; they can try to pay up Edya's debts from their prize money. After rejecting countless ridiculous (and too distant) prophecies, Edya takes the one about stealing a painting. However, when he finds the host, Andrey Morjuev, he reacts coldly and then outright kicks Edya out for trespassing, disregarding his prophecy.

* BehindEveryGreatMan: Ivan the Fool, the famous fairytale hero, was just as dumb as the name suggests, so Vasilisa had to bribe all the enemies whom he supposedly defeated to spread the rumours about his "feats" to make him look like a hero, so Vasilisa can get into power through him. He [[TheMillstone still nearly botched the plan]], as when Vasilisa's uncle Bessmertnik Coscheev "abducted" her, instead of expected six months, Ivan spent seven years looking for her. He remained just as dumb until the end of his days, with Vasilisa spending much efforts to make him look like he's actual ruler.
* EstablishingCharacterMoment: Our introduction to the fairy sisters shows us everything we should know about them; both are jerks (of different flavours), both are very eccentric, and neither respects Edya.
* EurekaMoment: Edya sees a newspaper, notices the add about "Prophet" (pseudo-mystical ShowWithinAShow), and comes up with an idea: he may asks Two-Thumbelina to give him some prophecy (something short-terms, so it can be verified), and sell it to the show for prize money.
* FiveSecondForeshadowing: Edya finds some weird poster (clearly from magic world) which promises reward for bringing in "the Three-Thumbelina fairy". Edya wonders who had made it, Daphne or Mefodiy, and then nearly sits on said fairy.
* ForcedTransformation: The mole from ''Thumbelina'' fairytale wasn't born a mole; he was a gnome banker until he was cursed.
* {{Foreshadowing}}: Three-Thumbelina is afraid that mages may try to send the Clay Dog after her; if they do so, it's over: it can track you down anywhere, and when it's close, you can't even teleport.
* HoistByHisOwnPetard: Edya's employment in the sports club has ended after he, as a joke, made fake price list where "The Beach Queen" was replaced with "Cellulites Queen". Somehow, it went unnoticed right until that exact version was sent to prepare radio advertisement.
* IOweYouMyLife: Once ago, Three-Thumbelina was saved by some mage, and gave an oath that, if he ever calls, she would come to aid him in return. Now, she received that same ring which once belonged that that mage (she doesn't know who brought it), and realised that the time has come.
* {{Jerkass}}: While looking for Morjuev, Edya at first runs into some high-ranking official, who doesn't even try to hide his disdain for common people.
-->'''Official''' (''without even looking at Edya''): Who are you?\\
'''Edya''': Just a man.\\
'''Official''': So, you're nobody. Second question: do you know the cost of my time? (''Edya shakes his head'') So I would answer then. I scratch my nose -- and that's your monthly salary.\\
'''Edya''': I'm unemployed. You did this for free.\\
'''Official''': Who'd sent you?\\
'''Edya''': I came by myself. By foot.\\
'''Official''': This answer is borderline nonsensical. I asked who'd sent you.\\
'''Edya''': Em... One floor above, in the "Prophet" rooms.\\
'''Official''': Surname?\\
'''Edya''': Whose? Mine? Havron.\\
'''Official''': I don't care about yours. The one's who'd sent you!
* NeverHeardThatOneBefore: Nope, Three-Thumbelina and her sister are ''not'' related to ''that'' Thumbelina; she reacts badly when Edya asks that, and goes on a lengthy rant about what she thinks about Thumbelina and why she sucks.
* ObviousRulePatch: At some point, all mages and magic creatures were banned from creating money (or anything intended to be used as currency), as well as using magic to gain money by cheating, including, but not limiting, hacking [=ATMs=]; violations are the grounds for losing magic. Giving those money to lopukhoids is even worse offence. It was installed at some point after Medieval Age, because otherwise any loon would be able to ruin lopukhoid economic, irreversibly destroying their civilisation (it's already unstable). Whoever breaks the law, gets punished ''immediately'', so Two-Thumbelina is unwilling to take any risks.
* PutOnABus: Zozo went on vacation for one week, leaving her brother Edya by alone.
* SuperPersistentPredator: Three-Thumbelina is afraid that mages who're after her would send the Clay Dog; it can sense you anywhere, no matter how hard you try to hard, and once it's close, you can't even teleport.
* UnfazedEveryman: While unsure at first wether it's for real, or it's result of Felix hitting his head before, Edya quickly decides that the fairy is real, and starts talking with her as if it's completely ordinary situation and he actually understands what she's saying.
* TheWatson: As Edya doesn't know what's going on, Three-Thumbelina has to explain to him, and by proxy, the readers, giving us the setup for one of the main plots.
* WrittenByTheWinners: According to Three-Thumbelina, some fairytales are written by their participants to make themselves look good.
** Thumbelina's story was written to hide her blatantly flirting with the mole, only to dump him for the elven king (such rushed marriages never ends well!).
** Prince Ivan the Fool had his adventures described by his wife Vasilisa, who did a great job at masking how dumb and useless he ''truly'' was, so she may remain in power.

[[folder: Chapter Two. ''The Spirit-Pygmy'']]
Ulitha and Arey have leaved to Tartarus for some unspecified reason, while the rest stayed in the Dark residence by themselves, spending time in small conflicts and attempts to learn more about each other. They gets interrupted by Ulitha returning alone, completely devastated.

Turns out, Ligul exploited Kvodnon's final death to appoint himself as Mefodiy's regent until Mefodiy hits eighteen, and, as his first order, arrested Arey for failing to corrupt Mefodiy fast enough; Arey resisted arrest, but was too outnumbered and is now imprisoned in the Lower Tartarus. In place of Arey, he'd sent someone else, and that new "mentor" is already here...

* BadassInDistress: Arey was arrested on Ligul's orders, and is now imprisoned in Tartarus. During the arrest attempt, quoting Viy, "some vacations have been freed".
* BlackComedy: Viy makes the grim joke about his reporter losing his head while on duty, in more way than one.
* CantKillYouStillNeedYou: Even now, Ligul isn't gonna risk getting rid off Arey, suspecting that he may regret it in the future; for the same reason, he didn't kill Ulitha while she was at his mercy: harming her means permanently alienating Arey.
* ChaoticStupid: Petruccho says that Zuduka is tend to do pranks (often of dangerous kind) just out of boredom, completely disregarding collateral damage.
* DeadlineNews: The reporter who tried to spy on Dark Guardians meeting was caught and killed before he learned too much.
* DeadlyPrank: [[ThePrankster Zuduka]] put dynamite into one of Moshkin's shoes. Fortunately, it gets discovered before Eugesha puts it on. As gets explained by Petruccho, it was his "vengeance" for being ignored.
* HoistByHisOwnPetard: When Petruccho applies his theory (the more complex the creatures are, the longer it would take them to fall in love) to humans, she uses Nata as example, as payback for her {{troll}}ling him earlier. When he says that smarter ones only starts giving up to feelings at around thirty years, while dumber ones can do this even at the age of thirteen, she turns the tables and suggests to wait till he hits seventy (or he may have no time to study!), and then walk around with [[SoapBoxSadie his mommy]], fixing street lights.
* IsThisThingOn: Viy misses the moment when he goes live, resulting in his offscreen antics getting caught on camera.
* KilledOffForReal: It gets officially acknowledged that Kvodnon is gone and isn't gonna return.
* OOCIsSeriousBusiness: Ulitha is normally always cheerful partygoer. When she returns alone, without Arey, and completely devastated, and then outright breaks into tears, everyone understands that something ''really'' bad has happened. And indeed, turns out that Ligul has ordered Arey's imprisonment.
* PlayingWithFire: Arey presumes that, if given time, Moshkin can learn how to use fire as well.
* SoreLoser: PlayedWith. Viy yet again can't just accept that Gryziana Pripyatskaya had won an award, and tries to take a refuge at least in pointing that her prize sucks; but he [[WorthyOpponent can't help but admit]] that a rising star, Grobynya Sklepova, is genuinely good, even if she used to make jokes at his expense.
* ThereIsNoPlaceLikeHome: {{Inverted|Trope}} with Nata; she's the only one who ''doesn't'' miss her family and prefers staying in the Dark residence. Her new step-father talks like blatant drill instructor, and tries to order her around and regulate which clothes and hairstyle she's allowed to have, while her sister Inga's husband is "a moron", who constantly takes her tapes without asking and overwrites them, and set a password on their computer; entire family has to live in just two rooms. She already was tend to spend all her free time outside of the house, so not much has changed. She talks about those two in such a tone, like they're not the humans, but some kind of disgusting roaches.
* WhyDontYouJustShootHim: Petruccho asks Nata why she didn't use her powers to brainwash her step-father and her sister's husband to make them more tolerable. She replies that this would make them only ''more'' annoying, due to the way her magic works (remember, they only have two rooms for them five); also, the two hates each other's guts (one is military, another is a draft dodger), so it would only increase their mutual hostility, with her being caught in the crossfire.
* WisdomFromTheGutter: Petruccho makes surprisingly meaningful (for someone like him) theory that the smarter and more complex the creature is, the longer it takes for them to fall in love; he takes hamsters and elephants as example: hamster becomes a father at three months, and grandfather at six, while elephant wouldn't bother to create a family until it hits fifty. Same with humans; some are so primitive that their development stops at thirteen and they have nothing left but fall in love, others chose to study and develop themselves and only starts thinking about relationship when they hits thirty.

[[folder: Chapter Three. ''"The Boy with a Saber"'']]
Essiorkh finds Irka, and tells her the last news: Arey is imprisoned, and replaced with a new guardian (unbelievably nasty); as for Essiorkh himself, he can't contact Daphne anymore, at least until the situation resolves, to not compromise her, but at least he now rents a room in Moscow; well, "rents", but it's besides the point.

When Essiorkh brings Irka to his house, he shows her a portrait of eight years-old boy with dark curly hairs, and reveals that he'd stole it. Why? Because he can't allow it to end up in the hands of dark mages or Dark Guardians. He tells Irka the story of Matvey Bagrov, an apprentice of the wizard Mirowood. Not only Matvey was very unordinary young man himself, but he was clearly chosen as the next keeper of the powerful artifact, the Path Stone, after Mirowood's death; the Stone can give whomever owns it the power to go to their goal, no matter how hard the path may be, and everyone, from the mages to Guardians, are hunting for it.

They've failed to gain the Stone back when Mirowood had died many years ago, as Matvey had vanished and presumably died, but now, it seems that he may be alive after all, and that painting is the only tread which, with the proper magic, ''may'' lead to him -- and the mages knows it. Even more so, the resonant stealing from the Bald Mountain's vault? It was of Mirowood's ring, which is ''certainly'' related to this whole story. They must find Matvey first, but now, they must prepare to fight: the dark mages have traced Essiorkh, and are here...

* TheAlcoholic: Essiorkh lives in a house of some alcoholic named Fatyaytsev, who just can't be entrusted with any money, as he would immediately buy booze; Essiorkh put a spell on him, so now he gains the same joy which the alcohol would give him by... crying. Now, he's crying non-stop, but in a time, his organism would recover, allowing to safely remove the spell; until then, Essiorkh would stay nearby, while also having a place to live. Win-win.
* AskAStupidQuestion: When Irka asks Essiorkh why he'd stole the painting and destroyed all copies of it, he says that there're two variants: either to sell it and buy a cool new bike, or to make sure that it wouldn't end up in the hands of the Darkness. Obviously, Irka picks the second one.
* BaitAndSwitch: At first, it seems that Fatyaytsev somehow recognised Irka, and is now in danger, especially when she carelessly asks whether she was on a carriage (meaning wheelchair), but then turns out that he mistook her with someone else, and her comment for her talking about baby carriage.
* CasanovaWannabe: The guy named Roma tries to hit on Irka; but his flirting and rhetoric skills have a lot to desire for, especially given that Irka is way more erudite than him. Then he outright snaps and calls her "nerd" for her sophisticated snarky comments. She finally gets rid of him by passing Essiorkh (who was just going towards her) for her big brother; Roma decides not to risk messing with him.
* CreepyChangingPainting: The painting somehow starts changing before Essiorkh's magic even does anything, and reacts to what's going on in the room; only Irka notices it.
* {{Determinator}}: The Path Stone can give its owner a strength of will to walk the path to their goal, no matter how long or hard it may be. That's why it's so valuable.
-->'''Essiorkh''': To not stray from the path to your dream, that's why you need the Path Stone. The one who owns it, knows no doubts. At day and at night, they're always full of energy and cheerful willingness to go to the end. They know no sorrow, never turn away -- and always achieve their goal, no matter how hard it may be!
* FantasticDrug: Antigon became addicted to jam, which affects him just like alcohol would affect humans, especially if it's expired. He's willing to break into stores to steal some, and then he may disappear for some time while on jam binge.
* LectureAsExposition: Essiorkh gives Irka a lecture about Matvey Bagrov, telling his story and the story of the Path Stone; the story is long enough to take 3/4 of the chapter.
* LoveTriangle: Irka is still jealous of Mefodiy towards Daphne.
* NewJobAsThePlotDemands: Fatyaytsev is a former clown, former juggler, former administrator, former balloon seller, current speech writer (not for government, "those have their own clowns"; his clients are common people). According to Essiorkh, he's also partially a poet (''not'' former, as that quality stays with you forever), and just good man in general.
* SadClown: Irka notices that for all his cheerfulness, Fatyaytsev has very sad eyes. Essiorkh attributes it to him being a former clown: clowns are ''always'' like this.
-->'''Irka''': Your friend is a very sad man.\\
'''Essiorkh''': Who? Him?\\
'''Irka''': Even when he's joking, he has very sad eyes.\\
'''Eissiorkh''': Perhaps, it's because he's a former clown. All clowns have sad eyes. They give fun to the others, but there's no fun in their own lives.
* SkewedPriorities: Essiorkh comments that the mortal world is way too attractive, and one can't help but think that his bike needs some upgrades. When Irka says that "this is terrible", he says that yes... and starts going into details how hard it's to obtain those upgrades by his standard means, through stealing "unlucky" parts.
* YourDaysAreNumbered: Mirowood was allowed to live for exactly one thousand years, and not a minute more, so he knew perfectly well when he would die. Everyone else also knew this, and waited outside of his house to start scavenging his stuff.

[[folder: Chapter Four. ''Harpiy Zduffs'']]
Arey's replacement as the chief of Russian department and Mefodiy's guardian turns out to be Ligul's agent named Harpiy Zduffs -- incredibly nasty revenant who immediately alienates everyone, and nearly kills Depresnyak. It doesn't take long before everyone unites against him, and manages to knock him out (mostly due to sheer luck).

Right after he gets dealt with, Aida Plakhovna pays a visit -- she's here to help them. There's only one place where they can hide for a time being -- the Bald Mountain. Coincidentally, it's also the place which contains Ligul's secret, the one he wishes to stay buried; if they find it, they can use it to bargain for Arey's freedom.

* BaitAndSwitch: When Moshkin gets asked about his impression of Harpiy, he calls him "[[{{Cloudcuckoolander kinda nice]]" (shocking everyone)... then finishes with stating that he means "nice like that old Japanese fairytale about a werewolf who killed and devoured everyone, then walked to the beach, where he was skinned alive and drowned (nope, [[EveryoneDiesEnding no one was resurrected afterwards]]; it's a Japanese fairytale)".
* BatmanGambit: Mamzelkina reveals that Ligul appointed Harpiy, ''knowing'' that he would alienate everyone to the point of open hostility, and then kill everyone but Mefodiy himself -- so Ligul would call him off and replace with someone completely incompetent, so Mefodiy would never reach his full potential, allowing Ligul to rule unchallenged. He didn't expect that conflict would happen ''that'' soon.
* DarkSecret: While she obviously doesn't know what it is, Mamzelkina presumes that Ligul has some very embarrassing secret involving the Bald Mountain: it's known that he'd spent his youth there, and he ''really'' wants to bury that part of his history -- so naturally, it must be uncovered and used against him.
* DivideAndConquer: Zduffs orders everyone to break into pairs, and start spying on each other, then snitch to him. At first, Mefodiy thinks that it isn't gonna work (everyone hates this guy's guts), but then understands that Harpiy is cunning enough to work around. At first, people would be cold and unwilling to talk, but he would know what to say and ask to gain information, whatever small, and then give it to the other ones, with some additions and modifications, so they would think that they were betrayed, and would be more willing to talk themselves. Given enough time, he ''would'' make everyone hostile to everyone, especially if he would swap the pairs (and he would).
* DoNotTauntCthulhu: It was very dumb idea from Ulitha's side to mock Ligul in front of his representative, who ''has'' authority over them all; luckily for her, Harpiy "just" orders her to stay inside 24/7, ''this time'', but he makes it very clear that can can outright kill her if he wishes so.
* EpicFail: Daphne tries to extinguish the fire in the office; instead, she makes it spread around, even on the parts which were out of danger until now.
* EstablishingCharacterMoment: As soon as Harpiy appears, he starts antagonising everyone, and then nearly kills Depresnyak. When Mefodiy tries to defend already injured Depresnyak (who barely survived the first strike of Harpiy's magic), Harpiy stops his heart with his dark magic, and only releases him at the last moment, pointing out that he has permission to do things like this at his leisure. Afterwards, he proceeds to force Ulitha (a fun-loving partygoer) to stay within the residence permanently, not forgetting to point out that she is of no value for him and he can kill her just out of boredom and got away scot-free.
* EvilIsPetty: Harpiy destroyed all Arey's mead; Ulitha only saved one keg. There's absolutely nothing to gain from it, and he had to go out of his way to do it, so it's clearly done to humiliate Arey and his friends even further.
* KickTheDog: Harpiy Zduffs, repeatedly, just to nail that he's an absolute asshole:
** He nearly kills Depresnyak, and when Mefodiy tries to protect him, temporarily stops his heart and [[{{Sadist}} enjoys the pain it causes]].
** He orders Ulitha (a fun-loving partygoer) to stay in the residence permanently, not forgetting to point that he can kill her at his leisure.
--->'''Harpiy Zduffs''': That's it, scum! Your best time is over! No more night visits to the city, no rides, no personal meetings, no romantics! You would stay in the residence permanently, under my personal supervision! From now on, your world consists of these four walls! With a patent of the chief or this department, I got a full power over your life and death!
** He describes in "lovely" details the conditions in which Arey is kept, just to further damage moral.
-->'''Harpiy Zduffs''': By the way, about your beloved Arey... Do you want to hear details? The Lower Tartarus is a nasty place. During the day, it's hot like a sun, during the night -- so cold, a lopukhoid if they end up there would have their eyes freeze over. Near the prison lies a lava river, it's rather lovely, but unfortunately, Arey wouldn't be able to enjoy the view. His cell has no windows, and the cell itself is only three steps-wide and four steps-long... It's very tight. The walls are so thick, one can't hear a single sound from outside. No contacts, not even with guards. No a scrap of paper, no book! Utter, drying loneliness!
* LetsGetDangerous: Petruccho says that he's fed up with Harpiy, and wouldn't tolerate him, just before everyone gathers to confront him.
-->'''Petruccho''': I insist! I'm not some '''Che'''modanov at whom you can yell! I'm that '''Chi'''modanov who yells himself! Very soon that guardian would understand that he was born in the unlucky day, wrong hour and unwanted minute!
* NoSell: Nata tries, and fails, to use her magic on Harpiy. As Daphne explains, due to being a revenant, he's unable to love in any way, shape or form.
* PetTheDog: Aida Plakhovna, who was technically sent to kill Ulitha, not only doesn't do this, but also tells the friends what they can do to save Arey, and helps them escape.
* TranquilFury: When Zduffs releases Mefodiy, Mefodiy uses what little strength he manages to recover to say that, when he would become the Lord of Darkness, he would destroy him. Zduffs [[IneffectualDeathThreats doesn't take it seriously]], saying that ''if'' he becomes, he would be grateful to him.

[[folder: Chapter Five. ''A Throne for Ex-Waiter'']]
Felix and his friends decided to push the deadline for Edya's debt, so now he has only two days to either find money, or deal with Felix. Unfortunately, his plan to use the fairy's help is now out of question: her magic gets blocked, so she can't even defend Edya. Due to previous conflict, Edya decides to punish her by forcing to do housework, and threatens to just tell about her to his friend from yellow press (which ''would'' alert the mages).

Suddenly, Morjuev pays Edya a visit. As Edya's prophecy turned out to be correct, he's now interested to hear the new ones, to prove that it wasn't a coincidence. Then they sees the fairy. Three-Thumbelina panics when she learns that the lopukhoids are already aware of the painting stealing, as the mages would soon know, too, and connect it with her previous actions. Morjuev decides to blackmail Edya, saying that unless he brings the fairy to his studio, so he may milk the situation for all its worth, he would put the blame for stealing on Edya himself.

* AmbiguouslyGay: The man who shows up with Morjuev (the same one whom Edya previously saw while trying to sell the prophecy about painting stealing), besides somewhat effeminate look, also displays the speech quirks stereotypically associated with {{camp gay}}s, and introduces himself as "Maxik" (diminutive from Maxim), which also plays into image. Later, Edya makes the joke which implies that he also assumed him to be gay (and Maxik's reaction seemingly confirms it).
* {{Blackmail}}: Morjuev blackmails Edya by saying that he would put the blame for stealing on him (it wouldn't be hard), unless he convinces the fairy to pay Morjuev a visit.
* BlatantLies: Three-Thumbelina "accidentally" hit her sister's magic toy hare from a crossbow... seven times.
* BroughtDownToNormal: The fairy's magic gets blocked by the mages from Bald Mountain, as part of their hunt for her. Them doing so shows how much they want to capture her: it requires twelve mages doing complex ritual which takes twelve hours and requires redoing everything from scratch if even smallest mistake gets made.
* ForcedTransformation:
** Three-Thumbelina warns Edya that serving her sister may result in him being transformed into something creative -- like chewed apple, or postman's heel.
** Both sisters were prone to transform each other's servants into various stuff -- irreversibly.
*** Two-Thumbelina has turned two of her sister's servants into worms, one into sponge, and one (the prettiest of them) into toilet-cleaning gear; Three-Thumbelina thinks that if someone had became the toilet-cleaning gear, [[BrainBleach it's better to keep them that way]].
*** For the sake of "justice", Three-Thumbelina retaliated to her own servants being transformed by transforming all her sister's servants into mice and sending them into lab for experiments.
* HopeSpot: Morjuev isn't the one who pays the people; his investors are. Because of that, Edya would not receive any money, even though his prophecy turned out to be right. They may start paying him if he continues giving them new prophecies, but it wouldn't matter, as Edya has almost no time left until Felix returns.
* OhCrap: Three-Thumbelina panics when she realises that the painting stealing was reported on lopukhoid TV; the mages monitors lopukhoid media precisely for stuff like this, and they ''would'' connect it with her stealing important artifact.
* RecurringDreams: According to Three-Thumbelina, she sees the same dream every morning for 402 years, without any breaks; she likes it very much.
* SayingTooMuch: Three-Thumbelina goes furious when she hears that abduction of "The Boy with a Sabre" painting became widespread knowledge in the lopukhoid world, blaming Edya for it, because mages monitors lopukhoid media and would soon find out. When he says that it was her sister who's told him, she goes even angrier... and accidentally mentions Mirowood, before shutting up, realising what she just said.

[[folder: Chapter Six. ''The Clay Dog'']]
Essiorkh stays to distract the dark mages, allowing Irka to escape with painting; to confuse the Clay Dog, he takes the frame, while Irka keeps the painting itself. She meets with Antigon, who leads her to the new hideout he'd prepared in the forest -- he calls it "the Valkyrie Refuge". He also tells about some dark-haired young man spying on them.

It doesn't take long for the mages to track them down (though without the Dog). The magficcer in charge says that they'ved captured Essiorkh, and demands the painting. When Irka refuses, he orders to attack. The battle doesn't go well for attackers, however, and they're forced to retreat. Irka and Antigon continues to the Valkyrie Refuge... only to meet Matvey Bagrov there.
----
* ComesGreatResponsibility: Irka writes down the rules of the Valkyries she had heard from Essiorkh and Antigon; rule number one is to never use the power for selfish reasons.
* CoolAndUnusualPunishment: As Antigon stubbornly insists on being punished for his jam binge, Irka orders him to wash himself in the washing machine, so he would leave her alone. For creatures like him, it's actually ''fun''.
* DeadlyDodging: The magficcer throws the battle gnome at Irka (armed with knives); she steps aside, and the gnome hits the nearby tree instead, which puts him out of combat for some time.
* DisintegratorRay: Ashthrower, one of the most destructive weapons in dark mages' arsenal, shoots, you guess it, torrents of cursed ash... which utterly annihilates anything it comes in contact with, including air. Merely using it [[EvilIsNotAToy gradually drives its user insane]]. Effect seems to be temporal on objects, but it's unknown what would happen to the living beings.
* EldritchAbomination: We receive a description of the Clay Dog; it's rather alien and monstrous.
-->''Flat muzzle, hilly nape and back, covered with folds and growths. [...] The beast was making the cough-like sound with every step, spewing clay pieces on the ground. Its broad noise was vibrating, sucking in air. [...] The single eye of the monster, unmoving, unblinking, was hold on the long eyestalk on the forehead. For Irka, it was resembling a gem. It was clearly not from clay.''
* {{Foreshadowing}}: Antigon notices that someone is spying on Irka; he doesn't know who is it, only that it's a young man with black hair. Irka doesn't notice it, but description matches Matvey. In the end of the chapter, he actually tracks Irka down and formally introduces himself.
* TheLoad: Essiorkh refuses to involve Antigon, saying that he would be killed very quickly and without contributing anything. Besides, he's very annoying, and would likely accidentally hit Essiorkh's feet with his huge mace.
* NonIndicativeName: Lampshaded by Irka; Losiny Ostrov (literally "moose island") is not an island, and has no moose at all.
* ShapeshifterModeLock: Irka writes down the rules of the Valkyries she had heard from Essiorkh and Antigon; rule number three is to keep her bird and wolf forms under control, otherwise, one day she may just get stuck in the animal form.
* SpeechImpediment: The magficcer talks with heavy stutter. In the end, Irka, annoyed by his attempts to kill her (and acting like a jerk in general), mocks it when he (stuttering) says that they would meet again.
* SuperPersistentPredator: The moment Irka sees the Clay Dog, she understands: it would never stop until it catches its prey.
-->''Suddenly, Irka saw a creature that had no teeth, no claws and no wings tried to slip into the breach. The creature that can't grab, can't tear, can't smash. That had no desires, no habits, no weaknesses. That never howls on the moon, and doesn't accept bribes. That can only tracking and seeking, but doing it relentlessly, unendingly, with unimaginable persistence.''
* YinYangBomb: The gnome and Antigon fights for the gnome's pipe which creates the magic bubbles; their infighting results in the pipe breaking, releasing massive bubble which gathers all four elements and exploding. Everyone barely runs out of the blast zone, and the attackers decides that it's time to retreat.
* YouCantGoHomeAgain: Irka was replaced with a magic phantom, which keeps Babanya (and Irka's teachers) in the dark about Irka no longer being at home, but Irka still worries how things are going for her; unfortunately, she can't just talk with her, as the magic would kill Babanya to uphold the masquerade.
[[/folder]]

[[folder: Chapter Seven. ''Not Very Not Bald Not Mountain'']]
----
* BerserkButton: Daphne instantly understands that the warning about "angry dog" is fake, because if there was ''any'' dog (angry or not), Depresnyak would've tried to attack it, like he always does; but he's calm like "well-fed ghoul".
* BigWhat: When Ulitha says that they gotta move, or may miss the "last worm", Nata gets so shocked she almost screams when she asks what the hell she means.
* ExtremeOmnivore: {{Exploited|Trope}}; while Ulitha reluctantly prepares to use magic to open a vent shaft, knowing that they would have little time before they would be tracked down, Daphne just asks Depresnyak to break the lock. He at first ignores her, but then does what asked after all, and bites it off.
* PowerPerversionPotential: When Daphne uses special magic which allows her to see through things and people, and [[TrueSight see the true nature of them]], Nata interprets Dapne being careful with not watching on people as [[InvokedTrope her not wanting to see people naked]]. Daphne assures her that ''this'' isn't interesting to her; she's afraid to learn the secrets she doesn't want to know.
* SandWorm:
* TakingTheHeat: When Daphne almost snaps at Nata, Moshkin distracts Nata's attention to himself by making a silly comment, which defuses the situation before it explodes. Daphne believes that Moshkin did this on purpose, and feels gratitude towards him, as she [[TranquilFury almost failed to contain her anger]].
* TranquilFury: Nata yet again attacks Daphne for no apparent reason. Daphne tries to ignore her and hold up her anger, but fails. When she makes a cold comeback at her, she remembers how, back in Eden, when she got similarly angry at one of Sniffer's lessons, she ordered Daphne to leave, as "volcano eruptions belongs in a corridor".
[[/folder]]

[[folder: Chapter Eight. ''When Heart Doesn't Beat, the Wizards Laughs'']]
----
[[/folder]]

[[folder: Chapter Nine. ''A Hare Who Didn't Care about Wolves'']]
----
[[/folder]]

[[folder: Chapter Ten. ''A Black-with-White-Speckles Mage'']]
----
[[/folder]]

[[folder: Chapter Eleven. ''Second-Hand Happiness'']]
----
[[/folder]]

[[folder: Chapter Twelve. ''Dalila Petrovna and Gerostrat Andreyich'']]
----
* AntagonistTitle: The chapter is named after {{Arc Villain}}s.
* ArcVillain: Dalila Petrovna and Gerostrat Andreyich are the duo of scammers who tricks their "clients" into buying goods from them, as otherwise it's impossible to leave (the door wouldn't show up).
* BrainFood:
* FauxAffablyEvil:
* ImAHumanitarian:
* MortonsFork:
* SchmuckBait:
[[/folder]]

[[folder: Chapter Thirteen. ''"Midget Bygup"'']]
----
* ChekhovsGun: [[LivingDrawing Ligul's living portrait]] allows cyclops brothers to remember Ligul and [[DarkSecret reveal Ulitha the "midget Bygup" story]], which she can use to blackmail Ligul into compliance.
* DarkSecret: Many years ago, [[{{Troll}} someone]] has told Ligul that he may use cyclops' earwax as an ointment to grow bigger; unsurprisingly, it didn't work. He certainly wouldn't like if that story leaks out.
[[/folder]]

[[folder: Chapter Fourteen. ''A Little Friendly Blackmail'']]
----
* {{Blackmail}}: Ulitha blackmails Ligul into releasing Arey, threatening to reveal his "midget Bygup" [[DarkSecret little secret]] if he doesn't comply. And no, killing her or destroying the Bald Mountain outright wouldn't help, she took care of it.
* ChekhovsGun: [[LivingDrawing Ligul's living portrait]] turns out to be a key witness, convincing Ligul that yes, Ulitha isn't bluffing.
* SadisticChoice: As the last ditch attempt to ''not'' release Arey even under pressure of a blackmail, Ligul offers to give back Ulitha's eidos. She manages to resist the temptation.
* StreisandEffect: {{Invoked|Trope}} by Ulitha when she confronts Ligul: if he kills Ulitha, the others wold tell Ligul's DarkSecret to the world; if he kills them, too, it would attract attention and the secret would leak out anyway; and if he tries to annihilate the Bald Mountain itself, he would spark the war between the Guardians and dark mages, which would be forever known as the Earwax War, ''immortalising'' Ligul's name as everyone's laughing stock.
[[/folder]]
----

! ''The Revenge of the Valkyries''

* Chapter One. ''Honores Mutant Mores''
* Chapter Two. ''The Niece of Eve's Great-Grandmother''
* Chapter Three. ''(Зовов Шронеб Лопчо)''
* Chapter Four. ''The Street of Levon Tolstoy''
* Chapter Five. ''Honesta Mors Turpi Vita Potior''
* Chapter Six. ''The Mail Man''
* Chapter Seven. ''The White Clown, the Black Mage''
* Chapter Eight. ''Hende Hoch, Herr Essiorkh!''
* Chapter Nine. ''(Про глазик и тазик)''
* Chapter Ten. ''Non Est Ornamentum Virile Concinnitas''
* Chapter Eleven. ''Insurance Against Earthquakes, Witches and Other Disasters''
* Chapter Twelve. ''Kick-a-gogic is a Mother of All Science''
* Chapter Thirteen. ''Sir, Be so Kindly to Leave!''
* Chapter Fourteen. ''A Valkyrie of the Resurrecting Spear''
* Chapter Fifteen. ''Zuymurzung''
* Chapter Sixteen. ''The Unity of Place and Action''

! ''The Secret Magic of Depresnyak''

* Chapter One. ''The Rune of Gutted Student''
* Chapter Two. ''(Суровые будни гламурного котика)''
* Chapter Three. ''(Краше красной краски нет)''
* Chapter Four. ''Two Gifts of Eugesha Moshkin''
* Chapter Five. ''The Flute with Optic Hair-Cross''
* Chapter Six. ''Ego te intus et in cute novi''
* Chapter Seven. ''Nilb!''
* Chapter Eight. ''(Ах ты суккубочка!)''
* Chapter Nine. ''The Third Power''
* Chapter Ten. ''Typhoon "Daphne"''
* Chapter Eleven. ''(Хочешь погладить кису – достань ее из камнедробилки!)''
* Chapter Twelve. ''(Скромная разборка вселенского масштаба)''
* Chapter Thirteen. ''Two Restless Shadows''
----

! ''The Ice and Fire of Tartarus''

* Chapter One. '' ''
* Chapter Two. '' ''
* Chapter Three. '' ''
* Chapter Four. '' ''
* Chapter Five. '' ''
* Chapter Six. '' ''
* Chapter Seven. '' ''
* Chapter Eight. '' ''
* Chapter Nine. '' ''
* Chapter Ten. '' ''
* Chapter Eleven. '' ''
* Chapter Twelve. '' ''
* Chapter Thirteen. '' ''
* Chapter Fourteen. '' ''
----

! ''The First Eidos''

* Chapter One. '' ''
* Chapter Two. '' ''
* Chapter Three. '' ''
* Chapter Four. '' ''
* Chapter Five. '' ''
* Chapter Six. '' ''
* Chapter Seven. '' ''
* Chapter Eight. '' ''
* Chapter Nine. '' ''
* Chapter Ten. '' ''
* Chapter Eleven. '' ''
* Chapter Twelve. '' ''
* Chapter Thirteen. '' ''
* Chapter Fourteen. '' ''
* Chapter Fifteen. '' ''
* Chapter Sixteen. '' ''
----

! ''The Light Wings for the Dark Guardian''

* Chapter One. '' ''
* Chapter Two. '' ''
* Chapter Three. '' ''
* Chapter Four. '' ''
* Chapter Five. '' ''
* Chapter Six. '' ''
* Chapter Seven. '' ''
* Chapter Eight. '' ''
* Chapter Nine. '' ''
* Chapter Ten. '' ''
* Chapter Eleven. '' ''
* Chapter Twelve. '' ''
* Chapter Thirteen. '' ''
* Chapter Fourteen. '' ''
* Chapter Fifteen. '' ''
* Chapter Sixteen. '' ''
----

! ''The Stairway to Eden''

* Chapter One. '' ''
* Chapter Two. '' ''
* Chapter Three. '' ''
* Chapter Four. '' ''
* Chapter Five. '' ''
* Chapter Six. '' ''
* Chapter Seven. '' ''
* Chapter Eight. '' ''
* Chapter Nine. '' ''
* Chapter Ten. '' ''
* Chapter Eleven. '' ''
* Chapter Twelve. '' ''
* Chapter Thirteen. '' ''
* Chapter Fourteen. '' ''
* Chapter Fifteen. '' ''
* Chapter Sixteen. '' ''
----

! ''The Map of Chaos''

* Chapter One. '' ''
* Chapter Two. '' ''
* Chapter Three. '' ''
* Chapter Four. '' ''
* Chapter Five. '' ''
* Chapter Six. '' ''
* Chapter Seven. '' ''
* Chapter Eight. '' ''
* Chapter Nine. '' ''
* Chapter Ten. '' ''
* Chapter Eleven. '' ''
* Chapter Twelve. '' ''
* Chapter Thirteen. '' ''
* Chapter Fourteen. '' ''
* Chapter Fifteen. '' ''
* Chapter Sixteen. '' ''
----

! ''The Dryad's Necklace''

* Chapter One. '' ''
* Chapter Two. '' ''
* Chapter Three. '' ''
* Chapter Four. '' ''
* Chapter Five. '' ''
* Chapter Six. '' ''
* Chapter Seven. '' ''
* Chapter Eight. '' ''
* Chapter Nine. '' ''
* Chapter Ten. '' ''
* Chapter Eleven. '' ''
* Chapter Twelve. '' ''
* Chapter Thirteen. '' ''
* Chapter Fourteen. '' ''
* Chapter Fifteen. '' ''
* Chapter Sixteen. '' ''
----

! ''The Glass Guardian''

* Chapter One. '' ''
* Chapter Two. '' ''
* Chapter Three. '' ''
* Chapter Four. '' ''
* Chapter Five. '' ''
* Chapter Six. '' ''
* Chapter Seven. '' ''
* Chapter Eight. '' ''
* Chapter Nine. '' ''
* Chapter Ten. '' ''
* Chapter Eleven. '' ''
* Chapter Twelve. '' ''
* Chapter Thirteen. '' ''
* Chapter Fourteen. '' ''
* Chapter Fifteen. '' ''
* Chapter Sixteen. '' ''
----

! ''The Sword Dance''

* Chapter One. '' ''
* Chapter Two. '' ''
* Chapter Three. '' ''
* Chapter Four. '' ''
* Chapter Five. '' ''
* Chapter Six. '' ''
* Chapter Seven. '' ''
* Chapter Eight. '' ''
* Chapter Nine. '' ''
* Chapter Ten. '' ''
* Chapter Eleven. '' ''
* Chapter Twelve. '' ''
* Chapter Thirteen. '' ''
* Chapter Fourteen. '' ''
* Chapter Fifteen. '' ''
* Chapter Sixteen. '' ''
----

! ''The Fire Gates''

* Chapter One. '' ''
* Chapter Two. '' ''
* Chapter Three. '' ''
* Chapter Four. '' ''
* Chapter Five. '' ''
* Chapter Six. '' ''
* Chapter Seven. '' ''
* Chapter Eight. '' ''
* Chapter Nine. '' ''
* Chapter Ten. '' ''
* Chapter Eleven. '' ''
* Chapter Twelve. '' ''
* Chapter Thirteen. '' ''
* Chapter Fourteen. '' ''
* Chapter Fifteen. '' ''
* Chapter Sixteen. '' ''
----

! ''The Book of Seven Roads''

* Chapter One. '' ''
* Chapter Two. '' ''
* Chapter Three. '' ''
* Chapter Four. '' ''
* Chapter Five. '' ''
* Chapter Six. '' ''
* Chapter Seven. '' ''
* Chapter Eight. '' ''
* Chapter Nine. '' ''
* Chapter Ten. '' ''
* Chapter Eleven. '' ''
* Chapter Twelve. '' ''
* Chapter Thirteen. '' ''
* Chapter Fourteen. '' ''
* Chapter Fifteen. '' ''
* Chapter Sixteen. '' ''
----

! ''The Ship of Light''

* Chapter One. '' ''
* Chapter Two. '' ''
* Chapter Three. '' ''
* Chapter Four. '' ''
* Chapter Five. '' ''
* Chapter Six. '' ''
* Chapter Seven. '' ''
* Chapter Eight. '' ''
* Chapter Nine. '' ''
* Chapter Ten. '' ''
* Chapter Eleven. '' ''
* Chapter Twelve. '' ''
* Chapter Thirteen. '' ''
* Chapter Fourteen. '' ''
* Chapter Fifteen. '' ''
* Chapter Sixteen. '' ''
----

! ''The Gryphon's Mistake''

* Chapter One. '' ''
* Chapter Two. '' ''
* Chapter Three. '' ''
* Chapter Four. '' ''
* Chapter Five. '' ''
* Chapter Six. '' ''
* Chapter Seven. '' ''
* Chapter Eight. '' ''
* Chapter Nine. '' ''
* Chapter Ten. '' ''
* Chapter Eleven. '' ''
* Chapter Twelve. '' ''
* Chapter Thirteen. '' ''
* Chapter Fourteen. '' ''
* Chapter Fifteen. '' ''
* Chapter Sixteen. '' ''
----

! ''The Best Enemy''

* Chapter One. '' ''
* Chapter Two. '' ''
* Chapter Three. '' ''
* Chapter Four. '' ''
* Chapter Five. '' ''
* Chapter Six. '' ''
* Chapter Seven. '' ''
* Chapter Eight. '' ''
* Chapter Nine. '' ''
* Chapter Ten. '' ''
* Chapter Eleven. '' ''
* Chapter Twelve. '' ''
* Chapter Thirteen. '' ''
* Chapter Fourteen. '' ''
* Chapter Fifteen. '' ''
* Chapter Sixteen. '' ''

[[folder: Chapter Ten. ''The Magic Chumodan'']]
Whimper, still in his "Danila" disguise, proposes to Zozo, saying that he "can't live without her" -- and immediately tries to scam her out of her eidos. She misses the second part, but feels sudden antipathy to him, and rejects, saying that it's going too fast. He starts pressing her, and she almost agrees, despite feeling strange pain in the chest when she asks what "eidos" is.

Before anything bad could happen, Essiorkh arrives and captures Whimper. He then forces him to answer three questions, wanting to learn what exactly he's planning. He learns that Whimper was sent to sabotage Mefodiy's relationship with Daphne -- the Darkness sees it as dangerous -- but before Essiorkh gets the last piece of the puzzle (why Whimper gave Daphne that magic poppy flower), Zozo intervenes and asks Whimper wether he lied about wanting to marry her, which he gladly exploits to avoid giving out any useful info, and get sucked out to Tartarus.

* TheCavalry: Essiorkh arrives before Whimper can trick Zozo into selling her eidos, and captures succubus. As he later explains, he thought about Daphne, and intuition told him to check on her at home.
* NiceJobBreakingItHero: Essiorkh manages to pinpoint Whimper and force him to answer three questions -- which he can't ignore or lie to; but once he answers them, he would be banished to Tartarus. He asks first two successfully, learning that he plans to destroy Daphne's and Mefodiy's love, because the Darkness considers this to be too dangerous for their cause, but before he learns ''how'', Zozo (whom Whimper tried to seduce into giving up her eidos when Essiorkh busted him) loses her temper and recklessly asks wether he lied when promised to marry her. He gladly answers that yes, he lied, and gets sucked into Tartarus, leaving Essiorkh without last part of the puzzle. He actually calls her out on this.
* PunBasedTitle: Chapter's name is based on the common way to mock Petruccho's surname "Chimodanov" (which is itself a pun on the word "chemodan" -- "bag").
* RattlingOffLegal: Whimper puts his marriage proposal to Zozo and request to sell out eidos into same sentence, with first part being loud and clear, and second part being quiet and mangled.

[[folder: Chapter Eleven. ''A Son of Kikimora'']]
Irka was consistently unable to summon Antigonius, but when she thinks about him, calling him "crazy", he actually appears -- and his look matches his weird name, with him being short, fat, with short legs and long arms, huge lemon-yellow nose and long, unkempt curly red hair and whiskers. His speech manner is just as weird, with him consistently mismatching opposites, including compliments and insults (and taking them as opposites when said by others, too). Antigonius' behaviour at first confuses Irka, and she nearly alienates him, but then she realises how his mindset works, and she fixes the situation.

After establishing contact, Irka makes several more tests, confirming her initial guess, and understanding how to interact with him. She also renames him into "Antigon", as it's easier for her to memorise and pronounce. Antigon gives her a magic "yellow press" magazine, which hides advices between seemingly random "hot news", which tells her how to turn invisible, and instructs to spy on Ligul.

Irka, using magic suggested to her, overhears Ligul conversing with Tukhlomon, about Daphne -- and the magic poppy flower. Turns out, it's an artifact which slowly sucks out her powers and her sanity, while assisting Kvodnon; Ligul wants to ensure that if they fail to stop Kvodnon, he would still be on his good side. Additionally, the flower hurts Daphne's trust to Mefodiy: their love is too dangerous for the Darkness, but if it gets poisoned or at least weakened, it would cease to be a threat. Irka doesn't learn what else Ligul is planning to do, however: he notices something, and uses magic to hide himself, while Irka gets attacked by a warrior made out of fire; she defeats him, but Ligul is already gone.

* AppropriatedAppellation: Irka has problems with pronouncing "Antigonius", so she replaces it with "Antigon". Antigon accepts it as new name.
* ArtifactOfDoom: Unsurprisingly, the poppy flower which Whimper gave to Daphne turns out to be dangerous: it's a part of Ligul's plan, which involves weakening Daphne and corrupting her love to Mefodiy; it also plays some crucial role in assisting Kvodnon.
* {{Cloudcuckoolanguage}}: For unknown reason (it may have something to do with his kikimora heritage: those are known for weird speech manner themselves), Antigon is tend to mismatch compliments and insults (and some other opposites). He gets confused when Irka says "good morning" (it's "terrible evening", thank you very much!), and feels offended when she calls him "funny", insisting that he's "boring and disgustingly ugly". The rest of his speech goes like this as well: for example, he gets offended when Irka calls him "friend", but calms down when she "corrects" herself to calling him enemy.
* EarlyInstalmentWeirdness:
** Antigon's HulkingOut ability wouldn't be used in subsequent novels, even where it would be perfectly expectable and highly usable.
** Ligul mentions that Daphne has unclaimed Eidos; it would later be established that Light Guardians don't need eidoses: they have direct link to the Light.
* ExactEavesdropping: Irka spies on Ligul and Tukhlomon just when they're discussing Ligul's plans to use poppy flower to corrupt Daphne's love to Mefodiy (and that this flower is somehow assisting Kvodnon). However, Ligul notices that he's been spying upon, and takes precautions, so Irka doesn't learn what Ligul wants to do next.
* HulkingOut: Antigon, when annoyed by Irka a bit too much, heavily increases in size. [[EarlyInstalmentWeirdness He would not use this ability ever again]].
* ExtremeOmnivore: In his introduction scene, Antigon eats Irka's wristwatch... and actually considers it to be "tasty", only complaining that he can't get more.
* InternalReveal: Ligul learns about Essiorkh, and, from description, deduces that he's a Guardian Angel, likely Daphne's, and that Daphne is likely living at Mefodiy's.
* LoveTriangle: Irka learns about Daphne and Nata in her dream, and feels jealous towards Mefodiy; she dislikes Daphne more, with Nata she's not even sure that she's real.
* NoOntologicalInertia: Irka fails to cause any damage to the fire warrior, and only succeeds at creating a second copy of him, but when she instinctively targets the candle which spawned him, both copies disappears.
* PlayingBothSides: Ligul subtly assists Kvodnon; not much, just enough to ensure that if Kvodnon wins after all, [[XanatosGambit Ligul would be on his good side]].
-->'''Ligul''': We should give the overlord a chance. Let them say that I assisted Kvodnon and it's unfair, but, if he returns to power, I want him to owe me. At least somewhat, at least for something. The key to victory is to bet on all favourites at once.
* WeakenedByTheLight: Antigon strongly dislikes sunlight, as it causes him pain. Irka feels regret over accidentally summoning him right at midday, when the sun is at its strongest.

[[folder: Chapter Twelve. ''Not Boom, Not Blam, Not Ouch-Ouch-Ouch'']]
Daphne's attempts to teach Mefodiy and the rest some runes gets interrupted by a gunshot; Samtsov's sniper just shot Arey (who let it happen), not knowing that it would be of no use. And Arey is planning to let him go in this night, to not miss the fun. This is also the good excuse to take Daphne's lessons more seriously: if the kids wouldn't learn protective magic, they may get killed.

After messing around for some time, Arey captures Samtsov and learns that he was brainwashed and sent by someone else, who cleaned up all traces. He fails to gain any information from Tiberius himself, but then he learns that, while they were busy, Petruccho disappeared, and realised that it was merely a distraction. Petruccho gets found in the basement, put into hole which was previously hidden under marble floor. Arey breaks the marble and finds three more holes. He realises that Kvodnon wants to put three other kids besides Mefodiy into those holes, so when the time comes, he may suck out their powers. And there's a fourth floor, the only one with direct link to Tartarus, which is intended for Mefodiy, his main prize...

* BaitAndSwitch: The rune Daphne used on Petruccho silences the person it's used on for seven times seven years, allowing them to say one piece of wisdom after each seven years period, and can't be cancelled... but she used weakened form of it, which would wear off after thirty minutes -- assuming you don't try to say something stupid, or think anything bad about women, otherwise, it prolongs its effect by one hour per bad thought! Knowing Daphne, it's hard to tell whether last part is true, or she's just messing with him, but Petruccho believes in it.
* BullyingADragon: Tukhlomon makes a silly joke at Ulitha's expense, which involves her interest to males (dumb pun based on Samtstov's EmbarrassingLastName) and her being "chubby meanie"; she reacts [[BerserkButton as well as may be expected]], and he has to explain that he didn't say "fat" before she tears off his nose.
* CantGetAwayWithNuthin: It's often said that "words are material"; in the places filled with so much magic like the Dark residence, it's true as nowhere else. One of the bandits, who made comment about him being damned actually ends up killed when Samtsov shoots Arey, and then his eidos fails to escape, allowing Tukhlomon to take it.
* ComplexityAddiction: While Arey ''can'' just summon Mamzelkina and slaughter all the bandits, it's too boring and would make them lose any respect from the other Dark Guardians. No, they must let Samtsov and his men in, [[{{Troll}} and milk the situation for all its worth]], even if it puts Mefodiy's and the others' lives at danger.
* CrisisMakesPerfect: Arey mentions that Samtsov would pay them a visit at night, so, unless the kids wants to get shot, they should memorise protective magic; Daphne comments that the best motivation to start learning is a life-or-death situation.
* DangerousForbiddenTechnique: Daphne warns that rune of wisdom has a side effect: once its power runs out, you become much dumber for a short amount of time. As is, "let's start vandalising and beating up people" kind of dumb.
* DealWithTheDevil: Arey offers Mefodiy to give him his eidos "for storing" and agreeing to serve Arey in this life and the next one, in return for immortality, invulnerability, and other, smaller bonuses, insisting that not only Mefodiy is at risk of dying otherwise (and they both know that he wouldn't end up in Eden if it happens), but it's different from just selling or giving it away, in that Arey can actually give it back one day. Mefodiy refuses, and Arey at first seems like he's about to explode, but then he calms down.
* HoistByHisOwnPetard: Samtsov gets ordered to blindly take a card, with Diamonds giving power, Hearts giving love, Clubs giving long road, and Spades giving death. Samtsov almost grabs a card, but changes his mind in the last moment and grabs another, sees something he dislikes, and tries to cheat by putting it back and drawing another (Arey lets it slide), which he then repeats two more times before Arey's patience runs out. Arey then tells him that first card (which he didn't take) was a Queen of Hearts, allowing him to get away easily by becoming a con artist specialising in fake marriages. The other cards he grabs? Valet of Clubs (which would've made him Scientology "missioner"), which he drew first, and Ace of Spades, which he drew last, thus dooming himself to die. {{Subverted|Trope}} in that, as Daphne points out, Arey has no power to hurt Tiberius until he sells out his eidos, so all he can do is to mess with him, which Arey doesn't deny.
* MuggingTheMonster: {{Downplayed|Trope}}; Petruccho thinks that he can disrespect Daphne, as she wouldn't be able to enforce her rule, and thus, he can blatantly ignore her attempts to teach him anything. She retaliates by demonstrating the silencing rune ''on him'', but does no long-lasting damage to him.
* RuleOfThree: The rune of silver scales, also known as fish rune, gives its user the ability to breath underwater; it can only be used three times total: on the fourth use, it grows gills which can't be removed by any means.
* {{Troll}}: When one of Samtsov's men shoots Arey, Arey dodges all three shots, while making mocking comments. First time, it's undershot. Second time, it's overshot. Then the bandit tries to shoot at point blank range, and Arey says that it's cheating. Then all bandits start shooting at once, and Arey just dodges them, while continuing mocking the bandits.
* YourSoulIsMine: Kvodnon still has power over souls which were once put into his darkh, and they assist him as the dark chorus which brainwashes people put into holes in the Dark residence's basement, as well as keeping them alive, but in stasis.

[[folder: Chapter Thirteen. ''Vegetable is Like Fruit Which Didn't Make It'']]
When visiting caffe, Daphne starts feeling even stronger jealousy towards Mefodiy, believing that Nata is trying to "steal" him, and he blindly falls for it. She barely resists temptation to check on the poppy flower's colour at first, but then snaps and does like Whimper instructed -- puts her blood on it, and attaches it to Mefodiy's shirt.

Suddenly, Moshkin disappears without a trace. Essiorkh feels that something terrible is about to happen, but as he can't openly help the servants of Darkness, he only gives Ulitha vague warning which instructs her to go back to the Dark residence.

* BeethovenWasAnAlienSpy: Famous Soviet psychiatrist Kaschenko was actually an undercover Light Guardian.
* CantGetAwayWithNuthin: Essiorkh plans to steal one woman's "unlucky" meal, as she once said that "be I damned if I ever eat after 6 p.m.", as commissioners clearly took note at this "oath", and may try to use it against her.
* ComicallyMissingThePoint: Essiorkh thinks that "money laundering" means actually cleaning up dirty banknotes.
* DatingCatwoman: Turns out that Ulitha and Essiorkh actually started dating at some point, offscreen -- despite her being a Dark witch, and him being a Guardian Angel.
* OOCIsSeriousBusiness: Ulitha realises that the situation is ''really'' dire when Essiorkh leaves ''without taking his bike''.
* ShipperOnDeck: Essiorkh not just steals the meal, but gives a part of it to the other guy (also via magic), which provokes conflict between him and the woman to whom it belonged, which resulted in both being kicked out from the caffe. Why? He can see the future, and and he knows that this conflict would eventually result in them getting married, and later their son Michael moving to the USA, to implement new method of money laundering; Essiorkh [[ComicallyMissingThePoint doesn't know what it means, and thinks it's something innocent]].

[[folder: Chapter Fourteen. ''The Unity of Ice and Flame'']]
Antigon tells Irka that tonight, Kvodnon would kill Mefodiy and the other three kids, and rebirth in Mefodiy's body. He already has two bodies in place, and only needs to put the last kid and Mefodiy himself.

Meanwhile, Arey shrugs off the ice put on him by Moshkin, and states that whoever brought both Eugesha and Petruccho there, it was someone with not only access to Drevnir's sword, but also with mind-control powers, which leaves out only one possible candidate... Before he can say the name, Nata tries to grab the sword and attack, but Mefodiy reacts first. Arey grabs his sword and tries to kill Nata, but Mefodiy blocks the hit, allowing Nata to escape and jump into the third hole. Arey calls him out on it, saying that just one death would prevent countless more if Kvodnon actually awakes. He also points that Mefodiy was under influence of Nata's magic, even if he partially blocked it.

Kvodnon needs Mefodiy in specific place at specific date, so all they need to do in order to win is to not let him capture Mefodiy until then; he can't manipulate him directly, but there are the others, more subtle ways. Arey and Ulitha would take turns guarding the basement, while Daphne should guard Mefodiy, preventing him from falling asleep at all cost. But when the two stays alone, the poppy flower turns into magic snake and bites firstly Daphne (putting her into magic sleep), and then Mefodiy (putting him into trance state, leading to him losing control over body).

* ArtifactOfDoom: We finally learn the true purpose of the poppy flower: it fed on Daphne's energy for activation, but main role was to force Mefodiy to go into basement, so Kvodnon can possess him.
* TheCaligula: Arey states that no one wants Kvodnon back, as his time has passed.
-->'''Arey''': The Darkness doesn't need old loser overlord who let the Gold-Winged slay himself. The Darkness needs a new master. Slightly less savage, flexible like a whip, cunning with mortals, predictable for their allies. Who can play by new rules, because the Medieval has long ended. Everyone understands it, Ligul included.
* CelestialDeadline: Kvodnon needs Mefodiy in the basement tonight; if Mefodiy avoids it, Kvodnon's plan would fail.
* ChekhovsGun: The magic poppy flower finally plays its role; at night, it turns into a snake, which incapacitates Daphne, and then hijacks control over Mefody's body. Daphne has just enough time before falling into magic sleep that [[NiceJobBreakingItHero she'd doomed Mefodiy herself]], by falling for Whimper's lies.
* DemonicPossession: It gets confirmed that Kvodon's messenger was in Nata's body all along. And now, when all three other kids are in the basement, he needs Mefodiy there in specific time, so he can posses his body, kicking out Mefodiy's own eidos in process.
* EurekaMoment:
** Irka realises that if Kvodnon only ''plans'' to possess Mefodiy, it means that his current host is one of the three other kids.
** Kvodnon wasn't in Chimodanov, as by putting him there, he would've been unable to leave and put in Moshkin as well. He wasn't in Moshkin, as it wouldn't explain how Chimodanov was put there without any violence. No, it was someone else who has mind control abilities ''and'' access to Drevnir's sword; as it wasn't Mefodiy, who lacks mind control powers, at least such elegant ones, it leaves only one candidate... Before he can say Nata's name, Nata (or, rather, Kvodnon's messenger in her body) attacks.
* EvilDetectingDog: Depresnyak feels the black magic in the cursed poppy flower, and reacts hostilely; Daphne misses this warning.
* ForcedTransformation: {{Defied|Trope}}; Irka learned the hard way that she must take the wolf form at least for one hour per day, or she may risk losing control and transform against her will again.
* GrandTheftMe: The magic poppy flower turns into a snake, which allows Kvodnon to intercept control over his body.
* ItsAllMyFault: Mefodiy laments what happened to Petruccho, Nata and Eugesha, as it was him and Daphne who gathered them there. Arey snaps him out of it, saying that there was no way to hide them from Kvodnon, not even by putting them all in Tartarus. Also, they're not dead yet, and wouldn't be, until Kvodnon gets Mefodiy himself.
* NoodleIncident: Antigon was forced to serve the Valkyries for "being naughty", for ten thousand years (three already passed); he can't say details, or it would increase to fifteen thousands. If Irka ''really'' insists, he may tell anyway, but she takes mercy at him and doesn't press, to Antigon's relief.
* AnOfferYouCantRefuse: The reason why Antigon serves the Valkyries is because he was cursed, as a punishment for [[NoodleIncident "being naughty"]]. It should take ten thousand years, with three already passing.
* ShootTheDog: When Mefodiy blocks Arey's strike, Arey says that by killing Nata, he would've prevented countless more deaths, but Mefodiy almost ruined everything.
-->'''Arey''': I tried to kill not her, but the one who took over her body. If Kvodnon would come to power, instead of a droplet of blood which wasn't spilled now, there would be an ocean.
* TheWorfEffect: Moshkin managed to freeze Arey, thanks to effect of surprise. Arey is shocked that he was defeated that easily, by some child, no less.
* YouCantThwartStageOne: Kvodnon succeeds in putting three kids into holes in the basement; now he only needs Mefodiy in specific place at specific time to complete the ritual.
[[/folder]]

[[folder: Chapter Fifteen. ''When You Die -- Move Away'']]
Irka goes to find Mefodiy before it's too late, but the time is running out; fortunately, she meets Essiorkh, who offers to ride on his bike (he returned for it, as Irka can't use teleportation).

They find unconscious Ulitha; when Essiorkh awakes her, he learns that Mefodiy took her by surprise, and she only surprised because she parried the blow with her lucky rapier (which is now destroyed), and Mefodiy didn't bother to double-check.

Meanwhile, Mefodiy faces Arey. But Arey easily disarms him and puts a sword to his throat, threatening to kill him if it comes to this. Kvodnon's spirit leaves Nata's body, and materialises as the massive ghostly figure of a horseman. Kvodnon states that he doesn't believe that Arey would actually kill the boy: the love wouldn't let him; and indeed, Arey pretends to kill Mefodiy, only to attack Kvodnon instead. Kvodnon effortlessly defeats him, knocking him out with a single strike -- even as a spirit, he's that much more powerful than him. But before he can proceed with the plan, Irka, Antigon and Essiorkh shows up. Antigon throws his mace, which causes Kvodnon to drop Mefodiy before he puts him into hole to complete the ritual, then Essiorkh distracts him, allowing Irka to throw her spear, which destroys the spirit.

Arey awakes and is ready to fight Essiorkh instead, but suddenly, Ulitha steps in and says that he saved her life (okay, not life, but still close enough), so he may be spared. Arey reluctantly agrees. Ulitha also insists on taking a day off, so she can go on a date.
----
* BigDamnHeroes: Irka (with Essiorkh's help) arrives just in time to face Kvodnon's spirit in battle, and defeat it.
* DatingCatwoman: Ulitha actually asks for a day off, so she can go on a date with Essiorkh, confirming that the two are together now. Essiorkh's behaviour clearly shows that it's not just her flirting with him, and he actually reciprocates.
* KilledOffForReal: Arey believes that this time, Kvodnon was put down for good.
* LoveIsAWeakness: Kvodnon doesn't believe that Arey would kill Mefodiy: his attachments made him too weak for it.
-->'''Arey''': Why do you think that I wouldn't kill him?\\
'''Kvodnon''': Why not? You were never able to step over people. That's why you never managed to achieve more, baron. A worm of sentimentality had always chewing at your heart... Even Ligul surpassed you... Go on! Kill the boy! Or you're attached to him?
* NotWorthKilling: Ulitha survived solely because she managed to par the strike with her rapier, resulting in her being knocked out instead of killed, and Kvodnon (who was in control of Mefodiy's body) didn't bother with checking, not seeing her as worthy of his attention.
* TrappedInVillainy: Arey states that the only reason why he still serves the Darkness is because it's far too late to return to Light; he has ''no'' loyalty to neither its cause, nor its leaders, be it Ligul or Kvodnon (whom Arey, amongst other things, blames for passing the rules which indirectly led to the deaths of his family).
[[/folder]]
----

Seven years prior to Tanya Grotter's arrival to Tibidokhs, headmaster Sardanapal gathers all the teachers, and tells them about a very important (and very dangerous) person who's about to get born -- Mefodiy Buslaev, the chosen Dark Inheritor, as was foretold by Drevnir himself; he would break the eternal stalemate between the forces of Light and the Darkness, changing the world forever.

Thirteen years later, Mefodiy Buslaev, "the Dark Inheritor", lives mostly unremarkable life with his mother and uncle in a small flat on the outskirts of Moscow, and thinks that his future would be just as unremarkable -- despite various strange and unexplainable things occurring around him on semi-regular basis. While Mefodiy's mother Zozo prepares for a date (ever since divorce with Mefodiy's father Igor, she seeks to find a replacement, so far unsuccessfully), she sends Mefodiy elsewhere, and he goes to his friend, Irka -- a disabled wunderkind girl, whom he can entrust with his insecurities, like his recurring nightmare about the marble coffin which contains ''something'' and calls for him, yet poses some unknown danger. Just before leaving, he goes into conflict with the latest of Zozo's would-be suitors (a hog-like aggressive man), and, just to spite him, sabotages his car. Soon afterwards, "the hog" catches him, and threatens to hurt both him and his mother, but someone intervenes and orders him to release the boy.

The story cuts to some time prior to the current events, showing how former Skomorokh Sloboda (on which place is now the Big Dmitrovka street) became the Dark residence, and how current Dark chancellor, Ligul, installed the swordsman Arey as its chief and Mefodiy's mentor. The two are clearly at odds, with Arey previously being sent into exile for killing some Dark Guardians over something bad which happened to his (''mortal'') family, and Ligul seeing Arey as a valuable, but too free-spirited asset.

When Mefodiy arrives onto place, and discovers a way inside, he gets "greeted" by a crossbow arrow into face, which he instinctively blocks with his magic, confirming that yes, he's indeed the person Arey seeks. Arey properly explains to him just what he's getting himself into, and gives a chance to reject and return to his old unremarkable life. Mefodiy accepts; when asked how they would explain it to his parents, Arey promises to deal with it by himself.

The story then switches to Eden. Daphne was always rather... unusual Light Guardian; besides her having a hellish cat named Depresnyak as her pet, she's known for certain "informal" habits, small pranks, and dark sense of humour. Eden feels rather boring for her, being just too good and nice. While trying to find some entertainment, she runs into the ghost of Retired Fairy, known for two things: messing up with people by fulfilling their wishes with major drawbacks, and foretelling the future; the Fairy warns her that putting the winged necklace (the source of any Light Guardian's powers) on the neck of a mortal would make her fall in love with them. There are no mortals in Eden, but the Fairy disappears without explaining further. Daphne then gets summoned by Supreme Guardian Troil himself; made all the stranger by how bad Daphne's reputation is. Troil tells her about Mefodiy, who's inherited powers of Kvodnon, the previous Lord of Darkness who once nearly destroyed Eden itself and was stopped at the cost of great sacrifice. It's up to Daphne to find Mefodiy, convince his mentor Arey to take her in, and ensure that Mefodiy would never succumb to the Darkness completely; her inner Darkness would make both sides believe in her "betrayal", but she should not get caught, as no one but Troil himself would know the truth.

! ''The Third Horseman of Darkness''

* Chapter One. ''Debut of Aunt Intuition''
* Chapter Two. ''You [=@=] and Other Animals''
* Chapter Three. ''Three is Like Two, But With Sadly Lowered Tail''
* Chapter Four. ''A King Without Retinue is Like a Biker Without a Bike''
* Chapter Five. ''Ali Petrus and Forty Monsters''
* Chapter Six. ''Fall in Love or Die''
* Chapter Seven. ''Neighbourhood-Grade Bloke''
* Chapter Eight. ''A Meat Loaf Wishes to Meet One She-Wolf''
* Chapter Nine. ''Kind and Fluffy Fiend''
* Chapter Ten. ''The Magic Chumodan''
* Chapter Eleven. ''A Son of Kikimora''
* Chapter Twelve. ''Not Boom, Not Blam, Not Ouch-Ouch-Ouch''
* Chapter Thirteen. ''Vegetable is Like Fruit Which Didn't Make It''
* Chapter Fourteen. ''The Unity of Ice and Flame''
* Chapter Fifteen. ''When You Die -- Move Away''

Daphne, while looking where to find something to eat, runs into a succubus, who introduces himself as Whimper. Whimper states that he knows about her attraction to Mefodiy, and tries to make a "friendly chat" with her, and even turns into Mefodiy when she claims to feel nothing to him, only to alienate her, as she sees through his glamour. Angry, Daphne turns him into a worm by using an old trick, and blackmails into revealing what he's doing here. Whimper reveals that she would soon get a rival, and if that rival steals Mefodiy from her, she would die. But he offers a magic poppy flower which would track Mefodiy's feelings for her; if something goes bad, Mefodiy can be made to love her again, just need to pour Daphne's blood on the flower and attach it to Mefodiy's shirt. Daphne accepts it. Soon afterwards, Daphne gets attacked by unknown enemy, barely surviving the attack. Who's trying to kill her, and why?

At night, Irka hears the weird noises from the kitchen. Thinking that it's a robber, she tries to leave and ask the neighbours for help, but accidentally hits a corner of the closet, and falls from her wheelchair. Realising that she can't crawl back on her own, nor she can open the door, as she can't reach the lock, she, already prepared for the worst, but having no other option, crawls to the kitchen (from there goes some strange light)... and sees an injured she-wolf, with horrible bleeding wound on her side. Forgetting about everything, not even thinking just how the wolf ended up here, she crawls to try and help her. The wolf then turns into a wounded swan, then into a woman. Woman tells Irka that she's a Valkyrie, and she's here to find someone who can take her mantle when she dies from her wounds: the evil has escaped from behind the Dreadful Gates, and only Irka, with the help of someone called "Antigonius", can stop it. Valkyrie gives Irka her powers, and with them, the ability to walk. She gives Irka a warning: do not tell anyone from her old life who she is, or they would die. She should also keep her animal forms in check, or she would lose herself.

Edya goes into conflict with a client; his audacity fais to save him this time, as the client turns out to be a sister of someone ''really'' important for Edya's boss, and Edya gets fired. Zozo (who's still unlucky in finding a suitor, only running into various freaks) invites her brother to attend a party thrown by a "poet" Lev Ovalov, where she runs into a guy who introduces himself as Danila Plaksin (actually Whimper in disguise). Edya briefly sees through his disguise, which makes him distrusting to the guy, while Zozo falls for Whimper's blatant attempts at flirting.

Daphne and Nata don't come along right from the start. Then Daphne notices that the poppy on Mefodiy's shirt had changed colour to pink (indicating that he became colder to her), and she starts acting aggressive to him without explanation. She only calms down when she notices how her innate magic "explodes" and causes some collateral damage in metro. When the company arrives to the Dark residence, they see that it was stripped of magic and now resembles an ordinary office. The reason becomes (somewhat) clear when they enter and finds Arey with some mortal guest (who brought along two scarily-looking bodyguards); that guest -- who has rather pretentious name Tiberius Cezarovich Samtsov -- insists that he wants to buy this house. When Arey insists that Mefodiy is the one who calls the shots here, Mefodiy realises that Arey is messing with the guy for his amusement, and plays along. When Mefodiy also refuses to sell it, Arey grows tired, and tells the guy to leave, in very insulting manner, which angers him to no end, and he hisses that Arey just doomed himself. When Tiberiy leaves, Arey reveals the true reason for this; there's some third force behind those guys, which wants the access to the building for its own gains. Mefodiy also notices that Arey has some hidden reason for paying so much attention to what Mefodiy says about the building, and feeling relief when he refused to sell it; something is weird... But it's a question for another time; for now, Mefodiy and Daphne have to find the third gifted kid.

Irka, not knowing what would happen if Babanya finds her outside of wheelchair (and not really trusting the "no one from old life would recognise you" part), still sits back whenever she returns; but one day, when experimenting with shapeshifting, she misses Babanya's return... and realises that she doesn't see anything: it seems that when Irka isn't in wheelchair, some sort of magic "plays" Irka for Babanya to not reveal the secret. Soon afterwards, she feels strange need to fill a bathtub with hot water, and on the misted glass appears a message, ordering her to find Eugeniy Moshkin first, so he would bring her to the other three. Picking an outfit to her liking out non-bought clothes made by Babanya, Irka goes to the address provided. Moshkin turns out to be extremely awkward and eccentric, but Irka still learns about his gift -- he can control water, in any form. Suddenly, Irka's wolf form (which she previously disregarded) takes over, and she transforms without wishing so. She steals the chicken from Moshkin's fridge, and runs away -- just in time to see Mefodiy and Daphne arriving; shock of seeing them here allows Irka to regain her human form.

Arey gathers his new students together, and tells them why they should stay here -- because anywhere else, their gift would not let them live a normal life. They're skeptical at first, but he easily breaks all their arguments. They (as well as Mefodiy and Daphne), from now on, would live here, in the Dark residence; Glumovich would cover for them before their parents. Arey then summon Mefodiy personally, and reveals that Kvodnon has escaped. When he was slain, he was divided into two parts: one -- faceless, abstract evil -- is still trapped in Tartarus, and is worshipped by the Dark Guardians; but another, which contains his actual personality, was trapped behind the Dreadful Gates, with Premordial Chaos. Kvodnon somehow distrupted the protective magic, which allowed him to send his breath to Earth and possess a mortal body. Now, the messenger would try to free Kvodnon, for which he has three days and nights; and not even the Darkness wants that, as Kvodnon's return means the apocalypse: if LIght perish, mortals would follow, and then the Darkness itself. Messenger can only possess either Mefodiy, or one of the other three kids: they share Kvodnon's former powers, and can use his former sword. Now, before it's too late, they must find which one is the Messenger.

Whimper, still in his "Danila" disguise, proposes to Zozo, saying that he "can't live without her" -- and immediately tries to scam her out of her eidos. She misses the second part, but feels sudden instinctive antipathy to him, and rejects, saying that it's going too fast. He starts pressing her, and she almost agrees, despite feeling strange pain in the chest when she asks what "eidos" is. Before anything bad can happen, Essiorkh arrives and captures Whimper. He then forces him to answer three questions, wanting to learn what exactly he's planning. He learns that Whimper was sent to sabotage Mefodiy's relationship with Daphne -- the Darkness sees it as dangerous -- but before Essiorkh gets the last piece of the puzzle (why Whimper gave Daphne that magic poppy flower), Zozo intervenes and asks Whimper whether he lied about wanting to marry her, which he gladly exploits to answer a useless question instead of important one, and get sucked to Tartarus.

After many failed attempts, Irka accidentally manages to contact Antigonius by just thinking about him and calling him "crazy"; Antigonius ends up being just as weird as his name suggests, both in his look (being a mix of various wights) and his personality, and Irka nearly alienates him before she realises that he's consistently mismatches opposites. She renames him "Antigon", as it's easier to remember and pronounce, and gets a magic "yellow press" magazine from him, which, through instructions hidden amongst "hot news", instructs her how to turn invisible and spy on Ligul. Irka does so, and learns that magic poppy which was gifted to Daphne is actually a dark artifact which slowly drains her powers and sanity, all so it would assist Kvodnon somehow: if the Dark Lord wins, Ligul prefers to be on his good side. As a bonus, flower disrupts Daphne's love for Mefodiy: their love is a threat to the Darkness, but if it withers or gets poisoned and rots into something ugly, like jealousy, it would cease to matter. Unfortunately, Irka scares Ligul off before she learns more.

Daphne's attempts to teach Mefodiy and the rest some runes gets interrupted by a gunshot; Samtsov's sniper just shot Arey (who let it happen), not knowing that it would be of no use. And Arey is planning to let him go in this night, to not miss the fun. This is also the good excuse to take Daphne's lessons more seriously: if the kids wouldn't learn protective magic, they may get killed. After messing around for some time, Arey captures Samtsov and learns that he was brainwashed and sent by someone else, who cleaned up all traces. He fails to gain any information from Tiberius himself, but then he learns that, while they were busy, Petruccho disappeared, and realises that it was merely a distraction. Petruccho gets found in the basement, put into hole which was previously hidden under marble floor. Arey breaks the marble and finds three more holes. He realises that Kvodnon wants to put three other kids besides Mefodiy into those holes, so when the time comes, he may suck out their powers. The fourth hole, the only one with direct link to Tartarus, is intended for Mefodiy, his main prize...

Antigon tells Irka that tonight, Kvodnon would kill Mefodiy and the other three kids, and rebirth in Mefodiy's body. He already has two bodies in place, and only needs to put the last kid and Mefodiy himself. Meanwhile, Arey shrugs off the ice put on him by Moshkin, and states that whoever brought both Eugesha and Petruccho there, it was someone with not only access to Drevnir's sword, but also with mind-control powers, which leaves out only one possible candidate... Before he can say the name, Nata tries to grab the sword and attack, but Mefodiy reacts first. Arey grabs his sword and tries to kill Nata, but Mefodiy blocks the hit, allowing Nata to escape and jump into the third hole. Arey calls him out on it, saying that just one death would prevent countless more if Kvodnon actually awakes. He also points that Mefodiy was under influence of Nata's magic, even if he partially blocked it. Kvodnon needs Mefodiy in specific place at specific date, so all they need to do in order to win is to not let him capture Mefodiy; he can't manipulate him directly, but there are the others, more subtle ways. Arey and Ulitha would take turns guarding the basement, while Daphne should guard Mefodiy, preventing him from falling asleep at all cost. But when the two stays alone, the poppy flower turns into a magic snake and bites firstly Daphne (putting her into magic sleep), and then Mefodiy (putting him into trance-like state, leading to him losing control over his body).

Irka goes to find Mefodiy before it's too late, but the time is running out; fortunately, she meets Essiorkh, who offers to ride on his bike (he returned for it, as Irka can't use teleportation). They finds unconscious Ulitha; when Essiorkh awakes her, he learns that Mefodiy took her by surprise, and she only survived because she parried the blow with her lucky rapier (which is now destroyed), and Mefodiy didn't bother to double-check. Meanwhile, Mefodiy faces Arey. Arey easily disarms him and puts a sword to his neck, threatening to kill him if Kvodnon leaves him no other choice. Kvodnon's Messenger leaves Nata's body and materialises as massive ghostly horseman. Kvodnon doesn't believe that Arey has the gust to kill Mefodiy, and indeed, Arey tries to attack Kvodnon instead, only to get effortlessly defeated: even in a ghost form, Kvodnon is much stronger than him. That's when Irka, Antigon and Essiorkh shows up. Antigon makes Kvodnon drop Mefodiy by dropping his mace, then Essiorkh distracts Kvodnon, allowing Irka to finish him off by throwing her spear. Arey wakes up and prepares to fight Essiorkh, but suddenly Ulitha steps in and asks to spare him, which Arey reluctantly agrees to do. She then asks for a day off: she's going on a date.

* ActuallyPrettyFunny: Zozo at first laughs at Edya's joke (about men's relationship with women), but then pretends to be offended by his cynicism.

** While she was still disabled, Irka, whenever leaving her house with Babanya, used to always wear sports pants, to hide her legs, as just looking at them was unbearable to Irka, as they were the symbol of her helplessness and miserable life. Now, she's eager to try something else, which would actually show those legs; too bad, her garderobe lacks fitting clothes.

* BaitAndSwitch: Ulitha starts what seems to be another jab at Ligul, and Tukhlomon prepares to listen, so he can snitch on her... only for her to finish it with Tukhlomon's name instead.

* BerserkButton: Mefodiy nearly attacks Arey in blind rage over a ''joke'' about sacrificing Daphne to the Prophetic Stone.

** When describing Mefodiy's weird behaviour, Edya references the story about his creepy babysitter, which he originally told in the second novel.
* CelestialDeadline: Kvodnon's goal can only be achieved during one specific night, and if he misses it, he would be forced to wait another thirty three years.

* ChickMagnet: Vydrikov, a director of the restaurant where Edya works, believes that if customers feels attraction to the personnel, [[ExploitedTrope they're more likely to become recurring customers]]. As their target clients are primely single females, he prefers to hire attractive single males as waiters, making them work in two shifts: one for brunettes, one for blondes (some of the latter are dyed). Edya sarcastically suggested to set up shifts for bald and shaved (it's trendy!), but was ignored. Edya, having dark ginger hair, fails to fit either shift, so he picks which one to serve at random.
* ChildProdigy: Irka is way above the school level of knowledge, to the point that she gets bored by wasting time on writing down the solution when she can solve everything so quickly in her mind. She's around Mefodiy's age, but she'd passed exams for the first nine grades already, just because she can.
* TheChosenMany: Turns out that not all Kvodnon's powers were absorbed by Mefodiy; some leftovers were received by three other kids. Now, Arey wants to find them and take as the new students.

* DisabilityNegatingSuperpower: The Valkyrie powers Irka gains comes with the ability to walk.

* EmpathicShapeshifter: Remembering how succubi transformation magic works (just by talking in sufficiently lustful voice you may "trick" their magic to transform them into whatever you want and force them to do whatever you want, wether they like it or not), Daphne exploits it to interrogate Whimper, by [[ForcedTransformation transforming him into a worm]] and forcing to move on the road where he would inevitably be crushed (requiring replacement body, which isn't cheap).

* EvilVersusOblivion: Not even the Darkness is interested in actually resurrecting [[OmnicidalManiac Kvodnon]], since he wish to destroy the Light too much to care about the Darkness' survival.
* FiveSecondForeshadowing: Essiorkh sensed some danger while Daphne was talking with Whimper, but neither he nor Daphne are sure what this danger is (it's certainly not Whimper himself). Is there some unseen enemy they don't know about? In the end of the chapter, Daphne gets attacked by unseen enemy, and only survives by hiding in the (rather dirty) sandbox: turns out that the only way to survive this magic attack is by lying in the pine coffin, and the magic somehow interpreted the pine sandbox with a plank over it as a coffin. Fortunately for Daphne, attacker assumes that NoOneCouldSurviveThat, and doesn't check. Turns out that Essiorkh yet again foresaw the danger before it really happened.
* {{Foreshadowing}}: There's some unknown third force which is interested in claiming the Dark residence, and it's clearly not someone human. Also, Arey pays attention to what Mefodiy says to offer to sell the building, and feels relief when he refuses (which Mefodiy notices), for the reasons known only to himself.
* GeneralRipper: Kvodnon would not stop until the Light is utterly destroyed. He completely ignores the fact that this would destroy mortals as well (since they can't exist totally without Light), and that without mortals, the Darkness would starve to death, since the Dark Guardians desperately needs eidoses to empower themselves; he either went completely nuts after exposure to Chaos, or, which Arey finds more probable, never cared to begin with.

* HumanityEnsues: It gets confirmed that Daphne actually progressively loses her powers, becoming mortal. Amongst the first signs is her actually starting gaining heigh, which normally would take ''many'' years, considering Guardians' extremely slow ageing. This may become a problem very soon...
* HumanSacrifice: Prophetic Stone tells the future, but it requires a human sacrifice in order to work; it would consume its victims by gradually sucking them inside (Arey doesn't describe the process in details, probably for the best); when Mefodiy hears about it, he immediately asks whether they plan to sacrifice Tukhlomon to it, which makes Arey laugh. Ironically, for the Stone's last revelation it must be destroyed by Arey, since information he seeks (three other kids with Kvodnon's powers, besides Mefodiy, and where to find them) can only be seen on the internal side of the Stone.

* PredecessorVillain: Kvodnon is the Third Horseman of Darkness; before him, there were two other entities of equal evilness, but only one -- Troyan (from ''Tanya Grotter'' series) is mentioned, and he's [[KilledOffForReal dead by now]].

** Edya tries his usual approach, acting so familiar and audacious that he would get away with it (at most, he would be chewed out by boss; not first, not last time); it doesn't work this time, as the client whom Edya annoys turns out to be a sister of someone important to Edya's boss, and he decides that it would be easier to fire Edya.

* SeriousBusiness: During the time between this and the previous book, Essiorkh, following his body's influence, had become bike enthusiast. Amongst the other things, he now seriously deals with tuning his new bike to match his tastes, and reacts badly when Daphne makes a joke which questions his skills. He also reveals that the bike originally was supposed to be destroyed, but he "stole" it (there's a {{loophole|Abuse}} which allowed him to do it), as he considers it to be a horrible atrocity.
* ShipTease: Ulitha actually still can't stop thinking about Essiorkh; she tries to distract herself by drawing caricatures of him.

** Daphne points out that Essiorkh was late to protect her (from whatever danger he sensed) because he was too busy working on his new bike, rather than acting like a Guardian Angel. He has nothing to counter it.

* TakingUpTheMantle: Irka gets visited by a dying Valkyrie, who asks her to accept her helmet and spear (gaining the Valkyrie's powers and ability to walk) and continue her unfinished mission -- to stop Kvodnon's messenger.
* TemptingFate: After learning that his bed has some dark history (it used to be a part of mortal trap), Mefodiy wonders whether the chairs have similar backstory. He immediately sees a vision how one guy tried to hang himself while using one, only to change mind at the last moment, but the chair broke its leg, so the guy ''did'' hang himself. Mefodiy feels so much hatred to the chair that it gets set ablaze.
* TheyCallMeMisterTibbs:

** Natalia Vikhrova insists on being called "Natalie" or just "Nata".

** The reason why Arey even bothers with Tiberiy Samtsov and pretends that there's an actual office? To mess with him. Ulitha and Mamzelkina plays along, and Mefodiy soon joins the game, too. However, later Mefodiy realises that it was a test for something regarding Mefodiy himself.

* VerbalTic: Petruccho likes inserting words "But!" and "I insist!" into his speech at seemingly random moments.
* WoundThatWillNotHeal: The Valkyrie says that this wound can't be healed, no matter what, and ''would'' kill her very soon.

** {{Invoked|Trope}} with Daphne's cover identity. As Daphne is gonna hide in Glumovich's gymnasium as well, she needs a human-like name. Arey and Ulitha picks the most boring one possible -- Daria "Dasha" Pimenova -- knowing that no one would bother with actually memorising it. Now it's up to Daphne to not botch her disguise by doing something stupid, like using magic or showing wings.

-->'''Ligul''': And remember, my dears! Arey, no matter how nice he feels to you, is a ''Dark Guardian''! Do you even understand what it means? The Dark Guardian! His link with the Darkness is ''unbreakable''. What would the Darkness' worth if it would be so easy to turn away from it? The moment when it would be needed to quit posing and make a decision, Arey's decision would be a ''Dark'' decision. The Darkness would take the sword with Arey's hand, and vanquish its enemies with it. And in that one, I'm certain!

* BalanceBetweenGoodAndEvil: Arey explains that the Light and Darkness have an agreement of sort -- whenever they go into official conflicts, both sides uses equal numbers; neither side wants to be accused of cowardice. Even the Darkness respects it, as their actual fighters value their honour and reputation.

* BattleDiscretionShot: Aside from couple of sounds which characters hears, duel between Arey and Yaraat happens offscreen. We only learn about results. {{Justified|Trope}}, as the [=PoV=] character is Mefodiy, and Arey specifically asked [[ItsPersonal to not interfere]].

* EstablishingCharacterMoment: The ''first'' thing Yaraat does is to try and kill Depresnyak, only to get surprised by his resilience, then he goes into details how he loves to torture animals (particularly creatures of Light -- their agony is sweeter) just for fun, and uses Daphne's winged necklace to make a seal on the Scroll, clearly for some nefarious purposes. He then leaves, lamenting that he has no time to kill Depresnyak and has to keep Daphne alive for a time being.

** Zozo has long gave up on finding someone non-crazy, but Ogurtsov is too weird even for her.

* EvilIsPetty:
** Not satisfied with just taking Ogurtsov's eidos, Tukhlomon additionally mocks him afterwards, just to show how easy it was for him to prevail, had he tried to resist.
** Some succubi/commissioners likes to leave little flags with mocking signatures after taking away someone's eidos.

* NoNameGiven: During confrontation with neighbours, we learn the name of the wife (Raise) and son (Kirill; [[TheGhost he isn't even presented]]), but not the husband, despite him being the one who talks the most; this, along with his description and lame attempts to argue with Edya, further nails down how pathetic he is.
* NonProtagonistResolver: Mefodiy fails to defeat Yaraat. It's Essiorkh who destroys the Scroll, and Arey who kills Yaraat himself.

** Yaraat tries to use special dark magic which would destroy Essiorkh, but it doesn't work; as Essiorkh readily explains, it's because the body ''still remembers Yaraat'', and that memory, along with holy wrath of the eidos which once inhabited it, gives it protection.

* ObfuscatingDisability: Edya believes that his babysitter lied about having eye disease to justify [[SunglassesAtNight wearing sunglasses indoors]]; in truth, it was to hide that her eyes were unnatural, creepy and unhuman.

** Both Mefodiy and Daphne are in denial that they feel anything towards each other. Mefodiy still tries to learn more about how he may earn the Light Guardian's love (keeping assuring himself that this is purely "out of interest"), while Daphne actually knows what and ''why'' she feels towards him, and tries to suppress it by acting like a jerk to Mefodiy.

* RetGone: Yaraat is uncertain how him killing Mefodiy retroactively would affect the present-Mefodiy; would he cease to exists, or it would just restore Yaraat's powers? Either way, he wants to use specifically Mefodiy's eidos, as that way it would erase itself.

* SoldHisSoulForADonut: Tsuryupov has sold his eidos (he's allowed to keep it for as long as he's useful) in return for... used toothbrushes of celebrities. And he doesn't even receive the ones he needs, as Ulitha, too lazy to bother, sends him the ones taken from garbage, or the personal toothbrush of Viy, or other similar things.

** After getting away from a limo, Daphne gets pursued by the huge and threatening guy dressed as a biker, until they run into a dead end. Then he introduces himself as another Light Guardian named Essiorkh, and says that he's on her side.
*** The black limo returns in the fifth chapter and continues spying on Daphne, with Daphne now being convinced that it represents some third force. Using the new magic-obscuring mouthpiece (gifted by Essiorkh) which she used to upgrade her flute, she attacks it with magolodies, and while it fails to do major damage, it's enough to breach its disguise, revealing scales -- turns out that it was a Tartarian wyrm, a dragon-like creature, who was clearly sent by someone.

* AccidentalTruth: When Zozo calls Edya out on him being a cynic, he jokes that he was jinxed at childhood. Daphne checks, and confirms that it's actually true. She starts asking him for details, and learns the story about weird babysitter (actually a Midnight Witch).
* AffablyEvil: {{Deconstructed|Trope}}; Ligul points out that Arey may be nicer than the other Dark Guardians, but he's still a Dark Guardian. His loyalty lies with the Darkness, and when the time comes for acting, he would act like the Darkness orders him, and would strike down its enemies.

* AnnoyingLaugh: Taxidermist Tsuryupov, who supplies the Dark Residents with rat skins (Ligul, for whatever reason, insists that reports should only be written on rat skins rather than paper), has very annoying and disgusting laugh -- and he giggles after every few words. This laugh is a part of his overall grossness.
* AnswerCut: When Mefodiy and Daphne realises that neither of them had sent a talking head, Daphne suddenly gets disarmed, and Yaraat reveals himself, being there all along, hiding in front of a wall like chameleon.

** According to Arey, the Light rarely uses the gryphons in field operations, despite their strength, as the gryphons don't know such things as "subtlety" or "caution"; if they bring one to theatre, a gryphon would obliterate a whole district ''at the very least''.
** The Light Guardians often creates magolodies for the sake of art, not thinking about their practicability. Often, it's more practical to do things without magic at all than try to find a fitting magolody, only to find that it's either too powerful or has ridiculously complicated requirements. Unfortunately, this includes the heavy-lifting, so Daphne has to release Mefodiy from beneath the dead hell wyrm without magic, preventing him from taking his sword.

* BadPeopleAbuseAnimals: When Depresnyak survives his magic and even tries to resist, Yaraat mentions his experience with torturing and killing the other hellish creatures just for fun, with all of them being stronger than Depresnyak, yet falling much easier; but much more he loves to torture the Light creatures -- the pain and horror in their eyes is so much sweeter.
-->'''Yaraat''' [''to Depresnyak'']: Back in Tartarus, I used to kill the ones like you in hundreds. Just for fun. There were monsters scarier than you: with snake tails, with basilisk eyes which can turn your heart into a piece of glass, with dozens of fire-breathing throats... But, to be honest, I prefer to kill hippogryphs, unicorns and other creatures of Light. They're agonising so plaintively, emanating the pain, that my heart fills with joy. The creatures of Darkness are less interesting in that regard.
* BalanceBetweenGoodAndEvil: Arey explains that the Light and Darkness have an agreement of sort -- whenever they go into official conflicts, both sides uses equal numbers; that way, neither side can be accused of cowardice. Even the Darkness respects it.

** [[UsefulNotes/TheHouseOfNormandy Wilhelm the Conqueror]] is a high-ranking Dark Guardian, close friend of Arey, and is still active as the chief of British Department of Darkness. His predecessor was a Guardian, too: Wilhelm had usurped his position, but somehow got away with it, with said predecessor being reassigned to Tartarus permanently.

** Amongst the guests invited by Wilhelm are UsefulNotes/NapoleonBonaparte, Frederick I Barbarossa and [[UsefulNotes/TimurTheLame Tamerlan]] with [[UsefulNotes/AttilaTheHun Attila]], with the latter two being the "guests of honour" rather than anything else, [[RetiredMonster due to them being old and senile]].

* BlackComedyAnimalCruelty: Mamai's attempts to run over a dog is PlayedForLaughs. Fortunately, he fails to actually catch it.
* BlackmailBackfire: Tukhlomon somehow obtained a page from Irka's diary, where she wrote that she loves "MB", and that she would give up her soul for something, possibly a kiss (it's hard to tell, as much of what's written on the page is crossed out). Tukhlomon refuses to give it to Mefodiy. Mefodiy tries to remind him that the rules instructs him to give up such documents, but it doesn't work, as Tukhlomon knows the rules too, and points that he may give it up to either Ulitha -- or to ''Ligul''. Mefoiy changes tactics, and [[ISurrenderSuckers pretends that he submitted to Tukhlomon's blackmail]], exploits Tukhlomon's greed by offering him valuable artifact, and then uses the moment to hit him with container from his sword, and take the page by force, which he then destroys.
* BlatantLies: The talking head, clearly created through [[TheDarkArts necromancy]], claims that it was sent by Daphne -- a Light Guardian. It's blatantly obvious that its' a trap, and yet Mefodiy still falls for it.

** Essiorkh shows up just in time to stop Yaraat and destroy the Scroll of Desires before anything can be done with it.

* ChekhovsGun: Mefodiy remembers advice about looking on shapeshifter's reflection on a knife to see through their illusions. Unfortunately, it's too late and he fails to completely strip Yaraat of his powers.

* CombatByChampion: Realising that the Light prevails in their conflict (everyone but himself are defeated), Arey challenges their leader, Alkid, on a duel: whoever wins, takes possessions of the loser (Arey's darkh, or Alkid's wings), and takes the magic box. [[SubvertedTrope The battle never starts]], as the third side intervenes and steals the box from under their noses.

* DeadpanSnarker: Mr. Polutonnik, when confronts Edya, tries to claim that he's not to mess with by saying that he'd read all martial arts books. Edya replies by saying that he writes them.

* EveryoneHasStandards: Zozo has long gave up on finding someone non-crazy, but Ogurtsov is too weird even for her.

** Tukhlomon tells Arey that one of the two boxes was discovered: one is with lopukhoid Anton Ogurtsov, while another keeps changing its location; the ''thing'' they're looking for is in one of the two boxes. Following chapter is about Anton Ogurtsov and Tukhlomon's visit to him (ultimately in vain: his box is dud).

* ForbiddenLove:
** Arey once fell in love with a mortal woman and tried to start a new life with her, they even had a daughter. It was forbidden, and so they were forced on the run, pursued by the Dark Guardians and other servants of Darkness. They managed to hide for years, until Arey made a mistake of trusting [[FalseFriend Yaraat]]...
** Arey tells Mefodiy that the only thing the Darkness hates more than its servants falling in love with mortals is when they fall in love with ''Light Guardians''; it preserves the most cruel and horrible punishment for them. In the end of the lecture, he repeats that again, and warns Mefodiy about Daphne specifically, saying that the Darkness wouldn't let him be with Daphne, and that not even he would be able to protect them once the Darkness makes a move.
* {{Foreshadowing}}: When reading a magiczine, most information is useless, but there are some potentially useful advices against shapeshifters, like looking on their reflection on the blade of a dagger while keeping it near your face in specific way.
* ForTheEvulz: There was no hidden goal behind hell wyrm pursuing Daphne, not even spying; Yaraat did this just to mess with her. Coincidentally, it indirectly led to her falling sick with angina, which was useful for him, but he didn't plan for it to happen. As for why it attacked, well, it's evil and hungry.
* GentleGiant: Essiokh may look big and threatening, but he's nice and friendly, not to mention, a Light Guardian. The sole reason why he looks like a biker is because {{Guardian Angel}}s can't visit Earth in their true bodies, so he had to use a host -- and the choice was between a biker and a talking dog; both Essiorkh and Daphne agrees that the dog would've been not the best option.

** Daphne meets ''her'' Guardian Angel (this time, actual one, not formal one like she's for Mefodiy) -- an awkward guy in the body of a scarily-looking biker. She comments on her Guardian Angel matching her own eccentric nature. Then she learns that he's a loser -- also just like she.
** Daphne is ''officially'' assigned as Mefodiy's Guardian Angel (previously, it was merely verbal order from Troil). That still doesn't free her from being hunted for, as her mission requires her being considered a traitor by both sides: the Transparent Spheres do have authority to pardon her, but the information ''would'' leak out to the Darkness and ruin everything.

* HiddenHeartOfGold: Daphne demonstratively acts like a jerk towards Mefodiy in attempt to suppress growing feelings towards him.

** Sure, Mefodiy, let's follow the talking head clearly created through [[TheDarkArts necromancy]] which [[BlatantLies claims that it's from Daphne]]. [[WhatCouldPossiblyGoWrong What bad can happen?]]
** Daphne falls for the same trap as Mefodiy, and fallows the talking head created through necromancy. It's less moronic than with Mefodiy, as at least she can feel that he's running somewhere and is stressed, but still, expecting that someone so consistently terrible with magic as Mefodiy would make ''this'' is not very smart. It later gets {{lampshaded}} by Yaraat, who points to Daphne that it was stupid on her part to consider that Mefodiy is capable of creating the talking head through necromancy if he lacks even basic skills, and blindly follow it into the trap.

* InertialImpalement: The Tartarian wyrm falls on Mefodiy when he puts a sword before him, resulting in the beast being pierced through. Mefodiy faints before he learns wether it worked, spliced with the creature's [[AlienBlood green blood]].

-->'''Mefodiy''': There're the dangers from which you can run away. Even if they're huge. Abandon everything, disappear, change your name, appearance, move to a remote town and lay low. Maybe they would find you, but most likely not. But from that danger, it's not possible to hide. It would find you anywhere -- even underground or at the bottom of the ocean. [...] I would not let anyone to hurt you... But there's another problem. The problem is that not in the last turn, ''I'm the source of this danger myself''. They're not as dangerous to you as me... I don't know how to explain, but it's how it is.

** Yaraat had killed Arey's wife and daughter just to screw with him. Now Arey is here to kill him, and Yaraat has no way to escape.
** Yaraat offered a biker to watch over his injured girlfriend while he goes to find some help, only to kill and eat her; now said biker's body is inhabited by Essiorkh, who only descended from the skies due to the events caused by Yaraat himself, and directly ruins Yaraat's last ditch attempt to escape.

* LectureAsExposition: Essiorkh finally tells Daphne what the whole mess is about: the Scroll of Desires. Long time ago, a mage named Brugus had created the series of wish-fulfilling scrolls; they were weak, only capable of fulfilling small wishes (like, really small), but just before death, he had created an one-of-a-kind Scroll capable of accumulating power over time, and put it into one of the two magic boxes, which then disappeared. The Scroll has accumulated colossal power, and while the scale of the wishes it can fulfil didn't change at all, it now can fulfil them ''retroactively'', even in the distant past. If it ends up in the hands of someone who knows what little detail to change, it can alter the history in the Darkness' favour...

** Amongst the clients in the restaurant where Edya works are Isadora Kotletkina and Ninel Durneva; both are characters from ''Tanya Grotter''.

* NeverMyFault: One of Zozo's coworkers had sent a snow plower to ''Egypt'', of all places. When confronted, he says that he received the wrong request document. When pointed that he's supposed to be smart enough to double-check when the obvious screwup like this happens, he tries to put the blame on someone else, and complains that he has two higher educations, but people don't respect him.

* OurAngelsAreDifferent: Essiorkh is an actual, professional GuardianAngel. Guardian Angels lives above Eden, in so-called Transparent Spheres, have different shape for their wings (those famous backwards-facing ones), and can't visit Earth in their original body, instead relying on possessing the bodies of deceased (resurrected and restored). Guardian Angels don't respond directly to the other Guardians outside of their structure, and are not obligated to assist them.

* SavedForTheSequel: The story about Edya's Midnight Witch babysitter, who did ''something'' to him twenty five years ago is a clear stetup for the future, "stay tuned"-style. He also remembers the words she had said to him: "your blood is my blood, your will is my will; wait till the black swan calls you".

* {{Seers}}: Alkid can foretell the future, but for whatever reason, he always sees ''exactly opposite'' of what would really happen; Arey (who knows about his gift) calls him "anti-prophet". Since Fukidid sees a vision of Mefodiy dying and his eidos being damned, it means that Mefodiy has nothing to worry about.

* SunglassesAtNight: Edya's babysitter was always wearing sunglasses. She justified it by having some eye disease, but Edya believes that it's a lie. In truth, it was to hide that her eyes lacks pupils, instead having seven-angled red sparks.

* YinYangBomb: As Yaraat's wish affects such global powers like Light and Darkness, it requires the involvement of them both, as well as yet-uncertain eidos, which represents neutrality. He already has the first two.

** Tukhlomon tries to pretend that he's Mefodiy's friend, and that he only tried to scam him out of his eidos to "protect it" from the other scammers. Mefodiy almost kills him here and now.

* MaybeMagicMaybeMundane: In-universe; Mefodiy discovers that he can control the Moon's reflection in the poodle, but then dismisses it as optical effect, feeling mix of relief and disappointment.

-->'''Arey''': Life is, for the most part, not a battle of muscles, but collide of your will with other will. The body fell down, but willpower rises it back and leads into battle. The weak will is like a rancid egg with weak shell. This shell would break on any outside strike. Strong will is a diamond egg. It wouldn't break even when the world itself would break around it. And it doesn't matter in which body it lies -- an adult, or a child.

** Ulitha jokes about how Dark corporative parties often goes, and says that at least one succubus likely would try to turn into Daphne and jump onto Mefodiy's knees to kiss him. Daphne, who's present, reacts negatively.

* RedHerring: Arey [[DiscussedTrope presumes]] that the warning about "free graph" where she wrote Mefodiy's name along with other one (it gets done when it's certain that ''someone'' would die, but not who) was just Mamzelkina's way to say "be careful, you're in danger", and it never actually existed.

* {{Foreshadowing}}: It gets accentuated that Troil is acting weird, and appears unnormal: pale, prone to phasing-out, lethargic, strange speaking manner with tone changes, and frequently looks at some ring. The final chapter reveals that, while it's not possible to actually brainwash him, his willpower ''was'' partially suppressed, with him trying to resist. The ring is what was used to achieve that.

* GoldColoredSuperiority: We learn that the elite Light Guardians are called Gold-Winged, and have golden winged necklaces instead of standard bronze. It's not easy to become one, as it requires at least three successful raids on Darkness, each ending with at least one darkh being destroyed and idoses being freed.

** Tukhlomon tells Arey that one of the two boxes was discovered: one is with lopukhoid Anton Ogurtsov, while another keeps changing its location; the ''thing'' they're looking for is in one of the two boxes. This clearly sets up the future conflict around the boxes, as well as sets up for Tukhlomon checking on Ogurtsov in the following chapter.
** Ligul and his supporters tricks Mefodiy into joining Blackjack play, specifically so he wouldn't have anything to bet but his eidos (and refusing to play means automatic loss), and then cheats so Mefodiy ''would'' lose, and Ligul ''would'' win -- but somehow, Mefodiy obtains a card which allows him to win by reaching exactly 21 score (one more than Ligul). Mefodiy clearly sees that someone has helped him, as all odds were against him. But for what purpose? We later learn that Yaraat's plan requires not just any random eidos, but Mefodiy's specifically, and he's surprisingly well-connected for a renegade.
** After escaping from the Tartarian wyrm, Daphne realises that both times, the beast just spied on her, only attacking when directly hurt by her... which means that there's someone who has sent it. She soon gets visited by the beast's owner.

* GreaterScopeVillain: Turns out that Kvodnon is still "alive" in some way, at least sufficient to rule from the shadow, even if his control is limited. Due to this, Ligul remains as "merely" the chief of chancellery, still formally subordinate to Kvodnon.

** Zozo's new boss is Isidore Kotletkina (one of Durnevs' neighbours in ''Tanya Grotter'').

** Amongst the clients in the restaurant where Edya works are Isidora Kotletkina and Ninel Durneva; both are characters from ''Tanya Grotter''.

** {{Downplayed|Trope}} with Daphne. She seemingly matters little in the great balance of things, but she ''does'' matter for the Temple, because it would only accept two persons -- one representing the Darkness with the Light inside (Mefoidy)... and the one representing the Light with the Darkness inside, which is Daphne. Ligul is the first to realise it and insist on her going as well; it would later be revealed that he purposely orchestrated her being sent on a mission to begin with, for that exact reason. She indeed turns out to be crucial for success, because if not for her, Mefodiy would have died in the very last trap of the Labyrinth.

** This is the only book where the Darkness's domain is called "Hades". Any subsequent books would call it "Tartarus" instead.
** The system with Light Guardians using numbers to indicate their hierarchy (the lower the number, the higher your rank) would be completely forgotten in subsequent books.
** Daphne somehow managed to regenerate lost feathers in her wings after injuring them by magic backfire; later books would state that any injuries to the wings are permanent.
** Tukhlomon calls the cursed button where he stored eidoses a "darkh". Later books would strictly define the term as the name for purple crystal-like vessels, used almost exclusively by Dark Guardians.
** Rufin says that Troil is poisoned and on the brink of death. It contradicts info from later books: it's not possible to actually die while in Eden; he may fall comatose, but can't actually die.

* JackassGenie: The Retired Fairy offers everyone to fulfil their dream. When she does that, she asks for more and more and more, until they run out of dreams (and she wouldn't bother with something simple, like "bring me tea", she only cares about real dreams)... after which she promptly ruins everything she had created (want to be an actor? prepare to play a tree stump), to demonstrate how really pathetic those dreams were -- all to prove her point that "true dreams" are extremely rare. Those who know about her quickly learned to recognise offers of dream fulfilment as a SchmuckBait.

* TheMole: Troil plans to set up Daphne as the agent of Light in the heart of Darkness, as she's needed to keep Mefodiy Buslaev in check. To make it plausible, the other Guardians wouldn't be warned, and ''would'' hunt for Daphne as the real traitor. Later, Daphne actually gets accepted into the team, albeit not without suspicions.

* TokenEvilTeammate: Daphne is pretty much considered to be the main "bad girl" amongst the Light Guardians, due to her "un-angelic" habits and behaviour, and her being a prankster. And then there's that one case when she drew a Dark rune... and it somehow worked, even if badly. Her internal Darkness is physically represented by her having some dark feathers. And Troil wants her to ump it up, so they can "exile" her and set up her as TheMole.

* StatingTheSimpleSolution: {{Subverted|Trope}}; Daphne asks Essiorkh why he can't just tell the other Light Guardians that she's actually good (he's from the Transparent Spheres, which has authority to order even to other Light Guardians), so they would quit hunting for her, but he rejects that plan, saying that the Darkness would notice it (plus, they have spies in Eden), and Daphne would immediately fail her mission as TheMole and Mefodiy's GuardianAngel. So, for a time being, she ''must'' stay as the "traitor".

* AffectionateNickname: Arey playfully calls Mefodiy "[[ShoutOut Lord Tomato]]" at multiple points.

* BullyingTheDragon: When Ligul presses Arey too much (Arey's late family and his [[HappilyAdopted relationship with Ulitha]] are ''very'' touchy topics), Arey easily cuts off Ligul's armour, and is one step away from cutting off Ligul's darkh as well, only stopping because he calms down. As pointed by Ligul himself, Arey has more than thousand years of experience and was a literal god of war at some point, and that he was once punished exactly for killing someone who pushed him too far.

*** Eduard "Edya" Havron shows his cynicism, pathologic cheapness (both through accusing Mefodiy of stealing several roubles to pay for tram ticket, and through listing how he once marked part of toilet paper with marker pen as "his", so no one would "steal" it) and snarky sense of humour (his critique of the alleged restaurant "Bee").

* ShoutOut: Arey jokingly calls Mefodiy "[[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cipollino Lord Tomato]]".

That someone is a tall, fat and eccentric young woman named Ulitha, who, after shouting some ridiculous threats at the "hog", somehow damages his precious car even more, clearly using magic, and then outright scares him away. Ulitha then tells Mefodiy that he has special purpose, and that he must meet her master at Skomorokh Sloboda; for that purpose, she gives him a special box, containing a rock which he has to use to draw a rune, to just teleport to his destination -- he only has one chance, or he would be incinerated. Mefodiy accepts the box, but he's still sceptical whether he's ''that'' Mefodiy Buslaev, or she just mistook him for someone. Still, he decides to use the rune after all: even if it kills him, it would be preferable to living his old life.

The story cuts to some time prior to the current events, showing how former Skomorokh Sloboda became the Dark Residence, and how current Dark chancellor, Ligul, installed the swordsman Arey as its chief and Mefodiy's mentor. The two are clearly at odds, with Arey previously being sent into exile for killing some Dark Guardians over something bad which happened to his (''mortal'') family, and Ligul seeing Arey as a valuable, but too free-spirited asset.

When Mefodiy arrives onto place, and discovers a way inside, he gets "greeted" by a crossbow arrow into face, which he instinctively blocks with his magic, confirming that yes, he does have some innate magic. Arey properly explains to him just what he's getting himself into, and tells that he ''can'' reject an offer to become his student, and return to his old unremarkable life. Mefodiy accepts; when asked how they would explain it to his parents, Arey promises to deal with it by himself.

The story then switches to Eden. Daphne was always rather... unusual Light Guardian; besides her having a hellish cat named Depresnyak as her pet, she's known for certain "informal" habits, small pranks, and dark sense of humour. Eden feels rather boring for her, being just too good and nice. While trying to find some entertainment, she runs into the ghost of Retired Fairy, known for two things: messing up with people by fulfilling their wishes with major drawbacks, and foretelling the future; the Fairy warns her that putting the winged necklace (the source of Light Guardian's powers) on the neck of a mortal would make her fall in love with them. There are no mortals in Eden, but the Fairy disappears without explaining further. Daphne then gets summoned by Supreme Guardian Troil himself; made all the stranger by how bad Daphne's reputation is. Troil tells her about Mefodiy, who's inherited powers of Kvodnon, the previous Lord of Darkness who once nearly destroyed Eden itself and was stopped at the cost of great sacrifice. It's up to Daphne to find Mefodiy, convince his mentor Arey to take her in, and ensure that Mefodiy would never succumb to the Darkness completely; her inner Darkness would make both side believe in her "betrayal", but she should not be caught, as no one but Troil himself would know the truth.

Back on Earth, Mefodiy, as a cover story, gets accepted into elite gymnasium "Treasure of Wisdom", run by the man named Glumovich, who's actually one of Darkness' mortal servants. Returning to the Dark Residence, Mefodiy gets assigned some easy paper work, which is when he meets Aida Plakhovna Mamzelkina -- the "Seniour Manager of Necrodepartment", or, if you insist, the Grim Reaper. She's here not just to drink with her old friend Arey; she wants to warn that Yaraat has escaped his custody, and would now likely hunt for Mefodiy, believing him responsible for his imprisonment. Arey, convinced that they have some time before Yaraat starts acting, sends Mefodiy back to Glumovich, giving him the Book of Chameleons to communicate.

Mefodiy gets settled into a same room with a haughty guy named Vova Skunso (accent on the last syllable). The two immediately goes into conflict, with Vova inventing all sorts of silly rules on the go just to show Mefodiy his place, and generally shows that he doesn't consider him as his equal; Mefodiy replies in kind. Bored, Mefodiy accidentally uses the Book of Chameleons to connect to magic news channel, and learns that renegade Light Guardian named Daphne is on the run after stealing dangerous artifact, the Horn of Minotaur. At night, Skunso cooperates with his lackeys to humiliate Mefodiy, but gets shown his place when Mefodiy finally manages to make his magic work.

Meanwhile at Eden, Daphne, using some questionable magic (with side effects including temporal madness) steals the Horn of Minotaur and escapes. She visits Mefodiy's parents to learn his whereabouts. On the way out, she accidentally helps Tukhlomon who nearly got banished to Tartarus, but in process causes two Light Guardians to lose their wings. She then forces Tukhlomon into leading her to Mefodiy.

Near midnight, Ligul pays Arey a visit, and informs that the plans have changed; they can't wait until Mefodiy hits thirteen, he must be in the Temple tomorrow, or never. Additionally, Daphne should be there too (yes, Ligul already knows; no, not from Tukhlomon). Arey summons the two, and explains about the Temple of Eternal Battle. As Mefodiy's swordsman skills are non-existent yet, they have to summon a spirit of Second Sword of Darkness, Hoors, who was second after Arey until he fell in a duel with him. Mefodiy gets taught a safety technique, which should prevent Hooros from usurping his body, but he botches it and lets Hoors take over; Hoors nearly overpowers Arey, but agrees to leave once he hears whose body he stole, putting the needs of Darkness above his vengeance, for now.

Arey escorts the two to the Temple, but stays behind, feeling that only the two are allowed inside. The two enters, and Mefodiy realises that he can sense all traps, carefully leading Daphne to the heart of Temple. But the last plate refuses to reveal its secrets, and, since it's unavoidable, Mefodiy steps on it... only to start fighting with himself, believing that he's fighting his evil doppelganger. Before he kills himself, Daphne calms him down by putting her winged necklace on him, remembering too late that it would make her fall in love with him. They enter the room together, finding the marble coffin from Mefodiy's nightmares. Mefodiy realises that the Horn was manipulating Daphne all this time, to make her bring it to this room, where it serves its last purpose, opening the coffin like a key of sort. Inside, Mefodiy finds the power; unlimited power that would be his one day, if he ever becomes ready to accept it -- and it would be his own choice, whether to use it for evil, or for good. With its treasure claimed, Temple lets them out safely -- and they find Arey and Ligul, the latter slightly injured: it's Ligul who let Yaraat out, and Yaraat, on Ligul's orders, who arranged for Daphne's mission; they also tried to get rid of Arey, but failed. Unfortunately, Yaraat escaped and who knows when he would show up again...

* AbhorrentAdmirer: While initially Zozo was interesed with Basevich, soon he started annoying her with his unhealthy obsession with his health (and expecting the same from her), to the point that it becomes hard to pretend that she's still interested with talking to him.
* AboveGoodAndEvil: The Middle Lands and the Temple of Eternal Battle are neither Light nor Dark -- in fact, it's quite possible that they are older than either -- and serves only one purpose: to protect the absolute power; power neutral by itself and willing to serve whoever passes the challenge of the Labyrinth.
* AchievementInIgnorance: Mefodiy can touch Ulitha's darkh without suffering any harm; normally, just toucing it should cause ''agonising'' pain, and he hold it for several seconds. Mefodiy doesn't understand why it's so important, but for Ulitha, it's yet another proof that he's indeed the boy she's looking for.
* AffectionateNickname: Arey playfully calls Mefodiy "[[ShoutOut Lord Tomato]]" (the nickname made up by Ulitha couple of chapters earlier), which clearly shows that this nickname is gonna stick.

** In the third chapter, when Mefodiy teleports to Big Dmitrovka, 13th, the plot switches to a flashback which tells how that building became the Dark residence (and gives backstory behind it), as well as introduces two major characters -- Dark Guardians Ligul and Arey. The plot then switches back to Mefodiy.
** The chapter starts with Daphne visiting Mefodiy's parents to learn where he is, then switches to [[HowWeGotHere how she stole the Horn of Minotaur and escaped]], and then continues after the visit to Mefodiy's parents and her running into Tukhlomon.

* AngelUnaware: It's [[InvokedTrope presumed]] that Drevnir, extremely important figure in the magic history, could've been a Light Guardian rather than just a mage.

** Narrator describes Glumovich as tall, lean and insinuating, and compares him to sick fox.
* ApatheticStudent: Mefodiy must write a literature essay. Due to the lack of motivation, he came up with "on my opinion, the books can be good and not so much", and gave up.

'''Arey''': Because then I would find him. For many years already, this is my only desire.

* AsYouKnow: While he [[DownplayedTrope doesn't go into too many details]] (as the person to whom he tells this ''does'' know this), Ligul starts mentioning that Arey's purpose is to train Mefodiy, who would soon hit thirteen, as they both know ''where'' he should be at that age. He also reminds Arey about his exile to the remote lighthouse, for the crime of daring to make a family, and later killing the other Dark Guardian on a duel (which is directly related to said family perishing). Arey [[LampshadeHanging points that today he's saying obvious facts a bit too often]].
* BaitAndSwitch: When principal says that a teacher is away due to "surgery", she actually means that it's ''teacher's dog'' who undergoes the surgery, not teacher herself.
* BalanceBetweenGoodAndEvil: The Temple of Eternal Battle contains the labyrinth of dark-and-white plates (most of which [[EverythingTryingToKillYou contains invisible deadly traps]]), which can only be mastered by two persons, one of which would represent the Darkness (with some Light still remaining inside), while another would represent the Light (with first traces of Darkness starting developing inside). Ligul is the first one to deduce that this was one of the reasons why no one ever managed to pass the labyrinth, and forces Daphne (a renegade Light Guardian) to go with Mefodiy, realising that she is that second person. While Mefodiy did most of the work, it was Daphne who saved him from the very last trap (which was unavoidable) by giving him her winged necklace, thus protecting him, but dooming herself to fall in love with him.
* BalanceBetweenGoodAndEvil: The Temple of Eternal Battle contains the labyrinth of dark-and-white plates (most of which [[EverythingTryingToKillYou contains invisible deadly traps]]), which can only be mastered by two persons, one of which would represent the Darkness (with some Light still remaining inside), while another would represent the Light (with first traces of Darkness starting developing inside). Ligul is the first one to deduce that this was one of the reasons why no one ever managed to pass the labyrinth, and forces Daphne (a renegade Light Guardian) to go with Mefodiy, realising that she is that second person. While Mefodiy did most of the work, it was Daphne who saved him from the very last trap (which was unavoidable) by giving him her winged necklace, thus protecting him, but dooming herself to fall in love with him.

** One commissioner tries to fake up his report... by writing 1+0 as 10. Then he pretends to be illiterate in attempt to avoid punishment.

* BoringButPractical: The Dark Guardians prefer to avoid unnecessary "special effects" unless they specifically need to impress someone, as they costs energy too, whatever small. So when Ulitha teleports away, she just disappears, no sparks, lightnings, etc.
* BrainwashedAndCrazy: The rune Daphne used to steal the Minotaur Horn, as a side effect, can cause its user to do reckless deeds -- like trying to assassinate your boss with a deadly poison. However, in the last chapter, it gets revealed that it was not her who poisoned Troil; on Ligul's orders, Yaraat has brainwashed [[WeakWilled Berenariy]] into doing this. In fact, he was also the one who manipulated Troil into sending her on this quest to begin with, and ordering her to take the Horn with her.
* BrownNote: Mamzelkina warns Mefodiy to stay away from her scythe: merely ''seeing'' it without cover is extremely dangerous, and not just for your life.

** Two out of three methods of stealthy infiltration suggested to Daphne to steal the Horn of Minotaur have side effects affecting user's mind and making them do strange things after losing control of themselves. Later Daphne would be accused of nearly fatally poisoning Troil.

** The Minotaur Horn finally serves its purpose in the last chapter, when Mefodiy takes it from Daphne and uses as the key to open the coffin.
* ChekhovsNews: Mefodiy, out of curiosity, uses the Book of Chameleons to look the Dark-TV, specifically, [[Literature/{{Viy}} Venya Viy's]] show. Viy tells about Daphne going on the run, capturing the Horn of Minotaur, and describes its [[TakenForGranite properties]]. The following chapter returns to Daphne and tells how she ended up on the run in the first place. And when the story later returns back to Mefodiy, he uses information he got from Viy to convince Areye that he should spare Daphne.

** {{Downplayed|Trope}} with Daphne. She seemingly matters little in the great balance of things, but she ''does'' matter for the Temple, because it would only accept two persons -- one representing the Darkness with the Light inside (Mefoidy)... and the one representing the Light with the Darkness inside, which is Daphne (Ligul is the first to realise it and insist on her going as well; it would later be revealed that he purposely orchestrated her being sent on a mission to begin with, for that exact reason. She indeed turns out to be crucial for success, because if not for her, Mefodiy would have died in the very last trap of the Labyrinth.

* ChronicBackstabbingDisorder: Ulitha warns Mefodiy to not trust commissioners, as they're utter scum who would betray and badmouth everyone and everything if it may give them any profit.
* CombatClairvoyance: Arey tries to train Mefodiy's intuition by tying his eyes with special cursed blindwrap (so [[YourEyesCanDeceiveYou he wouldn't use his normal vision]]) and ordering him to see things through his "intuitive vision", and say what Arey is doing. Mefodiy, unsuccessful at first, ultimately manages to find a way to do that, gradually seeing more and more clear, until he manages to see things Arey is only ''planning'' to do. Arey congratulates him on success... and then Mefodiy sees that Arey is about to behead him, and crotches... which is exactly what Arey wanted him to do -- to notice danger before it hits, and take precautions.
-->'''Arey''': A sword is just a weapon. If compare to human body, a weapon is its arm, an intuition is its eye. A Guardian without intuition is a pathetic creature which deserves to die.

* DeadlyDodging: Pupliy gets hit by Rufin's sleep-inducing magolody because Daphne at the last moment jumps on him, and magolody hits Pupliy, as he, standing on the ground, counts as "end of the chain".

* DemonicPossession: Arey teaches Mefodiy how to summon the spirit of Hoors into his mind, and how to keep him in check, so Hoors wouldn't take over. As Mefodiy can't fight, Hoors would do that for him if needed. Mefodiy botches it due to falling into a trap, and lets Hoors to take over, after which Hoors tries to kill Arey. Hoors only leaves when he learns that he possessed Mefodiy, but still threatens to return one day.

** Arey [[InvokedTrope accuses]] Ligul of being too cowardly to fight for the eidoses he claims for himself, preferring to buy them from commissioners.

* DoNotCallMePaul: Mefodiy's mother is called Zoya, but she hates that name, and prefers to be called "Zozo". She dislikes her passport, as it lists her given name instead of the one she prefers.

* DraftDodging: Edya avoided mandatory conscription by spending some time in psychiatric clinic and receiving a document which made him ineligible for military service; given that he had to pay $300 for it, it may or may not be fake (with rampant corruption, it's hard to tell).

** Ulitha jokes about how corporative parties often goes for the Darkness, and says that at least one succubus likely would try to turn into Daphne and jump onto Mefodiy's knees to kiss him. Daphne, who's present, reacts negatively.

** In the prologue, it gets told Drevnir's son was challenged by Arey, one of the greatest warriors of Darkness. He was beheaded in less than a minute.

** Daphne somehow managed to regenerate lost feathers in her wings; later books would state that any injuries to the wings are permanent.
** Tukhlomon calls the cursed button where he stored eidoses a "darkh". Later books would use the term exclusively for the crystal vessels used by the Dark Guardians.
** Rufin says that Troil is poisoned and on the brink of death. But it later would be established that it's not possible to actually die while in Eden; he may fall comatose, but can't actually die.

** First post-prologue chapter introduces us to Mefodiy and his parents, through their mourning routine and interactions with each other:
*** Zoya "Zozo" Buslaeva shows her eccentric nature (for starters, her insistence on being called "Zozo"), BigSisterBully attitude towards Edya (when she mocks his attempt to convince himself that he's pretty by pointing that he's FormerlyFit), and [[SingleWomanSeeksGoodMan perpetual loneliness]] (she's desperately looking for date advertisements, checking even most ridiculous ones in hope to find something).
*** Eduard "Edya" Havron shows his cynicism, pathologic cheapness (both through accusing Mefodiy of stealing several roubles to pay for tram ticket, and through listing how he once marked part of toilet paper with marker as "his", so no one would "steal" it) and snarky sense of humour (his critique of the alleged restaurant "Bee").

** Ulitha shows up dressed rather eccentrically, and shouts SophisticatedAsHell insults at the "hog", while not forgetting to bite from massive sandwich between phrases. When pressed hard enough, she ruins his precious car (which started the entire conflict) with her magic, while never stopping making fun at him.

* EvenEvilHasStandards: While Hoors is willing to kill Arey and avenge his death, even he wouldn't risk the future of Darkness by taking over Mefodiy Buslaev until he [[TheChosenOne fulfils the prophecy]].

* ExactWords: When Daphne doesn't let Tukhlomon go until he gives her an oath that he would help her, he tries to use the Darkness' motto instead of actual oath, on which she catches him. He then gives her actual oath... that he would bring her "anywhere", which also fails to fool her. Daphne orders him to bring her specifically to Arey, and not just random dude called "Arey", but specifically swordsman Arey, baron of Darkness. At the Residence, Tukhlomon tries to backstab Daphne ''yet again'', this time by exploiting her not asking to actually let her out once she finds Arey; he just rats her out. Fortunately for Daphne, Arey sides with her.
* FantasticRacism: Wights from different regions of the world dislike each other and often fights -- even in Eden.
* FeetOfClay: During prologue, Sardanapal mentions Ligul as one of the bets fighters of the Darkness. In the last chapter, Ligul shows that he's a ''terrible'' combatant and a DirtyCoward. Most likely, all the stories about his greatness were just the propaganda.
* FluffyTamer: Daphne keeps [[MeaningfulName Depresnyak]] as her pet -- [[HybridMonster a cat whose mother was a normal Eden cat, and father was demonic cat from hell]]; Depresnyak [[UnevenHybrid has inherited mostly father's qualities]], like [[MoreTeethThanTheOsmondFamily one hundred and twenty teeth]], [[ExtremeOmnivore ability to bite glass and drink acid]], [[AxCrazy chaotically aggressive personality]] and skin which burns whoever touches him while [[EmotionEater sucking out all happiness]].

* {{Foreshadowing}}: Aida Plakhovna says that she got a list of people who would die soon and there's Mefodiy's name, but it's written by pencil. Arey later explains that there's such thing as the "free graph" -- when two-three names gets written by pencil, as it's clear that one of them would die soon, but it's not yet certain ''who'', with final result getting known only after the fact -- sometimes years later. When Mefodiy realises that Arey knows more than he says, and asks which names are there, Arey refuses to answer, but Mefodiy realises that he knows the answer, or at least expects which names are there, and it's something important for him. The information known to the readers by this point almost screams that the second name is "Yaraat".
* GaveUpTooSoon: To test whether he really has any magic, Mefodiy tries to burn a pile of junk at a distance; when it doesn't ignite, he considers it to be a sign of failure, and gives up... not realising that the junk is fire-resistant, and that it takes some time for it to burn, which it eventually does while he doesn't look.
* GeniusLoci: it's ''heavily'' implied that the Temple has some mind of its own, and can detect (and reject) those it deems unworthy. In particular, when one of the voodoo mages has tried to escape, he was killed ''exactly'' one step away from the exit, as if the Temple wanted to show that you can't go back the same way you entered.

* GoldColoredSuperiority: The elite Light Guardians are called Gold-Winged, and have golden winged necklaces instead of standard bronze. It's not easy to become one, as it requires at least three successful raids on Darkness, each ending with at least one darkh being destroyed and idoses being freed.

* HappilyAdopted: Ulitha isn't just Arey's secretary; she was adopted by him when her mother (a witch herself) has sold her soul to gain something from the Darkness, and leaved her for death. Judging from Arey's conversation with Ligul, it's his attempt to [[ReplacementGoldfish replace his own daughter]], who's now dead.
* HellInvadesHeaven: In backstory, the forces of Darkness, then led by [[SatanicArchetype Kvodnon]], besieged the Eden itself, and [[NearVillainVictory were very close to victory]]. However, nine Gold-Winged Ones [[HeroicSacrifice volunteered to attack Kvodnon, knowing that they wouldn't return]]; they managed to kill Kvodnon before perishing, and destroy his darkh. It moralised defenders for counterattack, and allowed them to push forces of Darkness out, after which the evil lay low for a long time, before they switched to raid tactics (and started using commissioners and succubi to obtain new eidoses).

* {{Infodump}}: There's a lengthy part about the history of Dark Residence, which starts right after Mefodiy teleporting away, and smoothly proceeds into Arey and Ligul originally arriving to this place and discussing what Arey should do there, and only then continues with Mefodiy's story.

** The Minotaur's Horn is not just rather vile (fitting for the Dark artifact); it has some mind-controlling abilities, which it uses to force Daphne into bringing it where it would fulfil its purpose.

** To tell us ''how'' dangerous the Temple of Eternal Battle is, Arey tells Mefodiy a story about the team of voodoo mages who tried to brute-force it (to reduce risks, they used mise and frogs to "test" the road ahead, though even that helped only partially) -- and how all but one of them have died with almost zero progress, describing several "lovely" traps they run into. The penultimate one freaked out and tried to escape, only to being killed just one step away from exit; Arey presumes that the Temple [[GeniusLoci allowed him]] to make it all the way until this moment just to show: there's no going back; once you enter, you must finish -- or die trying. Last one freaked out as well, and decided to just not even bother; naturally, he was the one who told this story afterwards.
* TheLoad: Borya Grelkin and Mefodiy Buslaev accidentally volunteers to move several tree stumps (they are to be used as decorations for upcoming play), the first one due to mishearing the question, and the second due to not paying attention. Then it turns out that the stumps are heavy, but Borya isn't gonna help, as his health doesn't allow him to carry weights. When asked why the hell he didn't say so to the principal, he says that she didn't ask. Borya is too pathetic to even get angry at him (he gets compared to a penquin), so Mefodiy has to just do everything by himself.
* LoadsAndLoadsOfRules: The "Treasury of Wisdom" gymnasium has 912 rules; amongst them, "students aren't allowed to live secludedly" (rule №803) and "discussing or mentioning nationalities is expulsion-worthy offence" (rule №3). But there's no rule against bragging.
* LookingForLoveInAllTheWrongPlaces: Ever since divorcing Mefodiy's father, Zozo tries to find a replacement, but no one sticks for long. Mefodiy stopped memorising their names after first three. And the plot of first chapter starts with her kicking Mefoidy out to prepare for yet another date -- with the guy later becoming the first danger Mefodiy faces.

* MaybeMagicMaybeMundane: In-universe; Mefodiy discovers that he can control the Moon's reflection in the poodle, but then dismisses it as optical effect, feeling both relief and disappointment.

* NoRespectGuy: Mefodiy shows zero respect to Glumovich, both because he sees his dirty aura, and because he knows that the guy has sold his soul to the Darkness and now sucks up to Ligul in order to postpone the moment when he has to give it away. Vova Skunso shows little respect to Glumovich or his gymnasium, either.

* PayEvilUntoEvil: When Zozo's new suitor acts like a jerk towards him without provocation, Mefodiy waits for him to leave, and sabotages his car: puts a nail near one wheel, a broken bottle near another, and a balloon on the exhaust pipe. He feels no remorse for doing so. He quickly gets caught afterwards, however.

* RedHerring:
** Arey [[DiscussedTrope presumes]] that the warning about "free graph" was just Mamzelkina's way to say "be careful, you're in danger", and it never actually existed.
** Turns out that Daphne never tried to poison Troil; Yaraat did that, through brainwashed Berenariy, with Daphne being framed up; her suspicions that cursed rune made her do it ended up being wrong.

** Zozo reads a dating magazine where some guy put an ad where he asks a lady to call him, so he would go to her balcony and sing a song for her... while mentioning that said lady should have a car and apartment, stating that he's fifty years old and weights 112 kilograms, ''and'' insisting that said lady should only call him between 21:00 and 22:00. Zozo doesn't fall for that, and gets angry.

* ShipTease:
** Mefodiy clearly feels some attraction to Daphne (which is part of his motivation to protect her before Arey); Daphne also notices that he's pretty, and feels gratitude for him insisting on sparing her, even at the cost of possible conflict with Arey.
** Daphne teases Mefodiy about him siding with her when it was suggested to kill her; Mefodiy feels awkward, while Daphne feels gratitude and some sympathy in turn.
* ShoutOut: Ulitha jokingly calls Mefodiy "[[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cipollino Lord Tomato]]".

* SinkOrSwimMentor: Arey doesn't meet Mefodiy when he arrives to Big Dmitrovka, 13th, allowing him to enter on his own, and then suddenly attacks him with a crossbow. Mefodiy instinctively sets up a magic barrier, saving his life. Arey then says that it was a test to see whether there's any point to even bother with training Mefodiy, as if he wouldn't be able to protect himself from ''that'', he's hopeless. He then explains that it's standard practice for everyone whom the Darkness takes as students: they take around a hundred per thousand year, and only around one tenth stays till the end.

* TheyCallMeMrTibbs: Vova Skunso insists that Mefodiy should call him "Vovva", with two "[=Vs=]"; it ''only'' applies to Mefodiy, to show him his place.

* VocalDissonance: Troil's secretary Berenariy has high-pitched voice which strongly contrasts with his massive heigh.
* WorldsBestWarrior: Ligul comments that with someone having so many years of experience as Arey, not to mention that he was a literal god of war at some point (judging from name, likely Ares), there's no way the others may fight him on equal terms without cheating -- he would ''always'' be superior to them.
* YinYangBomb: {{Invoked|Trope}} by Ligul, who believes that it's for the better that Daphne showed up now: he presumes that the Temple "wants" two persons -- Mefodiy, who represents the Darkness, and Daphne, who represents the Light; that way, they may have a chance to finally obtain the treasure which the Temple keeps.

* YouWereTryingTooHard: When Mefodiy does as Arey asks (imagining a lake and look into its water to see things), he fails miserably, as he wastes too much energy trying to do it "right" and even accidentally imagines excessive details (like frogs), which only makes it harder. When he gives up and calms down, he starts actually see things.