Writer and traveler Vadim Burlak has made more than 130 expeditions around the world. So who better than he to gift us, sedentary residents of megacities, his impressions of extraordinary journeys. Layer by layer, the writer removes for us the strata of centuries, not asserting or imposing his opinion, but inviting us to think for ourselves and try to guess the mysteries of nature and ancient civilizations. All the more so because these stories are wrapped in the magical foil of an adventure novel! Setting out to sail oceans and seas, storm mountains, and descend into caves, the heroes of the novel encounter mysterious, dangerous, cursed places along the way. Every year, thousands of people die inexplicably and tragically in such places, and even more disappear under strange circumstances. In any such place, one may meet mysterious people — the Keepers of ancient secrets. But though they know the secrets of mysterious phenomena, the Keepers are in no hurry to reveal them to humanity…