"A friend to all is a friend to none; you cannot befriend both the devil and God at the same time."
The office was dim. I was in a meeting with Frederick, Thomas, and Conor when the lights began to flicker.
Outside, muffled screams, sharp bangs, and creaking noises echoed—as if the very walls were twisting in pain.
We exchanged tense glances and braced ourselves.
Then, without warning, everything fell silent… and the lights went out completely.
"Don't separate. Stay together," Frederick's deep voice cut through the darkness.
Emergency lights bathed the room in a pale red glow, distorting everyone's features.
The door began to shake under heavy, rhythmic pounding, as if something massive was trying to break through. The metal warped before it slowly creaked open.
"Fire!" Frederick roared.
Gunfire exploded, smoke and gunpowder choking the air.
Through the haze emerged a towering shadow—taller than any man. Its mere presence pressed on my chest like an invisible weight. My vision blurred; my muscles refused to obey. I tried to fire, but darkness swallowed me whole.
When I came to, I was sprawled on the floor. Several mutants were moving around me, their deformed silhouettes framed by the stuttering lights.
I jolted upright, heart hammering in my ears. I grabbed my weapon and fired until the magazine clicked empty. Only one remained.
It lunged, knocking me to the ground with a bone-cracking blow. We grappled, its foul breath washing over my face. I managed to free my knife and, in a desperate move, drove it into its skull. Hot blood sprayed into my eyes.
Blinking it away, I looked again… and froze.
It wasn't a mutant. It was Frederick.
And not just him—Thomas and Conor lay lifeless nearby, their faces still, unrecognizable.
I stumbled back, shaking, then dropped to my knees beside Frederick's body. My hands were coated in thick, sticky red.
"What… have I done?" I whispered.
The same shadow stood before me, unmoving, as if it had been watching all along.
It leaned down slowly, extending a finger toward my face.
Its voice—a whisper that seemed to come from inside my skull—said:
"You must stop this disaster…"
Before it touched me, a flash of white consumed everything.
I felt its finger not just reaching my skin… but my mind.
I woke up gasping, my clothes clinging to me with sweat. My throat burned with each breath.
A dream… or something else?
A knock at the door. I opened it—Frederick, alive, untouched.
"What are you doing sleeping so much?" he asked with a hint of reproach.
"Don't you remember Tamara arrives today? Come on, get ready. I'll wait for you at the airstrip."
I dressed quickly, but the images still stalked my thoughts. The visions were getting sharper… and I still had no idea what they were trying to show me.
At the airstrip, the helicopter descended with a metallic roar.
The downwash kicked up dust and sent loose papers skittering across the ground. Tamara stepped out with steady confidence, carrying her belongings.
"Good to see you," Frederick said, shaking her hand. "Let's head to where you'll be staying."
She gave me a brief smile, and I moved to help her with her things.
We reached her quarters. Frederick opened the door, gesturing inside.
"Made sure they cleaned it for you. If you need anything, Traytros is here."
Once he left, Tamara stretched and leaned against the desk.
"Well, now that we're alone… will you keep your promise to be my guide?"
"Sure. But first, I need your help with something in my room."
"Your room? Well… alright, let's go."
As we walked, her eyes scanned every detail, as if committing the place to memory.
"Certainly better here than anywhere else," she remarked.
I barely heard her; my focus was on what I wanted to show her.
Inside my room, I motioned to a chair.
"Make yourself at home."
"I pictured it smaller," she said, glancing around.
I pulled out a stack of letters, laying them on the table.
"I need your help with these."
Her expression shifted as she read the first one.
"Where did you get this?"
"They were my father's. Do you know anything?"
"I'd heard rumors, thought they were just stories… but this doesn't look like fiction."
"I want to know what happened to the world—how we ended up here, and why."
"It won't be easy, but I brought my books. No promises."
While she searched, I opened a notebook I had taken from a fallen soldier.
Inside were unsettling accounts: faceless black creatures, able to mimic loved ones. Those who saw them were marked—haunted by voices, screams, and relentless nightmares.
The final page read:
"I know I'm going to die soon. I just hope whoever finds this understands what I went through. Maybe then I won't be alone."
I closed it, feeling that whoever might be me.
"I found something," Tamara called from the table.
"Since the early 2000s, people spoke of the end of the world. Prophecies seemed to come true—disappearances, disease, war, mass migrations. Society turned away from God, unethical laws passed, and AI made us dependent and lazy. All of it led us here."
It was only a piece of the puzzle… but a step forward.
"That's enough for today. Thanks, Tamara."
"Now you owe me that tour of the capital," she smiled.
The streets were crowded; voices, engines, and street music tangled in the air.
We wandered away from the noise, stopping at the plaza before the Revolution Palace.
Sometimes, as she spoke, I felt eyes on us—though no one was there.
Tamara brushed her hair back.
"First time I've gone out alone with a guy. Marcus almost never let me."
"Doesn't seem like it," I replied. "I don't get out much either."
"When I first saw you, I thought you were just another fool in uniform… but you turned out to be a good guy."
It was the second time I'd heard that.
"And I thought you had a bad temper," I smiled. "Guess I was wrong."
We stayed until the cold pushed us back. At her door, she gave me two quick kisses on the cheek.
"One for being my guide… and one for making me smile."
On my way back, the voices returned—sharper, like whispers cutting into my skull.
Phantom shapes moved among cars that no longer existed.
In a blink, I was somewhere else.
A child—me—playing with a toy plane.
A real plane roared overhead, dropping something.
The mushroom-shaped blast lit up the world, followed by a shockwave tearing windows out and uprooting trees.
A woman scooped me into her arms, running, but the black creatures were there, unmoving.
The firestorm caught us… and I disintegrated.
I woke dizzy. Checked my phone:
Tamara: "Thanks again for making my night. Hope there are more like it. Let me know when you're home."
Thomas: "Mission tomorrow. I'll fill you in." — "???" — "Don't know what you're up to, but I'll come myself if I have to. It's important."
Another mission. Another trip.
With all these mysteries and visions, I feel like I'm losing my mind.
I'm even afraid I'll die before I learn what happened to my father, my brother… and this world we destroyed ourselves.
God… give me strength. Have mercy on me.
The next day, in the briefing room, Doctor Kraf spoke:
"The place is called Turgua. Contamination is rampant… but that's not the biggest problem. Since the nuclear disasters, paranormal phenomena have been reported there. An entire squad was sent and we've had no contact. You'll investigate.
If you find whatever caused their disappearance… eliminate it. No matter what it is."
Before boarding the helicopter, I saw Herlin.
"Heading out again?" she asked.
"Yeah. A squad vanished there. That's all I know."
"I'll look into it and send you what I find. Just… don't die."
She hugged me. I stepped into the chopper.
Turgua… a ghost town.
As the engines roared and the city shrank behind us, I couldn't stop thinking about that notebook.
Maybe… those pages would end up telling my final story.
Or the story of something that's been following me for a very long time.