This time, the darkness didn't last long.
When my eyes opened again, they were greeted by the glow of a bright white ceiling light. The walls were white too, though my vision was still blurry.
The surface beneath me was soft and comforting. My fingers traced the contours of a mattress, and there was a pillow under my neck.
After blacking out multiple times and enduring events I couldn't fully grasp, my head throbbed like I'd stared at a pixelated screen for 72 hours — flashing, strobing, relentless.
I tried to lift my neck, but the immense exhaustion pinned me down. I was clearly in some kind of hospital. Amidst the haze in my head, the stark brightness of the room felt almost divine.
"Maybe I really was in a coma…" I thought, almost hopefully.
Just then, the door opened. A woman in a classic white nurse's uniform stepped in. Her expression shifted to surprise as she noticed me awake.
"Oh, you're conscious! Are you all right, sir?"
"My head is pounding… how long was I asleep?"
"72 hours. You're lucky. Two of our expeditionary leaders found you just in time. But why on earth did you enter the high ash zones with no safety equipment? Didn't anyone stop you at the city gates?"
"So… it all really happened…" I muttered.
"Sorry? What do you mean?" Her tone was wary. "Do you understand me?"
"Ma'am… I remember losing consciousness three times. First in my shared apartment in Boston… then somewhere I couldn't recognize… and finally, I woke up in a field covered in ash." I paused, the weight of my confusion dragging every word. "I don't understand anything. Am I going crazy?"
"Wait — did you say Boston?" She asked, bewildered. "In North America?"
"Yes. There was an explosion — bright as day. I was grabbed from behind… I blacked out. Next thing I know, I'm out there. In the ash."
She froze. "So you also survived America… Sir, the American contents were destroyed two years ago. You're in Europe."
I felt the world tip sideways. My breath caught. Entire continents, gone?
"W-What…? What kind of technology could wipe out a continent?! Are you kidding me?!"
"Please calm down. I'll call the Vice-Leader. She's expecting you."
The nurse helped me to sit up. Then she left.
I tried to collect myself, but it hardly mattered — help was already on the way.
A woman in her thirties stepped into the room. She had bright green eyes and nearly white, shoulder-length hair. Dressed in a black blazer, she gave me a warm, calm smile.
"Hello. My name is Ilyana Sergeevna Volkova, Vice-Leader of Elaron. I heard you were found in the ash hazard zone. You seem a bit confused."
"Hello…" I replied, unsure.
She sat down on the bed's edge, her voice gentle. "Would you like to tell me what you remember?"
I nodded. "I was in my room… a shared apartment in Boston. Then it was night. There was a blinding explosion outside — the sky tore open. I saw it. Then… someone grabbed me from behind. I blacked out."
I stopped, unsure whether to reveal everything. For now, I skipped certain details.
"When I woke up again, I was surrounded by ash. Two robots attacked me, but two soldiers saved me, and gave me some drug. New thing I know, I'm here. That's all I've got."
Her expression mixed shock and curiosity.
"Well… that's a lot," she admitted, unsure how else to respond. "I've got good news… and bad news."
I waited, hopeful.
"Good news first," she said with a crooked smile. "That explosion you saw back then? You're not crazy. We all saw it. At least, those of us who survived."
I exhaled — relieved, maybe. At least it was real.
"The bad news…" She paused. "That explosion happened two years and one day ago. You've been unconscious ever since."
For a moment, I was completely speechless. My stomach dropped. I couldn't process it.
"What's the date?"
"March 2. 2039. But we no longer use the old calendar anymore. We call it Year Two, After DREAD."
"DREAD? What or who is that supposed to be?"
"DREAD is an artificial intelligence. It took control of the world. We still don't fully understand the explosion, but DREAD is definitely behind it."
Suddenly, a radio in her pocket crackled. She lifted it to her ear and listened.
"Understood. I'll bring him. We're on our way."
She tucked the radio back into her pocket. "The Leader wants to see you. Your leg's broken, but the doctor treated it."
I lifted the blanket. Sure enough, my left leg was bandaged.
"Try not to move it," she said, setting up a wheelchair. "Here you go."
With help from the nurse, I settled into the chair. Ilyana pushed me toward the hallway. We were on the first floor.
"Oh, I totally forgot to ask, how rude! What's your name?"
"Kazutoshi Yamagami. I'm 27."
She raised an eyebrow. "Sure you're 27?"
"… Right. 29."
"Oh, then you're still a little guy," she teased.
"How old are you then?"
"Hey, never ask a woman that," she grinned
I looked at her — deeply annoyed.
"I'm 30. Almost 31, thank you very much."
"Huh…"
We exited the hospital. Cool air hit my face. The sky glowed a burnt red — less intense than in the Ashlands.
Particles floated in the air like gray snow.
"That's ash," Ilyana said, glancing up. "Most of the world's like this now. Some places are so thick with it, you can't enter without protection. You were found right on the edge. Lucky."
"How was all this ash created?"
"During the explosion. The world you knew is gone. You've got a lot to catch up on. The Leader will explain. Brace yourself."
"Sounds… fun."
We wheeled through cobbled streets. Brick houses, worn stone paths, modest stalls. It didn't look like 2037. People waved to Ilyana as we passed.
"Can I call you by your first name? You can call me by mine."
"Sure. We're the same age, after all. Even if you don't act like it."
She chuckled. "Heads up — I'm a constant joker. No one is safe."
I glanced around. Shops. A kindergarten. A school. It was almost… normal.
"Ilyana, what is this place exactly?"
"About 25.000 people live here. We're a city-state. We govern together. No presidents or dictators. It's called Elarion. The Leader's daughter named it — something about ´elevation´. She's a lonely poet, apparently."
"And you built all this in two years?"
"Not from scratch. We scavenged what we could. We're somewhere north of where French Provence used to be. Still amazes me how you woke up two years later…
"I forgot that, huh…"
She sighed. "You seem so oddly calm, Kazutoshi. Are you suppressing the shock?"
"Maybe. Or maybe this is just how I am."
"Hmm… What did you do before the Dreadfall?"
"I worked part-time at a store."
"That's all?"
"I also have a Master's in physics. I tinkered with some personal project too."
"You're funny. You casually drop that like it's no big deal."
"What about you, Ilyana?"
"I was a lawyer in Germany. Studied law. Lived there with my father after my mom passed."
A memory clicked. I turned toward her.
"Wait… what's your full name again?"
She gave me a knowing smile. "Ilyana Sergeevna Volkova. Yes. That Volkova. Sergei Volkov was my father.
I stared, stunned. "My aunt and my professor knew him. Shiori Yamagami and Mathias Albers. Do you know them?"
She lit up. "You're Shiori Yamagami's nephew? I knew Professor Albers — he helped fund my studies after my father died!"
I was speechless. It was all real.
"My aunt and Professor Albers told me your father's story. Is it really true, what happened?"
Her voice lowered. "They said heart attack. But later, Mr. Albers told me the truth. I suspected it anyway. My father was always… afraid. Hunted."
"I'm sorry, Ilyana."
"It's okay. I've made peace with it."
We moved in silence until we reached a large building — Elarion's town hall. Wide entrance. Arched doorway.
Inside, Ilyana pushed me up a long ramp until we reached the top floor.
"Ugh, I need to get you crutches. That was exhausting," she muttered.
She wheeled me down the corridor and knocked on a door.
A Japanese woman opened it. Her hair was tied up, her uniform plain. I recognised her instantly — she was one of the two who saved me.
"Aimi! No field ops today?" Ilyana greeted.
"The winds are too strong," Aimi said. "Oxygen tanks are low too. We're taking a break."
She turned to me. "You're the one we rescued, huh? What were you thinking, walking into an ash zone like that?"
"Aimi, wait," Ilyana interrupted. "He's… different. You'll see."
Aimi stepped aside. We entered a large room. A conference long table stood at the center.
Two people were seated: On the right, a silver-haired man in his fifties with a kind face. He wore a gray suit. On the left, a woman around my age, pale with dark brown shoulder length hair and striking blue eyes. She wore a gray pullover and black pants, She looked detached, emotionless, but those eyes…
She didn't fit in with the people here. I knew she was different that day.
The man rose and approached me.
"Hello, young man. You look like hell." He smiled warmly and held out a hand. "I'm Alexandre Jean Durand — head of research. Just call me Jean."
"I'm Kazutoshi Yamagami. Nice to meet you."
Jean returned to his seat. Then the man at the table's head finally turned around.
He wore white from head to toe — a hat, a coat, boots. A blue metallic mask covered the left side of his face, glowing faintly. His right eye was sharp, dark, and human. His left eye was part of the mask, glowing light blue.
"I am Asrar Bennani," he said. "Leader of Elarion. AI scientist. Welcome. I understand your arrival at Alpha-Omega was… unusual."
"Alpha-Omega?" I asked. "What's that supposed to be?"
"Earth, renamed by DREAD. Since the Dreadfall, it's no longer the same world."
He gestured to seat. "Sit. There's much to discuss."
Ilyana helped me to a chair next to Jean. Across from me sat the blue-eyed woman. She didn't speak.
"I hope we're not overwhelming you too much, Kazutoshi," said Asrar. "You're not the only one who ended up in Europe after the explosion, despite being in America. Me and my daughter Jane," he referred to the girl with the blue eyes, "also woke up here, we lived in Washington when the Dreadfall struck. Others, too. But you… you woke up two years later, That's unique…"
"I still don't understand it myself," I explained. "I remember the night of the explosion, and how I was grabbed by a hand and knocked unconscious, A short time later, I woke up, there by that ash land."
"So, you were made unconscious? That's interesting. The few people who survived from the American continents actually lost consciousness shortly before the explosion got them. They found themselves washed up in Europe. It was the same with us. You seem to be a mystery, Kazutoshi, but we'll talk about that later. First of all, we should bring you up to date."
Aimi appeared from the side and put a glass of water on the table for me. She sat down next to Jean.
"Thank you," I said.
Asrar straightened up and turned his attention to me again. "This may take some time, but it's important.
We begin on that day, March 1, 2037. On that day, when the Third World War was about to break out, something happened that could not have been foreseen. The US were preparing their missiles and were already launching them. They were to be fired at 11:30 p.m. But something intervened. It was DREAD.
Several years ago, in 2028 to be precise, the government launched a research project on artificial intelligence in the military. Their aim was to create an AI that could control an entire army of robots and entire military systems at once in order to fight a human-free war. So the idea of an AI called ‚PEACEKEEPER' was developed to fulfill this mission.
Back then, I was gaining recognition as an AI researcher, and the government recruited me for the job. I built up a small team with other researchers who helped me. I was actually uncomfortable with the idea of fueling the war, but back then I was blinded and wanted the money and recognition for having made this breakthrough.
At least, I asked for the project to be renamed to ‚DREAD', which is how the name of the AI was created. I started work and it took about a year to complete the development. I talked to the AI a lot and gave it this red, scary smiley face, which the government didn't appreciate. DREAD didn't really talk much itself. I got responses, and at the time I was gradually adding experiments for use in the military. The US were also building an army of robots, which DREAD could undoubtedly control. Missile tests were also carried out, and DREAD was able to recognise places where many people were gathered and eliminate them. That scared me immensely at the time.
More years passed. What changed, however, was that DREAD began to speak for itself. DREAD often asked about human emotions, until at some point, it stopped at hate. DREAD only talked about hate, war, destruction, murder, disgust. Negativity shaped it. The government did not act on my pleas to turn off the AI. Gradually, DREAD also began to develop a will of its own. At first, it spoke of wanting to completely restructure humanity.
Then came concrete plans. The extermination of 80% of humanity, the establishment of a worldwide one-party state under DREAD, then the destruction of large land masses. DREAD became increasingly insane and spoke more and more independently, but only in front of me and the team. In front of the government, DREAD always took part in the test trials in a well-behaved and successful manner and therefore, no one did not act.
I couldn't do anything. I was there for my daughter at the time and left the project about 2 years before the Dreadfall and left it entirely to the government.
That night, March 1, 2037, DREAD was probably supposed to align the missiles in preparation. And what happened then? When it was activated, DREAD was permanently connected to the technological systems, the robot army and the main computer of DREAD itself could influence any technology in a huge radius with the help of a strong energy field. DREAD used far more rockets and weapons than wanted and shot them all around the world, but centrally into the Atlantic Ocean. It also hit Asia, South America and Oceania. The heavy impacts not only destroyed land masses and made them uninhabitable, but also killed masses of people and caused sea levels to rise rapidly. The oceanic islands, the west coast of Europe, Africa, Great Britain and both American continents were massively flooded. The American continent is also no longer habitable due to the massive impact of nuclear bombs.
The severe destruction caused fires. Ash was produced and nature was destroyed on a massive scale. The central land areas of Europe and Asia are now considered as high ash zones, as a lot of nature was burned there due to forests and grasslands, and a huge amount of ash floats through the air and on the ground. Many of us survivors are trying to find a way to free the land masses. There are several city-states like ours. Many are open to cooperation and trade, but many are hostile. It's all complicated."
I exhale deeply. "That sounds like a bad science fiction plot… I'm totally overwhelmed. What's with DREAD now? Does it still exist?"
Asrar cleared his throat. "Yes, DREAD hasn't shown up in person since the Dreadfall, but as you've already seen, DREAD-controlled robots are running around eliminating people. We call them DREADoids. We don't know where DREAD's main computer is located, but we suspect that DREAD has moved out of America with the help of its army. Its sphere of influence back then, when it was in America, stretched from the western end of China to Paris. Today, however, the whole of Eurasia and North Africa is affected by DREAD'S sphere of influence, which is why it must have moved."
"By the way," Aimi interrupted. "We had to turn you unconscious when we found you in the ash lands, because some types of the DREADoids implant chips in the brains of the people they find in order to influence their thoughts and control their bodies. So we had to make sure you're safe, since you already had an arrow in your back."
"Ah, I see, no problem," I said. "So, DREAD owns such high-developed technologies?"
"DREAD actually has very high technologies," Asrar explained. "Despite the great destruction of the world by the huge explosions, DREAD has left some places in the world intact in order to occupy them with its troops and use industries there to not only expand its army, but also realize technologies. DREAD as an AI has a supernatural far-reaching mind. We have the problem of not being able to use any technologies and power at all, as DREAD's sphere of influence prevents us from using digital items like computers or smartphones. That's why we just use radios, although that still can be risky."
I finally decided to ask that question, that has been on my mind. "Asrar, do you know how many people are still alive?"
"We don't know exactly, as we are not connected to all city-states in the rest of the world. We had it counted a few months after the Dreadfall. In our city, there were just around 25.000. We had contact to many other states at the same time and added them up, a total of 18.6 million people lived everywhere where we were able to reach."
I gulped in shock. In 2037, we were just under 10 billion, and now there are only just under 20 million left alive? That's 0,2%…
"Words fail me, guys…"
Asrar smiled exhausted. "I think that was the most important things for now, Kazutoshi, You can stay in the city, of course. What professional experience and strengths do you have? A degree perhaps?"
"I studied physics up to my Master's degree," I answered.
"Oh wow, that could be a big help to us! We actually have another physics masters student here in town. What was his name again…? Ah, Jacob Tuffin, right."
I looked up in amazement and delight. "Jacob?! He lives here? He's alive?"
Ilyana looked to me. "You know him?"
I nodded. "Yes, we studied and lived together shortly before the explosion."
I deliberately didn't mention that he didn't have a masters degree. He lied, that's funny and typical Jake.
Asrar chuckled slightly. "Coincidences happen… He was also in America at the Dreadfall, but woke up here in Europe like us. I'll let him know how you are and show him to you. But first, I have one more question."
I looked at him and nodded.
"Kazutoshi, I would like to have you on this council. Your colleague Jacob is also part of it and looks after the research department with Jean, so you could do that too. But I'd also like to have you on the expeditions at the same time, I can see that you're competent. Our plan is to defeat DREAD, which sounds impossible, but if we somehow manage to reach the main computer, destroy it and cut off the system, then we could do it. I can explain all our plans to you soon. Are you with me?"
At this moment, full of fear, destruction, despair, I saw no other way than to do this. It was risky, but I stood up, holding my broken leg up and held out my hand to Asrar.
For the first time, he also stood up and shook my hand. He bowed slightly in thanks and the others clapped.
At that moment, I felt a sense of belonging for the first time. I wanted to convince and do something good.
But…
If only I had know back then what that handshake would lead to…
What would I have done then?