Wherever that staircase used to lead remained a mystery.
After the third switchback, the whole thing collapsed, but—
That didn't mean there was nowhere left to go.
There was a hole in the wall, only large enough to squeeze through if they so desired, and—
"Yeah, no, radiation's through the roof here," Major Degtyarev noted, taking a big step back.
"Mine only says error," Dmitry said, waving his own counter around. "But I can almost feel it melt my face if I lean too close. Guess we have to turn around and look for another route."
"Nope," Konrad grunted, shaking his head. "This is where we need to go."
The reactor chamber of Block 4, in case they haven't figured it out yet.
He removed all his Artifacts one by one, leaving only Mama's Beads and the Bubble. The rest had to go into the small secure container he got from Strelok and into his guitar case as well.
"I'd recommend you do the same, and we'll have to make this quick," he said.
But if even his Bubble struggled to contain the radiation escaping through that hole—
Yeah, they might have been better off waiting for him until he finished.
"You actually want to go in there?" the Major scowled, sorting through his own Artifacts.
"Well," Konrad sighed. "That's where the voices come from."
And that was where they tried to lure their prey in as well.
He could hear them, loud and clear now, but the mental shield he erected could still hold.
For now.
"What's the plan?" Dmitry asked, unloading anything not vital into his backpack. "And what are we facing exactly? It would help if I knew where to shoot, you know."
Hah. As if Konrad had any idea.
"I told you already," he grunted. "A transmitter or something. Your guess is as good as mine."
He would have known more if he squeezed through that hole, but—
When he tried to steal a glance, it felt like his retinas would melt.
"Well, I'm not going in there, that's for sure," Major Degtyarev huffed, even after he sorted out his gear. "I'll wait here so I can make sure you both died before reporting back to HQ, though."
What a nice guy.
But Konrad shrugged it right off.
"Suit yourself. Dmitry, whatever we see inside, not a single word to this guy," he said with a smirk, stashing the case against the wall. "He'll never know what he missed out on."
And with that—before he could change his mind—he squeezed through that hole.
To say it was hot in there would have been an understatement.
Worse yet, his skin felt as if it was burning from the inside.
Not to mention his lungs.
Bubble or not, he could imagine his life expectancy dropping by a year with each breath.
And yet, he couldn't help but feel stunned.
As he had expected, they were in fact inside the reactor chamber.
That reactor chamber.
The one that exploded, throwing the world into chaos a few decades ago.
And whatever he had imagined how it would look—
It was so, so much worse.
Part of the ceiling was missing. Sure, the concrete Sarcophagus, and then the new Dome, had patched it over since, but looking at it from the inside—
As if grey ribbons were hanging down.
Like faded, forgotten paper decorations from a children's party.
But they were all made of molten rebar.
And to reinforce the party's image, a mountain of sand was in the middle. Like a giant sandbox, peppered with hexagonal graphene blocks. Konrad had read something about it back then.
They poured in concrete and sand. Different chemicals. All that to shield from the radiation.
To trap it inside.
And sure as hell, the air was still hot and dry, with every breath tasting like copper and pain.
But if that nightmareish look weren't enough—
There was a ghostly Monolith at the top of that sandpit, too, emitting a bluish light.
As if the rest of this place didn't feel unreal enough, that thing stuck out like a sore thumb.
And the voices, so ever-present, wanted him to climb up there, and—
Not sure what would have happened, but Konrad didn't want to find out.
"What the hell?" Dmitry panted behind him, taking in the sight. "I've seen photos of this place before, but it shouldn't look like this. Especially not that thing. Is that the transmitter?"
"No, that's the bait," Konrad said. "And trust me, I know an illusion when I see one."
Still, the transmitter itself had to be in this chamber, too.
And if he didn't want the radiation to cook them alive, he should have found it fast as well.
'Come here. I will make your dreams come true. Come to me. This is the only way.'
The voice was still at it, but too bad—
Konrad's only wish was to shut it up right now.
"The light," the Captain mumbled. "It looks like the moonlight is reflecting off that Monolith."
"It's not," he protested, thinking about how to explain it, but that was as far as he got. "Oh."
Light, in fact, shone through the ceiling, but it shouldn't have.
Not through all those layers above, besides—the moon?
Outside, it should have been morning now.
"My bad," he muttered. "I almost forgot. Since these guys have no actual magic, they can't create illusions, either. That thing's a hologram or something, and that light—"
"The projector above," Dmitry said, nodding, covering his mouth. "Do you think—"
"If the transmitter is there, too?" Konrad finished his sentence once he ran out of breath. "It could be. But how do we get there?"
And get there fast, because his friend did not look well at all.
"Get there?" he repeated, forcing a laugh. "You're a funny guy."
Then he raised the Gepard, pointing the barrel towards the light, and—
All Konrad could do was cover his ears at the last second, and the gun fired.
Once, twice—the Captain emptied his entire magazine into the ceiling.
And he learned why people called that thing an antimaterial rifle in the first place.
Chunks of concrete and metal rained down, but the bluish image of the Monolith remained.
"One more mag," Dmitry grunted, reloading and firing another five shots.
Apart from the loud bangs themselves, the echoes were brutal, too, and—
No wonder Konrad got a headache, albeit—
It might have been a little too sharp and strong.
"One more," the Captain gritted out, struggling to breathe and hold the rifle, but—
He didn't even get to reload this time. Something other than concrete fell from the ceiling, taking off in a run towards them as soon as it hit the ground.
A human? A mutant.
It had to be the Controller he already knew about.
"Fuck, take him out," he yelled, but behind him, Dmitry had finally fallen to the ground.
They weren't fast enough, after all.
Either the radiation or the Psyonic energies of that monster were too much.
And Konrad was there with his sword alone, and no backing from the parallel brain.
So when the Controller reached out towards him, both with his arm and his mind—
Like a jolt of electricity, or a lightning strike, it sliced through his mental shield as if it wasn't even there. His body had gone rigid, and his soul was about to leave it all behind—
But another loud shot rang out and echoed before the world had gone dark.