Prologue: The Gateway
A young man began to feel weighed down by his backpack and combat gear as he lumbered towards a sunset across a newly evolved landscape. The gasmask he wore didn't help his growing discomfort, but surely the radiation on the surface would kill him in minutes if he took it off. The man began to doubt this however as he marveled at the flora he was trudging through. They were ones he had never seen before even in his father's books.
'Father,' the man thought ', could I be coming closer to finding the Dark Ones and your old friend, or am I wasting my life?'
A loud howl sounded nearby, meaning more mutant wolf bastards to deal with. The man put his large back pack down and took the Kalash assault rifle hanging off the side. His breaths grew slightly more frequent as the strange growls drew closer. As a magazine was slapped in and the ejector was pulled a roar erupted nearly a few meters away. A fear now began to grow and surround the man.
'Dammit,' thought the lone human ', that sounded big.'
A horde of monsters appeared on top of a hill. The largest one about the size of a small automobile and probably just as much power howled at the prospect of new prey. The young man prayed that the Dark Ones would be found if he was to die this day. As three of the creatures began their charge, the human opened fire killing one with a burst through the skull. The two others leaped, but the lone gunman was quick enough to shred the wolf-thing on his right to pieces. As the last living charger landed on its target a short blade was drawn and plunged several times into the throat of the beast. The warrior rose covered in blood appearing to make the leader of the pack signal his entire army to retreat.
"YOU BETTER RUN CYKAS!" cried the human in Russian.
The pack was not running from the man, which he realized as the sun's last moment of light cast a large shadow over him. A deafening roar pushed the man down as he turned. The giant being was the size of a train car and had the likeness of a black lizard coated with slime. Four tentacles writhed around the mouth of the abomination, which upon being sighted lunged at the young man.
As he was lifted screaming into the monstrosity's mouth, something very peculiar happened.
A tornado appeared to the left of the monster drawing its attention. Once this twister touched the creature cuts and gashes began to form along its side. Bellowing in pain the tentacle lizard dropped its meal. A greenish blood erupted from the leviathan as half of its body was reduced to chunks of flesh and bone in the minute the cyclone had appeared.
As the young man wiped muck off his face he noticed the tornado slowly edged toward his direction. Terrified of being cleaved to bits, he grabbed his pack and ran breathing short breaths with the feeling of his air canister running out. A yellow light pierced through the night ahead of the man giving him hope that there may be a metro station nearby. He was wrong however for beyond the trees filled with vines that bit like snakes at his clothes the man stumbled upon another anomaly.
This one was a portal emitting a yellow glow. Further inspection by the man revealed that beyond the portal was a glimpse of a world like the one of old.
The trees were ones from his father's books. Looking back the twister appeared to be rushing at the man.
'Well, I'm not ready to die yet,' was the man's final thought before launching himself into the golden tear in reality.