Like the last, this one was open. Pushing it further, I gazed into a large massive chamber that was lit by large fire braziers rather than the electric lights from the tunnel. In fact, it almost felt as though the light from the tunnel barely reached the chamber at all. Pools of shadow lay across much of the large cave, with jagged rock formations stabbing down from the darkness like the closing maw of a wolf. Aside from the braziers, the only real source of light came from what lay in the middle of them.

The Bowl of Pripyat was much as Luka had described, or at least as I had pictured it. Despite my desperate need to get home, I found myself drawn to it and the silvery light that seemed to be pulsing from inside like the beating of a heart. It looked to be made of some kind of metal, but…

It was then that the guard attacked me. He was already dying, but whatever had gotten his comrades hadn’t finished him off completely. Whether he thought I was his attacker or he was just determined to do his duty to the end, he managed to drive a knife deep into my side. He was talking nonsense as he pushed his weight against me, saying “держись подальше от зеркала”—“Stay away from the Mirror.”

I fell against the side of the Bowl, rolling my body away from him with enough force that he let go of the knife. Trying to fight off the cold shock I felt filling the right side of my body, I dug for the letter opener. Once out, I held it up to fend off any further attack, but it wasn’t necessary. The guard was already on the ground, his body contorting unnaturally as his bones snapped.

The monster was here.

I gripped the letter opener tighter, peering into the darkness as I felt my vision beginning to dim. My thoughts were growing stranger and more desperate as I felt my life leaving my body. I knew better than to remove the knife, but I had no way to stem the flow of blood from around the blade. I would never make it to Pripyat, never be able to help my sweet Alena. I would die here, alone in the dark with this dead man and the terrible monster that had caused all of this calamity.

Except had it? And even if it had, hadn’t it just helped me at least inadvertently? Knowing how pointless it would likely be, I found myself calling out into the darkness, asking the monster to help me. To help me get home to my Alena. There was no response, though I felt as though I could sense it out in the dark, watching me as I clung to the Bowl for support. In another moment I would be too weak to even stand, and then it would be over.