Chapter 0: The Origin — Part I—:

          1875, Russia Underground Military Laboratory, West Sector Hurried footsteps echoed through the corridors. Igor Vasiliev, research assistant, was running, clutching a folder of neurological data as if he were carrying a bomb ready to explode. He reached the reinforced door to Dr. Daniil Orlov’s office, panting, face flushed, glasses askew. But a familiar figure stood in his way. Irina Sokolova, lab coat immaculate, arms crossed, coldness etched into her face.

Irina (stern):

"Igor. You have no business here. The doctor isn't seeing anyone."

Igor (breathless):

"Irina, please. I have to talk to him. It’s important."

Irina (cutting in):

"You said that last week about a false adrenaline spike. Are you wasting everyone’s time again?"

Igor (shaking his head):

"No. Not this time. This isn’t a spike. It’s not an anomaly. It’s… a perfect neurological repeat."

Irina (frowning):

"What are you talking about?"

Igor (hurried, voice trembling):

"Subject 26-F. He’s showing the same brain signals as the subject from Experiment 0001. Same synaptic structure. Same frontal activity."

Irina rolled her eyes, clearly exasperated.

Irina:

"You know that was never replicated. We’ve had dozens of failures. You're seeing what you want to see."

Igor (desperate, placing a hand on the glass beside her):

"I’m begging you, Irina. This might be the only chance we have to try again. This time everything’s ready. No overloads. No power cuts. Everything is under control."

She remained silent, staring into his eyes. What she saw wasn’t naïveté… but conviction.

Igor (softer, almost pleading):

"Just let me talk to him. Ten seconds. You can say I begged you." A tense silence. Then, she sighed and stepped aside.

Irina (flatly):

"Ten seconds. And if he kicks you out, I won’t help you again."

Igor (relieved):

"Thank you. Thank you, Irina."

Inside, the fluorescent lights flickered over the equipment. Dr. Orlov barely looked up as Igor entered.

Orlov (cold, without looking up):

"I assume you were stopped at the door. That means you disobeyed. So you’d better tell me something that will change history."

Igor didn’t answer right away. He stepped forward to the desk, opened the folder, and spread several sheets in front of the doctor.

Igor (calm, composed):

"Brain data from subject 26-F. Recorded less than an hour ago. Raw readings. No filters."

Orlov sighed, took the first page without interest, and glanced over it casually. But after five seconds, his expression shifted. He froze. Picked up the sheet again. Then a second. Then, a third.

Orlov (quietly):

"These patterns… It’s impossible…"

Igor:

"Identical. Same synaptic maps as Subject 0001. Same prefrontal activity. Same stress-induced stability."

Orlov stood up abruptly. He took the sheets and laid them out on the illuminated panel nearby, comparing them to an old red-sealed file.

Orlov (muttering to himself):

"We never managed to recreate this… Every other subject collapsed at Phase II. But this one…"

He turned to Igor, eyes lit with a chilling gleam.

Orlov:

"Do you know what this means?"

Igor (hesitant):

"That… Experiment 0001 can be reproduced?"

A slow smile crept across Orlov’s face. He stepped closer, placing a hand on Igor’s shoulder.

Orlov (almost gentle):

"No, Igor. Not just reproduced. Multiplied. If it works a second time… we’re no longer experimenting. We’re producing."

Igor (worried):

"You mean… you’re talking about creating a series?"

Orlov (calm, implacable):

"An army, Igor. Hundreds. Thousands. Modified human units. No fear. No pain. Driven by the neural protocol we now hold in our hands. Subject 0001 was a miracle. 26-F is confirmation. And miracles… must become weapons."

Igor swallowed hard. He felt the weight of his own words crashing back into him. He hadn’t just revived a scientific memory. He may have sparked a new era.

Orlov (straightening up):

"Alert the technicians. Initiate Red Protocol. And above all…" (he leaned in slightly) "Make sure no council member hears of this. Not until it’s irreversible."

Igor (almost whispering):

"Yes, sir…"

Igor left to inform the technicians. Dr. Orlov remained alone. And then,… the flashback began. To Experiment 0001 an atmosphere of the unnatural: objects floating, a blue light pulsing, suffocating silence— And above all… that inhuman, unforgettable gaze. Igor closed the door behind him. His fading footsteps dissolved into the corridor. Silence fell like a lead curtain over the office. Dr. Orlov stood motionless, eyes still locked on the sheets in his hands. His lips moved, barely audible:

Orlov (to himself):

"If we can recreate it…"

FLASHBACK – Lab 3B.

Experiment 0001 Two years earlier, Darkness devoured the present. The lab glowed with sterile, electric light. Walls lined with cables, electrodes, sensors. Subject 0001 lay motionless inside a transparent chamber. His body, peaceful. But at 17:47— His eyes opened.

"Brain activity doubled!"

"He’s awake!"

No screams. No cries. Yet around him, objects began to rise. Pens. Chairs. Monitors. Even screws in the walls began to tremble. A blue light erupted from the subject. Not ordinary light. Something alive. Deep. As if the room itself were breathing with him. The scientists froze. At the center, he barely moved. Only… his gaze.

Voice of Dr. Orlov (voice-over, present):

"That look… The look of a monster."

Even a man of science had lost his words. He still remembered the crushing sensation in his chest.

"He didn’t scream. He didn’t speak."

"He just stared. At all of us."

But above all… he stared at him. At Orlov. 0001’s eyes locked onto his with impossible intensity. Cold. Absolute, no fear.

Voice of Dr. Orlov (off):

"I was frozen… like the others. But he didn’t even blink, he looked at me… like I was nothing."

Then, everything shut down. A sudden blackout. The blue vanished. The lights failed. Machines screamed. And in the darkness… He was gone. The subject had disappeared.

Back to the present

Orlov slowly straightened, as if pulled from a nightmare. He still clutched the data sheets. But his eyes… were elsewhere. Haunted by that stare. That silence, that uncontrollable power.

Orlov (softly):

"This time… no escape. No darkness."

He pressed the intercom button on his desk.

Orlov:

"Activate magnetic confinement. No free fields in Room C. I want even the air to obey."