In Ursine mythology, long before the Crystal Age—or perhaps a far earlier age still—
there once lived a giant named Zheuzhyk.
The giant was so tall, the humans could not see him with their eyes. Each slight movement of his sculpted the shapes of the lands.
The Barton Plains are the tracks of his footsteps. The endless Rudokny Mountains were just barely enough to serve as a pillow when he slumbered.
The giant in the legends could not definitively be described as good or evil. He was simply a big, simple existence that the masses below could look up to.
What is difficult to explain, however, is that references to gigantic beings like Zheuzhyk are often found in different mythologies across the land.
These similar stories might perhaps reflect a common characteristic in all human subconscious:
No matter when and where, from the bottom of their hearts, humans seek some kind of a greater power—an enormous being, abstract or specific, that stands in contrast to their minuscule existence.
Mankind is accustomed to worshipping great beings conjured in the imagination, and seeking their projections in reality.
Yet when such a being finally presents itself before the masses in some shape and form—
You saw his arrogant shit face when he met the Marshal too, didn't you? He made a bit of coin these past few years and it gave him a big head.
Unhappy Voice
Get him a few more coins and he won't even bow to the tsar.
Impatient Voice
He figures the Marshal doesn't have the balls to try anything funny. Hell, if the Marshal can't scrape together a decent price? He'd probably turn around right there and side with the Third Army instead.
Impatient Voice
Heh, that's how anyone would play it, with a decent way out.
Unhappy Voice
A short-sighted businessman sitting on a treasure like this is only ever gonna think about how to use it to fill his pockets. He's never given a single thought to its true worth!
Unhappy Voice
No wonder he doesn't give the Ursine military the respect we deserve. He can't understand what our land is built on. Really, nobody gives us our due respect!
Unhappy Voice
If I were the Marshal, I would've slit that coward's throat and stamped my fingerprint on the contract in his blood.
Unhappy Voice
Heh, if I were the Marshal... I'd order the army to fight to the end, until every Ursine learned to respect us. Not like now... with everyone looking down on us.
Impatient Voice
Gah... enough of that nonsense!
Impatient Voice
Do you seriously think the Marshal ever actually backed those morons in the Sixth and Eighth Armies?
Impatient Voice
With everything they've been up to? They were destined to fail. One does not simply provoke a rebellion in Ursus, especially not with so few guns and battleships... or even with ten times what they had.
Impatient Voice
They're no different from any of those businessmen. They don't even know where Ursine pride comes from—but the Marshal had it figured out long ago.
Impatient Voice
So count yourself lucky. You still get to grumble while you're out on a mission, instead of being sent to the Far North to turn to stone with the Infected.
Unhappy Voice
The hell are you doing?
Impatient Voice
What I was ordered to do. Making sure everyone's dead.
Unhappy Voice
We could've at least had him find the others!
Impatient Voice
Let's not waste more time. We wouldn't even be here today if these white coat bastards had half a mind to cooperate.
Impatient Voice
There, found one. Hiding under the desk there.
Extremely Frightened Voice
No! No! Let me go!
Extremely Frightened Voice
Please! Please don't kill me! I'll tell you whatever you want—
Unhappy Voice
What do we do? He's willing to cooperate.
Impatient Voice
Trust me. It'll be faster if we just do this ourselves.
Impatient Voice
Keep looking. There has to be more of them.
Impatient Voice
And get a head count. Remember. No one gets out of this place alive.
Unhappy Voice
I'm starting to get a little annoyed too. This place hardly has any ventilation, and it reeks of blood. Ugh, it's getting my boots all sticky.
<p=1>Chernobog Research Institute, Ursus</>Chernobog Research Institute, Ursus
<p=2>Spring 1077</>Spring 1077
Timid Researcher
Director! They've made it into Area D!
Timid Researcher
I heard... the sound of fighting... Are they... are they killing people?
Kal'tsit
Ilia, how much longer?
Ilia
Forty minutes.
Ilia
We've done all we can, but it'll take forty more minutes to complete the lockdown procedure.
Timid Researcher
Do we really have to wait till it's completely locked down?
Ilia
What else can we do?! Do you want me to hand this thing over to the army completely intact, and let it fall into the butchers' hands, letting them effortlessly massacre even more people?
Ilia
Blyat! I've lived my whole life as a failure. I refuse to be an accomplice to these murderers even in death!
Ilia
It's too late...
Ilia
But how could the butchers work out all our secrets so quickly...?
Ilia
We have a traitor in our midst... Director, somebody must've sold us out.
Ilia
Sergei, maybe? I should've known when he kept probing me with all those questions.
Ilia
Blyat! It must be him... Why? He could have been a good man...
Kal'tsit
Calm down, Ilia. Thinking like this will not do us any good right now.
Kal'tsit
Focus on the task at hand. We still have a chance to salvage something.
Ilia
Director... It's too late for us... isn't it?
Ilia
You got my warning. You shouldn't have come back. Even with you here, we still won't finish in—
Kal'tsit
......
Kal'tsit
Ilia, take the others and go.
Ilia
Go? Where could we possibly go?
Kal'tsit
To Taymyr, in the north. It's close to the Third Army's territory. Andrian wouldn't dare launch a manhunt there.
Kal'tsit
Hide there and stay far away from the cities. Avoid contact with any factions of the government, and do not believe any promises of protection the Third Army gives you.
Kal'tsit
Go now. I will stay.
Ilia
......
Kal'tsit
Ilia?
Ilia
No... I will stay behind.
Kal'tsit
Ilia.
Ilia
I won't run. I can't. You shouldn't be entrusting our colleagues' lives to a man like me!
Ilia
Director Kal'tsit... No, my teacher. The land needs you far more than it needs me. You should go, not me. You should never have come back at all!
Ilia
Even if you find a way to hide the Originium on your skin, they will find out that you're Infected. Then you will suffer a fate a hundred times worse than a quick and easy death—
Ilia
Besides, only you can lead our innocent colleagues to safety. You can't say no.
Kal'tsit
But you, too, have a reason to live... Think about Lyudmila, your daughter—
Ilia
Please, care for her.
Ilia
Take her away from here, away from this country, and as far away as you can... Heh, I was hoping she would get to study under you for much longer, but it is what it is.
Ilia
Don't tell her what happened here today. Nothing good will come of it. Let her explore the land in her own way.
Kal'tsit
I promise you. I will take her far away from Ursus. Until she is able to care for herself, she will be safe.
Kal'tsit
And I promise you this. You and your colleagues' work will not go to waste.
Ilia
That's more than enough for me...
Ilia
...It's an intriguing thought. We chose to open this Sarcophagus before, and now we choose to keep it dormant. Which was the right choice?
Kal'tsit
We did what we thought to be correct. As for the answer, perhaps it is up to Lyudmila... or even her children to determine.
The last one alive in the lab? Yes. The last one in this country to despise its savagery? Somehow, I doubt it.
Fourth Army Soldier
You stayed behind. What did you do to the Sarcophagus?
Ilia
Oh, about ten seconds ago, the Sarcophagus's core function completely locked down. You want to reactivate it? It'll take you lot a century.
Ilia
You—what are you, vanguards of the murderous Fourth Army? Go back and tell Andrian that his plans to use this beast as a weapon of territorial expansion have just gone belly-up.
Ilia
Too bad, the glorious Marshal Andrian has failed again and again. His army couldn't conquer a tiny laboratory, or, hell, even a lone, miserable researcher.
Ilia
Alright, you may exercise your authority to take my life now.
In 1077, a bloody incident occurred in the southeastern corner of Ursus. For an empire that had just suffered a devastating civil war, it was hardly a noticeable incident.
Perhaps it will take a hundred years—when historians revisit these turbulent times in their piles of old writings—for everyone to truly understand that what happened at the research institute in Chernobog was both emblematic of its era and a seed.
Even if, at this moment in time, it is buried deep under the Ursine permafrost, waiting for its time to sprout.
What happened to the court martial? What happened to due process?
Young Voice
Why did you bring me here? And where are my men?
Grumpy Voice
Shut up.
Young Voice
You would have to kill me.
Grumpy Voice
You're on death row. It doesn't make a difference whether we kill you now or later.
Grumpy Voice
Too bad for you, the bigwigs don't have time to deal with seditious leadership like yourself, so...
Grumpy Voice
You'll just have to hold up here. Listen to how your men in the other rooms stay quiet?
Young Voice
I'm a soldier, not a criminal. The same goes for my men!
Grumpy Voice
From the moment you worked up the arrogance to rise against the Marshal, your entire formation ceased to be a part of the glorious Fourth Army.
Young Voice
I did the right thing, and all the warriors you have dismissed as traitors, and in fact all Ursines of conscience, know that this is the right thing to do.
Grumpy Voice
No, Captain Yakov Petrov.
Grumpy Voice
What you did was the foolish thing to do, and you dragged your family and your friends into this mess.
But the apple trees have yet to blossom... It's too soon for your summer vacation.
Dazed Woman
Has Marshal Andrian been treating you well? Has he been bringing you on his adventures? What about the clothes I had them bring to you? Did they fit?
Dazed Woman
I can't see well, so I couldn't sew your name onto them... but Sofia helped. You've always loved her handicrafts—
Dazed Woman
Sofia?
Quiet Boy
Mother.
Dazed Woman
You're not Sofia.
Quiet Boy
Nor am I Yakov. I am neither Brother nor Sister.
Dazed Woman
Who are you? Why are you in my home? Somebody—
Quiet Boy
Mother, I'm Tulin, your young son who has been away for a long time. You remember me, do you not?
Quiet Boy
The servants have been dismissed, and the butler has left.
Dazed Woman
What are you saying?
Quiet Boy
Yakov is in prison. Sofia is married, but she is busy scrambling about in Deity Grypherburg, desperately trying to get him out. She needs money to resolve some issues, and we must help.
Quiet Boy
Moreover, we cannot embroil the innocent in a fate they do not deserve, can we?
Quiet Boy
*sigh...*
Quiet Boy
No matter the case, please listen to what I have to say, Mother. You may never have heard these things, but this letter was written by Yakov in prison.
Quiet Boy
Let me read it for you...
The boy says and opens the envelope, only to find a blank sheet of paper.
In an instant, his face turns as white as the sheet in his hands.
Quiet Boy
......
Dazed Woman
Yakov... Isn't Yakov in the army?
Quiet Boy
The army has been here, Mother.
The boy folds the sheet of paper in half, bit by bit, as if needing the time to slow down and process the truth.
Then, he puts the small and neatly folded square into his breast pocket, normally occupied by a handkerchief, to keep it close to his heart.
Quiet Boy
They said that because of the role that Yakov played in the Fourth Army's mutiny...
Quiet Boy
The Petrovs have been stripped of nobility and are now mere commoners... to be exiled to the Northern Tundra Mines, Mining Zone No. 9.
First, it was our children, then our wives, and then our parents... How many more bodies will we have to bury?
Despairing Infected
What are you doing, writing a letter? Is it to your mother?
Quiet Boy
No... Not a letter. I'm just trying to put everything I see into words. If the chance ever comes, I hope people will come to know all that has happened.
Despairing Infected
You still have the strength for that? I must say, I really envy you.
Despairing Infected
I can't walk very far, and we still have yet to make it to the Northern Tundra.
Quiet Boy
It's only been three months since we left Omska.
Quiet Boy
It'll probably be spring again by the time we make it to the mines.
Despairing Infected
Spring... Haha! Spring!
Despairing Infected
My sweet summer child. You think there is spring in the tundra...?
Quiet Boy
Right, spring. As long as we make it there.
Despairing Infected
Your mother was spared because she's blind and off her rocker.
Despairing Infected
She doesn't have to suffer the pain of exile, and you are spared from having to bury her like a nameless woman. Thanks to that, you are so optimistic, you might as well be a lunatic.
Despairing Infected
But... what gives you the right?
Despairing Infected
What gives you the right?
Despairing Infected
You, too, are an exiled criminal, and yet someone like you gets special treatment. You don't have to watch as every member of your family slowly takes their last breaths, as their bodies slowly turn cold.
Despairing Infected
Is it because I was only a dime-a-dozen porter before I turned into an Infected?
Despairing Infected
What did I do wrong? And what did you do right?
The Infected murmurs. He wants to scream the thoughts in his mind out loud more than anybody, but he is trapped under the watchful gaze of the guards.
The boy shakes his head and moves up closer toward the Infected.
Quiet Boy
I was privileged, yes... And it wasn't because of my own hard work. For that, I feel ashamed.
Quiet Boy
But the question you posed is one that I am seeking the answer to myself.
Despairing Infected
What?
Quiet Boy
Why are some of us born privileged, while others are born disdained? Why do we stand in opposition to each other, even though we are all humans? What can we do to break free of the status quo?
Quiet Boy
I will tell you. I don't know.
Quiet Boy
But my instinct tells me that we need to at least survive and stand back up.
Quiet Boy
It's only when we stand together and combine our strength that we are able to keep thinking about where the problem lies and figure out a way to change something.
Despairing Infected
What are you talking about—
The boy suddenly lifts his head and looks into the Infected man's perplexed eyes.
Quiet Boy
Just pretend I'm talking nonsense.
Quiet Boy
The way I see it, people like you with nothing to their name are the true masters of the land.
Despairing Infected
......
Quiet Boy
For the time being, please, climb onto my back. At the very least, I still have some strength in me. I can carry you for a while.
<p=1>Mining Zone No. 9, Northern Tundra, Ursus</>Mining Zone No. 9, Northern Tundra, Ursus
<p=2>Winter 1099</>Winter 1099
'...In Iberia, people almost never turn their gazes upon one another, as if making eye contact were sinful, and as if doing so would violate a deeply held creed.
'I have also witnessed similar behaviors in the mines of Ursus, the slums of Leithanien, and the underground factories of Victoria.
'At first, I surmised that they feared seeing in their soot-covered faces the same despair they felt in their hearts. It was only later that I realized it was because, their eyes had little room for anything beyond the urgency of survival.
'That being the case, who could blame them for their silence and for failing to notice their fellow man, for failing to look to a future even further away, for failing to stand together to rise against their oppressors?'
...
'The land sprawls far and wide. I traveled throughout Ursus, and then made my way to even farther lands. On my way, I continued to tell those who had lost everything—or perhaps have never truly had anything: You are the true masters of the land.
'As things currently stand, and we have yet to see any real change, my words feel like little more than mockery, yet I need to keep telling them. It is only by planting these seeds that they may subconsciously realize the truth behind my words and let them sprout within their hearts.
'When one truly has nothing, one has nothing to lose, granting the most resolute of resolves. The same truth lies within us all.'
Nimble Miner
Boss!
Nimble Miner
We're all packed up, ready to go. How about you?
The Pensive Youth
Hm...
Nimble Miner
Boss?
The Pensive Youth
Uh... Oh! Right. Let's get going.
The Pensive Youth
Thanks for coming to get me. I'm all packed up too—
The Pensive Youth
Uhh.
Nimble Miner
You dug out all this stuff again? What a mess... Here, I'll help you pack up.
The Pensive Youth
Thanks!
Nimble Miner
I came to the mines late, I've never seen the one who sent you the letters. Did they really leave the mines and keep on writing to you?
The Pensive Youth
Yes.
Nimble Miner
First time I've ever heard of anyone missing life in the mines so much.
The Pensive Youth
Perhaps it's not the mines that he misses, but the people.
The Pensive Youth
As I remember, when the news of political prisoners getting pardoned first got here to the Northern Tundra, his first reaction wasn't one of joy. It was worry.
The Pensive Youth
He was worried that we wouldn't be able to leave like him, and that his theories would never be proven...
Nimble Miner
But he still left in the end.
The Pensive Youth
Of course. He said he'd travel all across Ursus, and now we're leaving this place behind too, aren't we?
Nimble Miner
Then let's get going, Boss.
Nimble Miner
Right, I started calling you 'Boss' because that's what everyone here calls you, but I've been thinking, you've got to have an actual name, right?
The Pensive Youth
Huh, have I really never told you?
The Pensive Youth
Hm... Tulin. You can call me Tulin.
Nimble Miner
Hell yeah, 'Tulin.' Good name. Here, I'll help you up.
Tulin
Thank you...
Tulin
Yeah, let's hurry and get out of here.
Tulin
While the snow is still calm, and before the ones in the warm houses change their minds.
<p=1>Great Hall Corridor, The State Council of the Ursine Empire, Deity Grypherburg, Ursus</>Great Hall Corridor, The State Council of the Ursine Empire, Deity Grypherburg, Ursus
<p=2> Winter, 1102</> Winter, 1102
'...Investigation shows that the extremely provocative messages left behind by the instigators are all quotations from Yakov Petrov, a war criminal who got what he deserved during the Great Rebellion.
'While on death row, he wrote a will...'
'Whose fault was the Katorga Uprising? What should we do now? How do we save these young people who know nothing but rebellion?'
...
'While the Chairman's condition is now stable, the fiend behind the assassination attempt remains at large.
'The Deity Grypherburg Police call on everyone to stay indoors after nightfall to avoid arousing suspicion and interfering with the search operation.'
Solemn Soldier
(Flips through the newspaper)
Nervous Servant
......
Solemn Soldier
(Closes the newspaper)
Nervous Servant
...!
Solemn Soldier
Zdravstvuyte, gospodin. Could you fetch me a fresher newspaper?
Nervous Servant
Uh. I-I'm afraid that will require prior approval.
Nervous Servant
This lounge's newspapers and reading material are maintained daily by a page. I can't just conjure up one out of thin air for you.
Nervous Servant
Besides, you are an Infected. You may have been let in, but I don't know if you really have authorization to read this—
Hasty Noble
*cough*!
Nervous Servant
Gospodin Gorchikov—I mean, General!
Hasty Noble
You may call me Vice Chairman here. Thank you for your help. I will handle the rest.
Nervous Servant
What? Could that be... is this your guest?
Nervous Servant
Bozhe moy... I'm so stupid! Please accept my sincerest apologies, gospodin, for my words—
Solemn Soldier
So it goes. What you said is the truth.
Solemn Soldier
Indeed, I am an Infected.
Nervous Servant
The newspaper. You, I... I—
Hasty Noble
*sigh...* Just do as I said, and let me handle the rest!
Solemn Soldier
......
Hasty Noble
......
Solemn Soldier
'General?'
Hasty Noble
Please, don't tease me... You know better than anyone whether or not I will become general.
Solemn Soldier
You weren't so hard on yourself before, Vasily.
Vasily
And you weren't this easy to talk to, for an officer of the army.
Solemn Soldier
The man who stands before you now is a mere Infected warrior, no longer an Imperial Guard instructor.
Solemn Soldier
You still remember my name, do you not? Call me Hellagur.
Vasily
Very good, Gospodin Hellagur. How does it feel to return to Grypherburg? This is hardly a time for sightseeing, but still.
Hellagur
It's a lot quieter than I expected. A lot of things have changed, so much so that hardly anything from times gone by still remains.
Vasily
Right. So much has changed, and who could say whether these changes are for the better or worse?
Vasily
The businessmen have gotten richer. Thanks to that, the city has become a more beautiful place. At the same time, modesty and all our other virtues are now valued less.
Vasily
Perhaps you've heard already. His Imperial Majesty is going to build a so-called 'citizens' forum' and hand over all decision-making to the common folk of Grypherburg.
Vasily
And now, we can all say that the nobles have finally given up on the one job they still had and handed it over to the commoners.
Hellagur
It sounds like you don't agree with this at all.
Vasily
It's not up to me to agree or disagree, but if there's someone out there who can solve all these problems facing society, it doesn't matter who that person is.
Hellagur
This doesn't sound like something the vice chairman, with all his authority, would say.
Vasily
I've never been one eager to put my power on full display. You know that better than anyone.
Vasily
Come to think of it, I'm surprised they didn't confiscate your blade when you entered the city.
Hellagur
Oh, this. All they did was make a note of it. I didn't receive too much... special treatment. This is only a replica, and one that hasn't been sharpened. It's as lethal as a piece of scrap metal. Perhaps that's why.
Vasily
Where's the real one?
Hellagur
I gave it to someone I trust.
Vasily
Someone you trust...
Hellagur
I understand you have a daughter.
Vasily
Yes, I do. If we find the time later, I would love to introduce you to her. She has heard many stories of your achievements, and she respects you deeply.
Vasily
And it's not just her. Many in today's Imperial Guard still remember your name.
Vasily
It's been some years since we hung up our hats, but those stories yet fly over the Imperial Guard Academy like a banner. At your convenience, I'd like to take you for a visit.
Hellagur
You have my thanks for keeping those sacrifices so close to your heart, but I truly have no intention of serving as a banner ever again.
Hellagur
I am here for another reason. Surely you must already know that Rhodes Island has established an office here in Grypherburg.
Vasily
I am well aware. I even signed a few documents in the Chairman's stead.
Vasily
*sigh...* Even if our stance on the Infected has relaxed, the conflicts regarding them remain as sharp as ever.
Vasily
Still, if we're speaking of you personally—I would be happy to take this chance to restore your honors in Grypherburg.
Hellagur
I don't need the empire to restore my identity or honor.
Vasily
Then what do you need?
Hellagur
Simply put, what Rhodes Island needs is precisely what I need.
Vasily
More specifically, you mean—
Hellagur
'Please inform Chairman Witte that the designated Rhodes Islanders have departed for Deity Grypherburg.'
Hellagur
If my timing is right, they should have already made it to the office.
Vasily
Oh...
Nervous Soldier
Chairman—
Nervous Soldier
Is the Chairman here?!
Vasily
I am the vice chairman. What's the matter?
Nervous Soldier
I... I have a report!
Nervous Soldier
Th-The First Army—
The soldier tries his best to get a noun out of his mouth, but he finds himself frozen when he spots Hellagur standing to the side.
Vasily shakes his head to signal that there is nothing to worry about.
Vasily
What of the First Army?
Nervous Soldier
The new weapon of mass destruction that the First Army has been developing... The firing test was successful!
Vasily
And, what's the problem?
Nervous Soldier
The problem is... the weapon doesn't use Originium... or any energy source that we've ever employed!
