Volume I - Episode 3 Where: Chazov Mountains, Russia When: 1 month and 3 days before E-Day, 11:10 am The tourists filed off the bus and walked across the narrow road to the lookout. There, they stood awestruck. An enormous cliff rose out of the earth about two kilometres ahead of them. Upon it loomed the wall of Gorod Drevnih - black, menacing and ancient. Pillars towered into the sky along its length, their heads buried in the swirling mass of dark blue storm clouds that boiled overhead. Lightning pulsed and crackled within the storm clouds' depths. Krystal leaned on the safety barrier, her eyes drinking in every detail. She had dreamed of seeing this place her entire life. It was even more amazing in real life than she had ever imagined. Seeing it on TV was one thing...but nothing could prepare her for the experience of seeing it with her own eyes. "The storm is called The Veil of Gorod Drevnih," the tour guide explained. "The Veil interferes with everything that tries to pass through it. For example," he said, pointing at two locations beyond the wall. "You can dimly make out the outline of two mountain peaks just behind the wall. But if you try to focus on them, you'll find that you can't." "It's like the mountains are moving!" someone said. "Exactly," said the tour guide. "Every time your eyes focus on a shape inside The Veil, it changes shape or moves away. It's not just light in the visible spectrum either. Everything has been tried: infrared, X-rays, sonar, lasers...they all suffer the same 'blindness'. Gorod Drevnih is completely hidden beneath The Veil." "But...how does it work?" someone asked. "And how can the storm still be going after all these years?" "Centuries," the tour guide corrected. "And nobody knows how it works. The Soviets spent years loading scientists onto planes and sending them into the storm, but none of them were ever seen again. It's like the Bermuda Triangle of eastern Russia. Scientists all over the world are scratching their heads." "Scientists?" Krystal asked, sounding doubtful. "What about...other groups?" The tour guide nodded and gave a quick, nervous glance at Robert and Catherine, the outspoken Christians from West Virginia. "Apparently 'other groups'...particularly in France...have been working on the storm as well, but they're no closer to understanding it either. Apparently." As they watched, three enormous forks of lightning ripped across the entire width of the storm, shaking the Earth with a deafening boom of thunder. The tourists gasped and quickly snapped more photos. "Bloody hell," said Steve, who Krystal just realised was standing right next to her. "Do you reckon it's safe here?" Krystal suddenly felt nervous. Now that she thought of it, could she feel her hair standing slightly on end...or was that just her imagination? She called the tour guide over. "Hey, Mr Brain. Is it safe here?" The guide answered with a half-nod, half-shrug that Krystal did not find the slightest bit comforting. "Mmm, we should be. Things get hairy the closer you get to the wall. Machinery and electronics stop working, and if you get too close, your heart stops beating. It's hard to see from here, but when we get to The Brink you'll see there's a black path about five metres wide that runs the whole way around Gorod Drevnih. It's called the Dead Zone. It's called that for a really good reason. Nothing can survive in the Dead Zone. "But at this distance, we might just see some minor equipment failures. The coach's air conditioning might play up, or your camera might have trouble focusing. Things like that. Speaking of which, would you like me to take your photo?" Krystal smiled and posed for the camera, her head spinning with thoughts of heart attacks and equipment failures. And right then, during that exact moment, with awe in their hearts and The Veil boiling overhead... That's when all the screaming started.