**Living in a world that can barely be called a world anymore.** The sky was no longer blue, and the ground cracked like the thirsty skin of the old. The wind carried radioactive dust, seeping into every crevice left unsealed. Buildings were nothing more than iron skeletons clawing at the gray sky, and cities had become giant, nameless graves.
Amid the ruins, a young man walked slowly. His name was **Daniel**, twenty-six years old. A worn leather jacket clung to his thin body, and a small backpack hung from his right shoulder. He was alone—like most humans who still survived, if they could still be called human.
Daniel stopped in front of what might once have been an underground train station. Now, its mouth gaped open like a hungry monster. He stared into the darkness, then stepped inside without hesitation.
The stairs descended in cracked concrete arches. Every footstep echoed. The air reeked of dampness, rust, and something unfamiliar. On the wall, faded writing read: *"SHELTER 17 – GOVERNMENT ACCESS ONLY."*
Daniel had studied old maps—this place had once been an elite evacuation shelter. But the elite were long gone. Those who survived now lived in fear, hiding from something worse than war: **creatures that should not exist.**
His voice—hoarse and low—echoed softly, "If you're here... don't follow me." It wasn't a prayer. It was a warning.
His steps halted in an open chamber. A corpse, dried and shriveled, leaned against the wall with a cracked helmet and a weapon in hand. Behind it, a massive steel door stood half open. Beyond it...
**Darkness.** And something moved within that darkness.
Daniel pulled out a small flashlight and turned it on. A thin beam of light danced across the metal wall. A shadow—like a claw—flashed past, too fast to follow. He stepped back, holding his breath, but didn't flee. He waited.
Something—or someone—was watching him from the dark.
Then came a soft scraping sound... and it vanished.
Daniel knew he was being **followed**. Not by a human. Not even by an animal. But by something that came **after the war**.
He kept moving. His destination was clear: the **dead city of Losternas**. No sane person would go there, but Daniel was no longer an ordinary man. He carried a secret. And in Losternas, he hoped to find the
.answer.