Welcome to The Zone, Iruma-kun!

Chapter 1

"Desire" is a word that describes a strong feeling of want, to obtain something that either is within your grasp or forever lost to you. It is something that dwells in every single human being, regardless of how much they try to embrace or reject it. A strong desire has proven time and time again to be the cause of the entirety of the human race.

A desire for land. A desire for wealth. A desire for love, lust, power, servitude and worship. These are are only but a few that many have done so much to achieve.

However, in spite of what they do to achieve it, fewer have managed to realize their desires. The only thing that would result from them would be the consequences that would stem from them, for better or for worse.

No truer words have been spoken, as many would soon find out within the confines of the exclusion zone. During the times of the Soviet Union, an arrogant and foolish desire for supremacy and power, among other things, would result in one of the most catastrophic disasters ever occurred. The Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant had suffered structural damage and poisoned the land with radiation. The people were forced to evacuate and many lives were lost. This would also be an event that would become a nail in the State-sponsored proverbial coffin.

Unfortunately, this did not mean that the zone would recover from their mistake. In the year of 2006, another disaster occurred that would forever change the landscape of The Zone. Animals would turn into horrific and violent mutants, the atmosphere grey and foreboding and the very laws of nature and reality forever twisted and corrupted.

While Chernobyl punished those who became foolish, The Zone punished those who tried to become God.

Said punishment would come in with a deep rumble and red skies, followed by an emission; a wave of highly violate energy that surges throughout from the center of The Zone. While it is possible to escape such punishment, this is only but another day that a fellow S.T.A.L.K.E.R is granted to live.

And as another emission is set to occur in the open swamplands of Zaton, that is where our story begins.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

The Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant Zone of Alienation, otherwise simply known as The Zone, had seen many things during the last few years, many of which had no doubt led to unforeseen consequences.

While it still highly dangerous and illegal to traverse though its many areas, the disabling of The Brain Scorcher and Miracle Machine as well as the supposed lack of Monolith forces were more than enough for Stalkers to venture forth and claim its riches. Stories of the The Marked One, Wish Granter, The Oasis and many others drew in the highly adventurous while the promise of valuable artifacts and secrets brought the more greedier bunch.

The factions that inhabit the Zone are still active, doing their best to do what they were intending to do, whatever that may be. The Ecologists still study and learn from the Zone, Duty still tries to destroy it, Freedom still push for a more free and open Zone. Bandits and Renegades still plague The Zone, while Clear Sky silently hunkers down in the Great Swamps. Meanwhile the Mercs are fulfilling their contracts as the Military attempts to regain control of the situation in vain.

Which only leaves the outcasts, misfits and "Loners" of the Zone. Those who maintain a sense of comradery and brotherhood while still keeping to themselves. Those who came to the Zone not because of an ideology, but because of their desires. Those who would be willing to risk their lives in order to achieve these desires.

Or, in the case of a small boy named Iruma, those who went because there was no other choice.

BOOM! KA-KRACK!