Earthfolk Chronicles: What Happened, Where, When, How, and Why It All Began

To the Trench and Back

The two-hour ride to the Trench from the far side of the city was uneventful. By the time Strelka arrived, it was already morning in its blue hour. The dense fog drifting through the Trench's zone was beginning to lift and the air was getting warm.

Strelka vision brightened as her eyes emitted a purple glow. She felt a powerful surge of energy flowing across her limbs; the presence of the deep blue sky was boosting the otherworldly magic in her veins. This was a sign that the Trench could feel her—or rather its influence in her systems. She pulled the tricycle over in the far corner of the site hidden by dry, red shrubs and gigantic vines coating the rusted chicken wire fence.

Strelka put on her dokkaebi mask, carried her pack over her shoulder, and got off the bike with a tired grunt. She entered through the gap in the fence. The scents of the stalkers that went in and out of the place stuck with the chicken wires and the blades of grass; the rains didn't wash them away. She caught a whiff of Skif's smell as she crawled—it was as fresh as it used to be when he was alive.

Strelka grunted and flinched each time she moved her knees, as if the ground was stinging her bones. On her last trip in the Trench twenty years ago, the radiation had been running wild and strong across the surface of the zones. She contracted cancer, resulting in the loss of her legs; now she wore robotic legs.

If it wasn't for Kuzma, she would never set foot in here again.

Kuzma Rodionovich Komarov, known by the nickname Mosquito, had been Strelka's mentor and adoptive father. He was one of the old stalkers, the ones that began the search for mystical treasures in the Trench immediately after the Cataclysm thirty years ago. He was also once a family man with a daughter who had serious birth defects as a result of his irradiation. His daughter died before she could reach her tenth year and it left him in utmost despair until he found the seven-year-old Ilya Zaitseva wandering the streets. Ilya reminded him so much of his daughter that he decided to adopt her.

They were inseparable. Kuzma introduced Ilya into the stalker life, taught her everything he knew about the Trench, and gave her the nickname Strelka. When Ilya turned eighteen, Kuzma was to go on a trip to the Trench. She offered to join him, but he declined.

"Nyet, kotenok," he had told her, looking glum. No, kitten. "Today I go alone."

But he was not alone. He had brought with him the teenage son of his boss Jacobo Ibañez (nicknamed Buzzard). The boy insisted on accompanying him in his task to find Ophanim, the wish-granting artifact rumored to be found deep within the Metro section of the Trench's network of tunnels. Nobody heard from them again. Stalkers searched for them in every tunnel, but could not venture deeper due to lurking threats.

Ilya knew her teacher—her father—was gone; however, she never lost hope. She wanted to find him and bring him back, dead or alive. Uncertainty regarding his disappearance had plagued her all her life, and she needed closure.

Strelka stopped at the entrance to a now dead meadow concealed by lines of black trees and prepared their metal bolts and nuts. She sat on a rock tying bandages around the nuts so they would be easier to find once thrown. The ground was uneven, damp, musty, black-purple in color, and littered with the remains of destroyed machinery and moss-covered stones. A pond laid east of the entrance.

She looked around as she worked on the nuts. Her gaze landed on the small stretch of soil beside the pond where the grass was bent and laid flat and dry. It was the spot where Korain used to rest after a long day of scavenging. She felt the pang of longing and loss in her heart. She couldn't believe she actually missed him.

Im Korain was Strelka's first apprentice. He was the greatest stalker in his generation, very well known for his wisdom. Many young stalkers looked up to him. They used to call him Teacher. However, as time went on, like most stalkers, he turned into a greedy opportunist. He grew obsessed with the secrets the Trench kept and the more he learned about them, the worse his obsession got. For this, he became known as Hojeo—Porcupine. This same obsession led him to his downfall.