My name is Artem Avilov. I never thought I was going to reveal any of this to anybody who didn’t already know. In 1962, a major event occured in the Nenets province of Russia. You wouldn’t have heard about it though, as everything about it was covered up. It was an event I decided I’d reveal to the public on my deathbed to escape the consequences of talking about it outside of the group of those in the know.
There’s no need for me to summarize it for you, as I’ve kept a journal in which I documented everything that happened during those odd months. I have transcribed the relevant part of the journal for all of you to read. I should mention I have nothing against anyone’s religious beliefs. Just don’t hurt people just because they don’t believe what you believe. If they have to defend themselves… they will.
With nothing more to say, here it goes.
ENTRY 1
It’s September 29, 1962. I’m with a team of six, currently enroute to an area southwest of Khorei-Ver, where we will be conducting one of the most significant experiments since the Great Patriotic War. Our commander has been planning this out very carefully for months and we aren’t going to mess it up.
ENTRY 2
It’s around 5:00 P.M. We’re at a station in an area surrounded by trees. There’s some snowfall, and I’m shivering even in two layers of clothing. The experiment begins in five minutes. Let’s see how far we get. Honestly, I’m kinda nervous. Opening portals is a huge deal considering we don’t know where they will take us. I wonder if America is doing the same experiments right now. If they are, hopefully we’re ahead of them.
ENTRY 3
We’ve done it! When Abramov flipped the switch, both machines buzzed, then a light appeared between them. The light appeared as if the air was paper and the light itself was a hole. The portal’s open right now! This is unlike anything I’ve ever seen.
ENTRY 4
Our investigator, Galkin, stepped slowly into the portal. After about ten seconds, he stepped back out and described what he saw.
English translation: “Green forests, dark objects gliding through the air… then I heard sirens… but I came back before I could see anything more.”
Before we could ask anymore questions, a fleeting presence filled the air. I glanced at the portal. A white mist was floating out. It was shiny and transparent. I exchanged looks with the others, who couldn’t stop looking at the figure. The presence emanating from the figure became crushingly strong. Our commander ordered Abramov to close the portal. He flipped the switch, then the portal shrunk immediately. Closing on the mist, which fell to the snow. The presence lifted, and the mist, writhing around in the snow, slowed down to a stop. Its shininess dissipated. It’s white color changed to grey.
ENTRY 5
We did not know what the mist was supposed to be in the context of its reality. Even with Galkin’s description. Sirens? Black objects hovering in the sky? Generally speaking, it sounded like what Galkin witnessed was a reaction to a disturbance of an unknown magnitude. We asked him if he saw any markings anywhere. He told us he saw none. No tanks… no choppers… nothing.
We asked him to go into detail about the black objects. Before he could answer, a bright light appeared in the spot the portal had closed. It expanded, taking the same appearance as the portal. For some reason the portal had reopened, and it wasn’t us.
As we watched with looks of confusion, a dark creature hovered out of the portal. The appearance of this thing sent chills down my spine. It was a multitude of rotating rings covered with eyes. The eyes had a sinister glare, and the thing itself made this wet growling sound. It was atrocious. I could feel the chills from looking at this thing despite freezing in the cold air.
I glanced at our commander. He had a look of disgust on his face. A look that turned into one of fear. He took out a pistol and opened fire on the creature, but it didn’t stress. It just kept hovering. I couldn’t help but take out my own pistol and fire at the thing myself. That didn’t do anything either. But hopefully it was sending a message though. Eventually, the creature hovered back into the portal.
I knew we should’ve expected this. We just discovered an alternate world in which, presumably, whatever creatures we saw were normal.
Abramov flipped the switch, but the portal refused to close. He flipped it again. It wasn’t closing. Then, something else stepped out of the portal. This time, it was a being who looked like a middle aged human man. The only thing was… he had a red glow. An aura. I then noticed the otherworldly look of murderous rage in his eyes. A look that sent chills down my spine. He stood in front of us and began to speak in a soft tone.
“Gentlemen… I’m speaking in a language you can understand so I can be as clear as possible. I don’t know who you are, and neither does the Ophanim we sent, but you guys need to know that you have just triggered a mountain of chaos.”
“We don’t recognize you either,” said our commander. “But we do know you’re not recognized as something that exists in our world. You’re an anomaly.”
“Is that so?” asked the man. “I can’t get any information from your spirits, for some reason, so I’ll ask… was what you just did an accident?”
“Pardon me?” asked our commander.
“You know what you did,” said the man. “You know what happened when you shut this portal.”
“Oh… no,” said our commander. “There was an unknown and uncertain misty figure seeping into our world. We had to close the portal.”
“Interesting,” said the man. “I mean, I’m just curious. No matter what though, we’re going to take measures into our own hands.”
“What are you trying to say?” asked our commander.
“You killed Yahweh…” said the man. “That should say enough. I’ll be back with the others soon, so prepare yourselves. This war will be a short one.”
The man stepped back into the portal. Once he was gone, the portal closed by itself.
When he said Yahweh, the first thing I thought of was Yahweh from Biblical literature. He even mentioned an Ophanim, which I’m sure I’ve heard a priest talk about sometime ago. The people in that parallel world used the naming conventions of the Bible.
“What did he mean by Yahweh?” I asked the others.
Galkin brought up the Ophanim, telling us he had heard some Christians talk about it before. According to Galkin, the way the Christians described it sounded a lot like that floating rotating ring creature we had just seen.
I took it as coincidence. I wasn’t ready to believe we had actually killed God. That idea sounded unfathomable. Crazy. The inhabitants of the alternate world probably just so happened to be named such and such.
Galkin walked up to the transparent grey substance that was supposedly the corpse of some being called Yahweh and bent down to get a closer look.
ENTRY 6
We took the substance to a lab and ran some tests on it. Once we got the results, we were shocked. We could determine the substance was made of a material we had not only never seen before, but have also never discovered before.
ENTRY 7
We’ve been conducting experiments for the past few days. Further experimentation on the mystery material has led us to finding out how to destroy the material. This discovery is huge, because if we did kill a mystical being, and we were about to fight a war against its comrades, we were in dire need of weapons that would give us the upper hand.
I’m filled with dread thinking about being overpowered by unknown entities. Especially that damn rotating bunch of wheels. I’m going to assist in the construction of guns and bombs made for destroying those otherworldly beings… and I won’t stop working until the weapons are ready for use.
ENTRY 8
The weapons are ready. Backups have been assembled in case we need them. Now we wait for our preparation time to run out. When the glowing man returns, we will be ready. Top Soviet commanders have been covertly readying the Red Army for war in an operation called Fighting Angels. The only thing I’m worried about, however, is that we don’t know what those beings have in their arsenal. Hopefully our weapons are strong enough to at least incapacitate them.
ENTRY 9
This was a complete surprise. I woke up at three in the morning to the shouts of my comrades. One of them barged into my room and told me to hurry.
“They’ve arrived! The war has begun! All their men glow!”
This was it. I made sure I had the needed artillery with me. As I anticipated the defense, I could hear gunshots and sonic booms echoing from some distance away. As I sprinted out the door, all I could see were flashes of red and white lights off in the distance. It was freezing, but my blood was boiling with eagerness, adrenaline, and dread.
On my way to the scene, a soldier running a few feet ahead of me combusted into a white light. My adrenaline spiked. I ducked behind a nearby bush and poked my head up to look for any glowing men. One was headed my way, shrouded in a deep red glow that emphasized its face. It had a deep look of anger and determination. I aimed and opened fire. The glowing man was torn to shreds, vanishing into the night. The guns worked, but did we have enough ammunition?
To avoid America… or anybody… coming close to finding out about the war and the outcome of our experiments, our commanders decided we’d be receiving news via word of mouth, rather than through radio communication. Code phrases were to be used otherwise. Deaths would be covered up as well. Any dead soldiers were going to be cremated then honored in secret at a later date. Nothing about the war was allowed to be recorded or broadcasted, and every civilian in Nenets who were aware of the war was to be sworn to secrecy. Our commanders were really doing the best they could to cover this up.
Day 1 was full of uncertainty. The glowing men were everywhere. Every other minute there’d be one or two of them running along the trail. It was odd seeing them be torn up by our new bullets. It was something out of a dream.
I only got the opportunity to sleep every once in a while. Even despite attempting to sleep in an underground cellar. I was too busy trying to control my breaths. At times, I would nearly fall asleep, but then I’d hear the sound of leaves being ruffled and I’d be wide awake again.
That all kept going for three weeks before things began to slow down. The glowing men began arriving in smaller groups, and their faces were becoming more and more vengeful. Still, I could only duck and hope for the best. Killing these dreadful creatures from another world before they could kill me.
ENTRY 10
It’s Week 3, Day 5. I finally received some news. A soldier walked up to me with a look of exhaustion on his face.
“The glowing men are cornered. Our men are guarding the portal. They’re shooting each and every glowing being that comes through.”
ENTRY 11
Week 4, Day 1. I awoke at 04:00 to a strange wet growl. I grabbed my gun and tiptoed to a spot beside the window. The growling was giving me chills. As it went on, I peeked out the window. My heart sank when I saw it floating underneath the light emanating from a lamp post.
The wheels… The floating rotating wheels… covered with eyes…
It was just… hovering in one spot. It shined in the light, but it was still ugly and monstrous. I aimed and fired at the thing, shattering my window in the process. The bullet hit the creature, but all that came of that was a white steam that started to float towards me. When the steam cleared, the creature started moving towards me. Its silhouette and speed made my stomach turn. I fired at it again and hid behind the wall to get out of the view of the window.
White steam seeped in through the shattered window. I took deep breaths in an attempt to calm my adrenaline. It was almost pitch dark, but I noticed the wheeled creature’s dark silhouette as it floated in. It was only slightly darker than the night. I fired at it again. It stopped, but I couldn’t tell if I had done any damage to it.
My door squeaked open. A flash of light illuminated the face of the person entering. It was a man. A soldier. My fucking brother… I watched as he combusted into a human-sized white flame which itself illuminated the entire room, including the wheel creature. It had a few bloody holes and an unmoving wheel.
My heart dropped a second time. This thing can kill… threaten lives… My brother… he was incinerated like he was nothing… his existence gone in the blink of an eye…
I fired three more shots at the creature. Finally, it combusted into a white flame. The heat from which nearly burned my skin. When the flame died down and the heat dissipated, the fear was all that remained. The glowing men were one shot kills, but the wheel creatures… we were going to need to fire several times, which could lessen our time and amount of bullets.
I can’t begin to think about going to sleep right now. For the sake of my life.
I’m too exhausted to transcribe more of the journal right now. I’ll post more entries as soon as I’ve transcribed them. I won’t be poisoned just yet, so I have time.