Ykralam

In the cold, dark tunnels of the Moscow Metro, Sherstov Velentin, a sardonic smuggler, finds himself on a dangerous run between stations. When he stumbles upon the aftermath of a massacre at Kurskaya Station, he becomes the sole survivor of a supernatural entity that marks him for reasons unknown. Haunted by whispers and hunted by the unseen force, Sherstov desperately tries to outrun his fate, but the deeper he goes into the Metro’s labyrinthine tunnels, the more the darkness closes in.

As his paranoia grows and his physical strength wanes, Sherstov realizes there’s no escaping the relentless force stalking him. The whispers of his inevitable demise echo in his mind, slowly unraveling his sanity. His attempts to survive are futile in a world that no longer shows mercy. In the end, it’s not the mutants or the bombs that claim him, but the very darkness of the Metro itself. Alone, cold, and broken, Sherstov succumbs to the elements, a marked man whose fate was sealed from the start.

Metro: Marked

The darkness has swallowed me whole.

I don't know how long I've been sitting here. Time has lost all meaning. There's no sound anymore, no light. Just the cold. Just the silence. My body is numb, my mind drifting in and out of consciousness. I'm not sure if I'm still alive. Maybe I've already crossed over. Maybe I'm just waiting for my mind to catch up.

The revolver is still next to me, but I haven't touched it. I thought about it. I thought about ending it, taking control, but in the end, I didn't have the strength. It doesn't matter now. It never did.

The thing is gone. Or maybe it never was. Maybe I imagined it all. Maybe the darkness is the only real thing left.

I feel myself slipping away, piece by piece. My thoughts are slow, sluggish, like they're sinking into the cold ground beneath me. I'm too tired to care. Too tired to fight. I was never going to win. The Metro is too strong. The darkness is too strong.

I was always marked. I understand that now. I was always meant to end up here, in the dark, in the cold. Alone. Just another lost soul in a world that's already forgotten me.

I close my eyes, letting the darkness take me. It's quiet now. Peaceful. The whispers are gone. The fear is gone. All that's left is the silence. And in the end, maybe that's all I ever wanted. Just silence.

My last thought, as the cold finally takes me, is that I never stood a chance.

Chapter 13 (fin)