5 - 1

In a hurry, gathering everything they needed, the group decided to scatter to meet at a common point - the entrance to the psychiatric hospital. Upon entering the settlement, the cultists quickly attempted to block the streets, searching every building. Bursting into rooms with surveillance camera monitors, the cultists managed to detect the movement of some members of the group.

At the same time, A, along with C and D, headed towards the hospital through the forested area. A questioned the girl about how the cult had found them again, despite all her promises, to which the girl remained silent and continued on her way. Seeing this, D asked the guy to hold off on the interrogation.

Meanwhile, several members of the group were caught on the camera of a quadcopter and were shot by the cultists. Spotting the quadcopter, D ordered the others to run immediately. Upon reaching the hospital building, the trio noticed the absence of some comrades at the meeting point, realizing that they had become victims of the cult's group.

Following C, the group entered the building and soon found themselves at the entrance to one of the catacomb branches. V informed the others that, judging by the calculations on Jacob's scheme, which she had managed to make, this branch would lead them to one of the alternate realities.

Moving through the dark corridor, after some time, the group reached the surface, finding themselves once again on one of the streets of the settlement. Having evaded the threat of pursuit, the group began to celebrate.

At the same time, C noticed how one of the girls rejoiced at finding her phone, only to realize with horror that they had not transitioned to a new reality, but had returned to the settlement. A few seconds later, the girl who had found the phone fell dead from multiple gunshots.

Gunfire erupted, and several more people were killed. The remaining group panicked and fled back into the catacomb tunnels, where they got separated from each other.

C was knocked down and lost her glasses in the resulting commotion. Due to her worsening vision, she fought her way out of the group, finding herself alone in the dark catacombs.

(INTERLUDE) Somewhere underwater, in the dark depths among the ruins of ribbed structures and the remains of certain beings, chains are attached to the bottom, pulling transparent spheres upwards. Inside these spheres, humanoid embryos can be seen.

Hearing familiar voices somewhere at the end of the corridor, the girl immediately ran towards them, emerging once again in the settlement. C took refuge in one of the houses, where A, D, and several other group members were also located. Lighting a cigarette, D informed the girl that the area seemed safe, and apparently, those present had managed to reach a new reality after all.

5 - 2

Suddenly, A led the girl into another room, where he directly accused her of working for the cult and causing the deaths of many people due to their mistaken return to the settlement. He informed her that there were still many members of the group left in the catacombs. D, who had heard the commotion, came in and once again attempted to take C away, but she asked him to leave her be. In tears, the girl admitted that A was right, and all the recent deaths were her fault.

D reassured her that C was definitely not an accomplice of the cult. During the interrogation of A's double, he confessed that their group had been sent to find the girl and eliminate the doubles, hoping that the bleak ones would complete their mission. Showing C the round glasses he had found in the catacombs, A mentioned the sudden appearance of her double after the girl had died from the bleak one, claiming that it couldn't be just a coincidence.

Noticing her missing glasses, C recalled the teachings of the cult, muttering about the main law of shifting between realities: in each reality, there can only be one person's unique identity. If a double, entering a reality, doesn't replace the identity of their counterpart by midnight from the moment of their appearance, they will inevitably be annihilated by the bleak ones.

After these words, A realized that it was their group that had been alien doubles, surviving only because their counterparts from the circle's team had died. Only C's double had remained alive, making her the target of the bleak one.

C added that the only way to replace one's double when transitioning to another reality was their physical elimination. The girl admitted that she had never believed in the cult's teachings, considering it only as a scare tactic to prevent escapes, until she witnessed her double turning to ashes.

In anger, A questioned C about how the glasses ended up with her, recalling that she had initially approached without them. Not receiving an answer, the guy stated that he was certain that the glasses belonged to the deceased C.

Unwilling to continue the conversation, A headed for the exit, asking C why she had fled the cult and remained alive. As a parting shot, he called the girl a fake version of C, unworthy of wearing what had belonged to the deceased, taking the glasses with him.

C asked for forgiveness, admitting that she had been afraid of possible informants from the cult within the group who were tracking her. Shouting after A, the girl declared that she had also lost everyone she knew.

5 - 3

In the following week, A, C, and D, along with the remaining survivors, regularly ventured into the catacombs in search of the missing group members. However, their searches yielded no results: neither survivors nor their bodies were found, as if they had never descended into the tunnels.

During one of their excursions into the catacombs, D slipped from a ledge, suffering multiple fractures in his arm and severe wounds all over his body. While tending to his wounds, the entire group noticed strange tattoos on D's body, forming a cipher and various chaotic dates. A had a flashback in which he saw identical tattoos on the attackers who ambushed the group.

When A asked D about the meaning of these tattoos, he replied that they were a way for him to remember the most important events in his life. A grew suspicious but decided to postpone further questioning due to D's condition.

Over the next few days, C took care of D while A and the others continued their search. Despite all her efforts, D's condition deteriorated rapidly, with his wounds becoming infected. During a feverish episode, D, mistaking himself for a journalist, investigator, or tourist, sought his missing daughter or younger sister.

When D's condition slightly improved, C attempted to find a connection between his recent delirium and his past. Lighting a cigarette she had given him upon his request, D assured her that he had never had a sister or daughter, and his entire past was dedicated to his service in the French armed forces. What he had experienced puzzled C, as she suspected that during his episode, D had glimpsed the memories of his doppelgangers from parallel realities.

(INSERT) Horizontally suspended on a gigantic needle, a massive wheel comprised of steel skulls of extraterrestrial creatures was pushed by a multitude of humanoids, moving in a circular motion behind each other.

Soon, the remaining group began to experience nightmares and hallucinations in which the silhouettes of deceased and missing comrades appeared to them. Paranoia quickly spread through the settlement, making it increasingly difficult for the group to distinguish between the images from their nightmares and hallucinations and reality. At one point, overwhelmed by powerful hallucinations, A lost consciousness.

5 - 4

Upon regaining consciousness, A found himself and the entire group on their knees, bound and gagged, surrounded by the cultists of the Circle. When the others came to, one of the cultists in a hooded mask without openings addressed them, claiming that the Circle had saved the group from death by administering a drug that halted the progressing madness that led to complete brain destruction and death.

C recognized the cultist as her former mentor, the one who had instructed her and the others recruited into the cult. The mentor informed the group that they had been spared for the sake of continuing the research because they were the first to successfully traverse so many realities while retaining their sanity to some extent.

The cultists then stripped D down to his waist and examined his body, covered in tattoos. The mentor stated that the cult had always known about the group's plans and whereabouts through D, who was a depersonalized genetic copy of a person who had disappeared without a trace after the first-ever transition to another reality. Mocking, the mentor pointed out that D's copies had even inherited his addiction to smoking.

This content has been misappropriated from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

The copies served as overseers of the groups of subjects sent by the Circle into multiple realities to collect necessary data and eliminate selected targets. D narked himself with new tattoos containing information about mission results, after which his memory was completely erased each time, instilling memories of a non-existent past and forming a new personality, making him unnoticed by the bleak.

A immediately recalled his conversation with D, where he confessed to the unconscious nature of many of his actions.

Then the mentor turned to C, thanking her for the journey she had undertaken and acknowledging that the cult had allowed her to escape for a reason. Placing the glasses confiscated from A on the girl, the mentor declared that this was the least he could do for her.

At that moment, C realized that her escape, meeting A and D, and all subsequent events had been preplanned by the cult. She finally understood that she and the rest of the group had been acting according to the cult's scheme from the very beginning and had been used as test subjects in its research on the consequences of shifting between realities.

Displaying the tattoos on his chest, the mentor announced the beginning of a new phase of Operation "Exodus." The group members were to become prototypes for new overseers: each person's brain would be extracted to create faithful copies for the Circle's mission. The new overseers would then make contact with the contactee, and angels would follow to manifest in the human reality, marking the beginning of a new era for all of humanity.

In one moment, D managed to free himself and tear the tape from his mouth. Shouting out some coordinates, D grabbed a pistol from one of the cultists, and, calling on the group to run immediately, opened fire towards the mentor. Seizing the opportunity, the group sprinted away, witnessing the cultists brutally executing D on the spot, calling him another defect.

C urged them to follow her immediately. The cultists then opened fire on the fleeing group, killing several more people. The survivors followed C through the forested area until they found themselves back in the settlement. As they turned around, C realized that only A and a random girl with her boyfriend had managed to transition with her.

5 - 5 (Extra Part 1)

During her time in the cult, C noticed that among the recruited members, there was a small group close to the curator who attended special closed meetings. One evening, she decided to follow one of them in the hope of finding out what the Circle was hiding from the others.

Her surveillance led her to a research complex beyond the city, where another closed meeting was taking place. During this meeting, the curator, displaying an updated Jacob's Ladder diagram, announced a new discovery that could bring them closer to the angels and even overcome death. After the curator and a group from the complex left, C gained access to all the materials from the meeting.

From the archived records, she learned that the now-abandoned psychiatric hospital was initially built for human experiments related to the Exodus Effect. After the revelation of the cruel experiments conducted on patients and the closure of the clinic, the cult established the settlement to continue researching different forms of madness caused by the Exodus of angels.

C then found records about the death and subsequent autopsy of a certain contactee, a girl resistant to angelic influence and capable of making contact with them. From her brain, the cult had managed to extract the necessary data for further transitions.

C copied the access code from the room where the girl's body was stored, as well as a sample of Jacob's Ladder diagram. She then compared the coordinate system of the scheme with the area map and discovered a pattern: regardless of the axis's location on the diagram, they always intersected at one point that constantly shifted depending on the time of day and the user's location while using the scheme.

In one of the following archives, C found a folder containing detailed coordinates of cleared sectors. Upon hearing footsteps, C photographed all the coordinates from the folder onto her smartphone and then discreetly left the complex.

Next, C found the necessary complex on the outskirts of the settlement where, according to rumors, the cult transported the bodies of the deceased. Inside, she discovered a control room with surveillance camera recordings from all over the settlement and inside each building. She found a live feed from the house where she had lived with A.

C continued down the corridors, reaching a room with a chilling atmosphere. Using the access code, she discovered a body covered in cloth, which she lifted to reveal B with her brain exposed and equipped with numerous sensors. C realized that B had been the contactee, suffering from a unique form of madness caused by the Exodus of angels.

Horrified, she left the complex and made a decision to escape from the cult immediately, heading home. In haste, as she gathered all the essentials, C noticed a message on the fridge from A, asking her to get in touch. Tears welled up in C's eyes as memories flooded back.

(FLASHBACK) Naked, C and A discussed recent events after their intimate moment. Reflecting on the cult's teachings about the existence of multiple parallel dimensions, C theorized about the existence of a reality where B was still alive, hoping she could find a way to reunite with her friend.

A supported her plan but pointed out that C's words were just a theory, and their main goal was to save themselves and escape the city. He emphasized that the doppelgangers from parallel realities were not human and encounters with them were extremely dangerous, reminding her of the massacre of their group by the Doppelgangers.

C assured him that even in the face of danger, she wouldn't be able to kill her doppelganger or the duplicates of people close to her. A condemned her words and urged her to kill his doppelganger upon meeting and leave the settlement at the first opportunity, even if it meant doing so without him. In response, C promised that they would reunite one way or another. A agreed but warned that when they met, he might not be the same person.

(PRESENT TIME) After reviewing their joint photos on her phone, C drew a heart on his note on the fridge. Taking her backpack, she soon reached the forested area.

5 - 5 (Extra Part 2)

Realizing that at any moment her disappearance could be discovered by the circle, and leaving the settlement was impossible, C quickly charted a path on the map using Jacob's coordinates. After determining the direction, she ran through the thickets of the forest, soon finding herself on the outskirts of the city once again.

Doubting the success of her attempt to move to another reality, C fell into despair. Hearing familiar voices, she decided to take shelter in the woods. Spending about two days there, afraid to leave her hiding place and pondering the reasons for the failure of her transition, C noticed suspicious movements in the forest.

Deciding to investigate the situation, C soon came across D, who was running away from something. D immediately asked her to follow him, catching C off guard. She fled in surprise, leaving D puzzled. Taking cover in the underbrush, C observed as her own duplicate approached D a couple of minutes later.

Seeing the duplicates, C realized that her transition to another reality had indeed occurred. Recalling the cult's teachings about the danger of meeting one's own duplicate, C decided to follow them to plan her next steps.

Her surveillance led her to a settlement where the traces of the duplicates disappeared. Upon hearing the sounds of a struggle, C headed towards one of the houses where she saw two sect members threatening to shoot members of her group, interrogating them about her whereabouts.

As soon as they noticed C, they opened fire on her, causing her to drop and shatter her glasses into pieces. This gave the hostages an opportunity to counterattack, and they managed to overpower the sect members and take their weapons. Taking cover behind a wall, C watched as the hoods were removed from the subdued sect members, revealing familiar faces from her past reality. She suspected that they had been sent after her by the cult.

Shortly afterward, several more sect members burst into the house, taking the group members hostage and mentioning the dispatching surveillance camera where they had observed the events. Realizing that the surveillance room could provide a complete overview of the situation in the settlement, C recalled its location in the complex and headed there.

Navigating through the corridors of the complex, she noticed the absence of the room where B's body had been in her previous reality. Upon reaching the empty surveillance room, C saw on one of the screens A from her reality in a circle cloak aiming a weapon at his own duplicate. He then proceeded to shoot the captured group members whom C had recently seen in the house. That's when C finally understood that this was no longer the A she had known.

Shortly after, the sect members opened fire on the group members, killing several more people. Afterward, all the duplicate sect members were killed by return fire from an unknown direction, and the surviving group members disarmed A.

Watching the surveillance screens in horror, C realized that everyone who had been locked in the settlement with her had died as a result of the massacre. Soon, C and D, armed with a scoped rifle, emerged from the thickets and led captive A in an unknown direction. C understood that D was responsible for the massacre of all the recruited group members.

She couldn't trace their path through the cameras, so C decided to venture out into the streets of the settlement, looking into the windows of buildings and questioning passersby in search of the location where A's duplicate had been taken. In response to the group members' numerous questions about why she always brushed off questions about the dirty raincoat she was wearing, C evaded providing an explanation.

After several hours, through a window in one of the hangars on the city's outskirts, C finally discovered A, bound and beaten, with D aiming a pistol at him. Upon noticing C through the window, A immediately urged her to run and complete her plan. As C felt the gaze of her beloved on her, she quickly hid from view, watching as D left the hangar to investigate.

After A announced that soon only the real A would remain, C heard a gunshot. She finally understood: the A she loved was dead.

Recalling the final words of her lover, C repeated to herself the fundamental law of movement between realities (that each reality can only contain one person's identity) and realized A's plan to kill his own duplicate with the bleak ones.

C understood that she, along with her group of cultists who had been searching for her, were in this reality until their duplicates arrived, at which point, after midnight, they were to become the victims of the bleak ones. Watching the time approach midnight, C realized that she was the sole survivor of all the arriving sect members, and her duplicate was the next target of the bleak ones.

Knowing of her love for A, C ran to the only place for their solitude - the house on the outskirts of the city. Approaching the house, she saw A holding charred ashes in his hands. With horror, C realized that she was too late and her duplicate had become a victim of the bleak ones.