6 – 1

For the next few days, the four survivors acclimated themselves to the city, attempting to cope with the horror of recent events and the loss of their comrades. A and C got to know the two new survivors better, a young man who turned out to be Austrian and a girl who was French. The young man had been destined for a brilliant career as a conductor, but due to intense parental pressure, he fled to the settlement just before his second concert. Despite a difficult childhood and a somewhat unconventional lifestyle, the French girl found solace in her passion for tattoos, and she had come to the settlement in search of inspiration for her new designs.

As they discussed the current situation, the remaining quartet concluded that there was a severe shortage of resources. The supplies they found in the settlement would last only a few days at most. At this point, C reminded everyone about the curator's words regarding the imminent departure of the angels signaled by a mysterious beacon, which seemed to be B.

C pointed out that it became impossible to leave the settlement precisely after B's suicide because, following her death, the angels lost the signal source that allowed them to enter our reality. In their efforts to complete the Exodus, the angels deprived everyone of a chance to leave the settlement, completely isolating it in time and space. The French girl was convinced that completing the Exodus was the only way out.

Explaining her plan, C proposed that the Circle would somehow attempt to locate a copy of B in another reality to complete the Exodus and permanently alter the order of human existence. The girl asserted that the group's main task was to find a way to meet B before the Circle did, turning the Exodus in their favor and eradicating the cult.

A objected to the girl's plan, noting that B had died before the spatial anomaly, and her copies might simply not exist in other realities. C agreed with A's arguments but insisted that they had no choice but to constantly move between dimensions to prove or disprove their own assumptions.

To achieve this, the girl planned to teach the entire group how to make independent transitions between realities using the Jacob's Ladder schema. Feeling obligated to escape the settlement and destroy the cult, the entire group accepted C's plan.

After several days of training in the basics of using Jacob's Ladder, the group attempted another transition to a new reality. C decided to test the group's new skills by having each member make a separate, independent transition to one of the realities, where they would all reunite.

Contrary to the conditions, the French girl helped A select the necessary coordinates, and together, they successfully made the transition and met with C. They waited for the Austrian man, who hadn't appeared.

Several hours later, blaming herself for the situation, C organized a search for the man, who was soon found by A in a wooded area in a state of complete disorientation. Upon regaining his senses, the Austrian remembered that, apparently, he had mistakenly entered a reality where the city had not yet descended into chaos.

Recounting the details, the man claimed that he had somehow traveled into the past when everyone he knew was still alive and unaware of the impending madness. An idyllic moment was interrupted by a girl who announced the imminent slaughter in the city. When she spotted the Austrian, she pointed at him in the crowd, after which he suddenly found himself in the forest, where A found him.

A immediately asked the man to share everything he remembered about the girl who had pointed at him. After her description, both A and C had no doubts: that girl was B. A declared that the Austrian's account was evidence of the possibility of time travel using Jacob's Ladder. C agreed, noting that in theory, such a transition was possible.

6 – 2

The group then actively explored all the ways to use Jacob's Ladder, attempting to find a path to the past where B was still alive. Despite their intensified preparation, C doubted the group's readiness for such a transition, noting that the exact coordinates for such a move were unknown, and it could have irreversible consequences. It remained unclear how the Austrian managed to return. Recognizing all the risks, C constantly hindered the group from making further transitions, causing tension with the others.

Suddenly, the Circle members reappeared in the settlement. The group immediately followed a pre-prepared plan for such a situation and made a transition to another reality using specific coordinates. Afterward, C warned them that they were safe for a while, but those were their last escape coordinates, and from now on, they needed to act immediately because the Circle could track them down at any moment.

The group agreed to act together: each of the four would make several transitions per day to specific coordinates to personally determine if they led to the past. C warned the others of the high probability of losing their way back with such frequent transitions, emphasizing that they now had no choice but to be the first to find B.

C apologized to the group for her earlier lack of confidence in their readiness, thanking everyone for their determination. In response, the group promised to follow C to the end. A added with a grin that C was now worthy of wearing her glasses.

About three weeks passed, and C analyzed the group's recent results, realizing that they needed to make even more transitions per day to achieve their goal. Soon, A returned to this reality. She greeted him with questions about how everything had gone, but the man didn't immediately recognize her or the surroundings. Such symptoms began to affect the entire group, including C.

(INSERT) Amidst a light mist in space, numerous steel chains stretch and intersect from all sides, converging in the center into a gigantic node vaguely resembling a human head.

After each new transition, it became increasingly difficult for the quartet to recognize each other, their purpose, and even themselves. Despite this, C assured the others that they had to increase the number of transitions to achieve their goals.

6 –3

As they contemplated their next moves, the group discussed what each of them would do if they finally escaped. The Austrian confessed that he wanted to cover his body with tattoos that would serve as reminders of the events he had experienced.

A reminded him of the opportunity to do so right now, pointing to the French girl. This realization struck the Austrian, and he suggested getting tattoos with essential information about themselves, their mission, and special coordinates that would allow them to return wherever they ended up.

C recalled the tattoos on the curator's and D's bodies, speculating that they had used them as a kind of diary of the coordinates of the realities they had visited. She proposed a similar method, which would allow them to continually update the Jacob's Ladder schema and find the path to the past.

The French girl began tattooing the group members, and she trained A to do the same, bringing them closer together. One evening, C caught them engaged in a sexual encounter. Over time, the bodies of each group member became covered in rows of tattoos. Due to a lack of space for new tattoos, the group began to tattoo their faces and over existing designs.

One day, A asked the French girl to tattoo a cross on him, which he would take with him no matter what happened. A bit embarrassed, she still complied with his request.

During one of their transitions using Jacob's Ladder coordinates, A noticed a shadowy figure staring intensely at him from the forest. Subsequently, A and the others began regularly describing the shadowy figures who appeared to be observing them, suspecting that they saw the group's actions as a violation of the natural laws of the cosmos.

C shared her theory that the shadowy figures, known as "the Bleak," had been responsible for the emergence of the "ominous valley" effect in humanity for a long time. They had human-like characteristics and posed a threat to humans. The girl recalled records from the cult's archives claiming that the Bleak had existed since the very beginning of time in the universe.

6 – 4

(INSERT) Four desiccated bodies, wearing chainmail masks without eye openings, are linked together by numerous chains, sitting on the ground with their legs crossed and their backs against each other.

Due to the frequent transitions, the group began to suffer from regular amnesia, sometimes not even recognizing each other. They were only able to partially regain their memory through the new tattoos they received.

Making a dozen transitions per day, the group still failed to find any leads to B. C struggled with these failures and blamed herself entirely for them.

One evening, the group didn't wait for the Austrian to return from his latest transition. The remaining trio expended all their efforts searching for him, making transitions to all the last coordinates he had used. Despite their efforts, the man was never found, disappearing without a trace. C took this disappearance especially hard, vowing to uncover the reason behind it. Resigned to another loss, the remaining trio tattooed the Austrian's initials on their bodies in his memory.

The French girl decided to help C relieve tension. C agreed, and the two spent an evening together, applying makeup and creating new hairstyles for each other to regain a sense of femininity and relaxation, if only for a moment.

(INSERT) Numerous chains hanging from the ceiling among the ice hold semi-mechanical hands frozen in ice blocks, which are gathered in a chainmail sheet lying below.

The settlement became lively again after a large influx of new visitors. A spent time with his new acquaintances. While walking through the streets, A noticed a stranger in the crowd who stared intently at him, dressed in ragged clothing. Continuing his movement, A perceived the stranger as just another eccentric, which had become common in the settlement lately.

On the same evening, at a large party in one of the houses, A saw the same stranger in a raincoat again, watching him from a distance. A decided to find out the stranger's motives and approached him.

Seeing A approaching, the man in the ragged raincoat fled. Pursuing the stranger, A realized he had distanced himself quite far from the others. Catching up with the stranger, who stumbled over a stone, A saw under his hood an exact replica of himself. The doppelganger began questioning him about a girl named B.

If you discover this tale on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the violation.

A perceived what was happening as a hallucination, due to the substances he had recently taken. As he got closer, the doppelganger persistently demanded an answer to his question. A replied that he had never seen her before, pushing the doppelganger away and removing his cloak.

Seeing a large knife concealed and an emaciated body covered in inexplicable tattoos, including a small gothic cross on the left shoulder, A panicked and yelled for help. The doppelganger quickly caught up to him, delivering several knife blows. Watching from a distance, his friends rushed to his aid, but A died from his wounds.

The group met the panting A, who had worn the ragged raincoat, and he explained that he had wanted to prank the others by dressing up as a maniac and simulating the cries of his victim. The group didn't appreciate A's prank and advised him to use fewer substances.

A, along with the others, returned to the party, where he began to search the house for any signs of B. Suddenly, a small dog belonging to one of the attendees growled at A and bit his hand. As they treated his hand, the group noticed the numerous tattoos on A's body and began questioning him about their origin.

A tried to explain that he had tattooed them as reminders of his visits to the settlement. Barking and running outside, the dog disappeared into the underbrush. The group found it shortly afterward, discovering something hidden in the foliage. Upon closer inspection, they saw a bloody body, and it was A's lifeless form.

6 – 5

Opening his eyes, A sees C, who helped him come to his senses. They hardly remembered anything about each other, meeting as if for the first time. Examining the tattoos on their bodies, they manage to recall some memories about themselves and their past.

Recovered, A asserts that he managed to travel to the past through certain coordinates, but it seemed that B wasn't there. C notices the bite marks on A's hand and asks him to recount the recent events. A confesses that he remembers very little about what happened, pointing to the fresh tattoos with the coordinates of his last transition.

While inspecting A to analyze the last coordinates he received, C notices numerous scars all over his body. Afterward, she experiences multiple fragmented flashbacks, one of which involves the slashing of a girl's throat.

Pointing at the unfamiliar initials, C questions A about his memories of them. He withdraws into himself for a while, admitting that even after dozens of transitions, these scars don't let him forget that night.

(FLASHBACK) One night, a group of four unknown individuals, their faces concealed behind mime masks, forcibly entered the house where the group was sheltered. Breaking into every room, the intruders attacked and bound all the group members, leading them to the living room.

After removing their masks in front of the shocked group, they revealed their extremely emaciated copies in tatters with clear mental deviations. Among them was the still-living doppelganger of the Austrian. The subsequent copy of C ordered the other doppelgangers to strip the entire group naked for inspection.

(PRESENT TIME) In the course of their conversation, A claims that it was after that night he became capable of killing his doppelgangers, seeing them as the worst versions of himself. In response, C speculates that the encountered doppelgangers became what they are due to various horrifying circumstances, unable to escape an endless nightmare. The pair realizes that, despite everything, they must retain their humanity to stop the cycle of horror.

(FLASHBACK) Stripping the captives of all their clothes, the doppelgangers noted that this was the first time they had encountered a group with so many coordinates tattooed on their bodies. Simultaneously, the copy of the French girl, searching the house, informed the other doppelgangers about the discovery of ample supplies of food and other provisions, suggesting leaving the prisoners for later.

C horror-strickenly assumes that the group of their doppelgangers – cannibal sadists – hunts their counterparts to collect new coordinates, followed by killing and consuming them. A copy of C immediately addresses her, warning that it knows all her suspicions and can predict her every action in advance.

Examining the naked and bound girls, the Austrian and A's doppelganger begin to molest them. The French girl manages to free her mouth from the rope and, resisting, bites the Austrian and pushes away A's doppelganger. Afterward, the two of them beat and sexually assault her.

(PRESENT TIME) Covering the walls since there was almost no space left on their bodies, C compares all the available data, attempting to calculate the required path. The couple realizes that their condition is rapidly deteriorating. Each of them is haunted by constant nightmares of recent events and hallucinations of the horrors they have experienced.

(FLASHBACK): Lying on the floor in complete despair, A and C can't believe that there are versions of themselves capable of such actions. Copy C instructs the other doppelgangers to temporarily stop, demanding that the prisoners tell them everything they know about the search for B in the past.

During this time, the French girl manages to secretly free herself from the ropes using a blade stolen from the Austrian during her assault. Seizing an opportunity, she attacks the Austrian, but he manages to evade her, leaving him with a severe facial cut. Afterward, the other doppelgangers pin her to the ground and brutally beat her.

(PRESENT TIME): Writing on the walls since there was no space left on their bodies, C compared all the available data, trying to calculate the necessary path. The couple realizes that their condition is rapidly deteriorating: each of them is haunted by constant nightmares of recent events and hallucinations of the horrors they have experienced.

During one of their evening conversations, C shares her constant feeling of guilt that gnaws at her. The girl claims that the Austrian, like others who went missing in the catacombs while escaping from the cult, fell victim to the phenomenon of inaccessibility - a phenomenon in which space narrows during the transition to another reality over time, making it physically accessible only to a limited number of people. From her calculations, C suspected the existence of such a phenomenon, but she still took the risk, which cost the lives of many group members.

A asks the girl not to blame herself because the entire group always had only one choice: to take a risk or die. C reminds him that her decisions killed everyone except her, and she will never forgive herself for it, considering it her duty to find B, even if it means sacrificing herself. (FLASHBACK) In a fit of rage, C curses her duplicates, wishing them death. C's copy reminds her that they are a group that has gone through many empty spaces, suffering from thirst and hunger, and literally feeling time stand still, trying to find a way out of inaccessibility.

Meanwhile, A notices silhouettes in the distance through the window, looking at them from the side. Realizing that the duplicates standing behind the wall remain unnoticed, the guy begins to look for a way to expose them to the gaze of the pale ones.

Also noticing the pale ones and understanding A's plan, C tries to create a moment, quoting her own copy, mockingly asking her about her further actions. After that, A gives his duplicate a sharp push towards the window. The pale ones instantly enter the house and incinerate C's duplicate and A. In horror, the Austrian leaves the house, rushing out through the backyard.

(PRESENT TIME) Driven by her paranoia, C refuses to sleep, working tirelessly. Without remembering the reason for her haste, the girl was sure that she and A needed to calculate the necessary coordinates to find their way to B as quickly as possible.

Soon, C marks herself and A with coordinates that are highly likely to lead to B. After that, she shares her premonition that they have no more time for calculations, and soon they will be pursued. A shares the girl's premonition, admitting that he is haunted by similar thoughts. Understanding that another transition awaits them, the couple tattoos their initials on each other's wrists and an instruction to find B.

The girl asks A for forgiveness for killing the real C with her appearance, whom he once loved. In response, A declares that he holds no grudge against the girl, confessing that he does not remember another C besides her.

On the same night, naked C enters A's room, kissing him on the lips. After that, they have sex.

(FLASHBACK) The Frenchwoman, laughing hysterically, looks at her duplicate's body and her hands, realizing that she has managed to avoid death. Coming to her senses and realizing the loss of all her comrades, she takes a blade and, in a fit of rage, heads towards the bound captives, mercilessly scourging A.

6 - 6

(PRESENT TIME) Barely opening his eyes, A watches as C in panic tries to bring him back to consciousness after another bout of visions and hallucinations. Finally, bringing the guy to his senses, C informs him that outsiders have infiltrated the settlement, and they need to leave urgently.

Suddenly, a barrage of gunfire erupts around the house, forcing the couple to take cover on the floor. Through broken windows and holes in the wall, it becomes visible that a group of cultists is slowly approaching the house, among which the couple notices the curator, pointing the barrel of a gun at the Austrian's temple with a large scar on his face.

At this moment, C's memories of the Austrian's escape partially return. The girl realizes the reason for her paranoia: all this time, she subconsciously feared that the cult would discover the fugitive Austrian, who would lead them here.

The pair slowly makes their way to the back exit, leaving the partially destroyed house. C and A agree to move only according to the latest coordinates, no matter what happens.

The coordinates lead the pair to an abandoned psychiatric hospital. Their path falls into the sights of a high-flying quadcopter circle, after which the curator and a group of cultists descend into the city catacombs.

While moving, C assumes that each time the circle only sent a small group to capture them, fearing the loss of a large number of people due to the phenomenon of inaccessibility. The girl voices her plan, according to which the couple's transition to another reality will provoke inaccessibility, which will prevent the cultists from following them.

Entering the building, the couple, without separating, moves through the corridors to the lower level of the hospital, where they enter the catacombs and reach the main junction, where the cult awaited them. Barely noticing A and C, the Austrian demands that they deal with them immediately. After that, the curator thanks the Austrian for his cooperation and kills him with a shot to the head. Pointing the gun at the couple, the curator notes the number of tattoos on their bodies, announcing his plans to skin them along with all the coordinates.

At this moment, noticing the fragility of a large wooden board beneath them, C asks A to jump with her immediately. C's plan works: under their combined weight, the board breaks, and the couple falls to the lowest level of the catacombs.

During the fall, A injures his leg, making further movement difficult for him. Leaning on A's shoulder, C continues the journey with him, following the coordinates and illuminating their path with a phone flash. Knowing that they will be pursued, the couple tries to confuse their tracks by constantly moving between different branches of the catacombs.

Exhausted, the couple stops to catch their breath. Checking the coordinates on the scheme of Jacob tattooed on her palm, C informs that the transition point is somewhere nearby. Hearing movement around them, the pair realizes that, divided, the cultists will eventually track them down. C reminds A of their agreement to follow the coordinates no matter what and then asks the boy to continue moving through this tunnel, planning to distract the group of cultists herself. When A asks her to stop talking as if saying goodbye, the girl promises that they will definitely reunite soon, offering her glasses to the boy. A strongly reacts to such an action by the girl, refusing to take the glasses, repeating that they belong only to her. Smiling, C confidently takes back her glasses.

Limping, the boy heads up the tunnel. Turning around at the girl's words about how A was the version of herself that she loved, the boy sees her silhouette moving away.

As A moves through the tunnel, he hears C's voice and the subsequent sounds of gunshots, realizing that C is no longer there. Overwhelmed by the feeling of another loss and his own helplessness, a solitary tear runs down A's cheek. The boy recalls C's plan to create inaccessibility, realizing that she never planned to leave this reality from the beginning, leaving that possibility only for him.

In anger, A loudly asks C why she did this, not finding another solution. Hearing the boy's cries, the cultists immediately head after him.

With the last of his strength and overcoming the pain, A picks up the pace, reaching a rusty steel ladder leading up to a rusty hatch. Opening the hatch, A finds himself on the surface in a forested wilderness. The rays of the early rising sun blind him, and he loses consciousness.

(FLASHBACK) The entire room is splattered with blood from numerous cuts on A's body, as he continues to resist. One of the blows, the Frenchwoman cuts the ropes on A's hands, after which he manages to grab the blade from the attacker. Arriving C pushes her in the back, causing her to stumble upon the blade A is holding, and the girl almost instantly dies, drenching the boy in her blood.