Chapter One.

In late 1936, far to the east, in the desolation of Central Siberia; an indigenous Evenki reindeer breeder seeking stone to repair the hut in which he sheltered his stock during the winter, came upon the tumbled and scorched remains of a building deep in the valley of the Stony Tunguska River. This was the place, where, in 1908, a huge explosion had occurred, flattening thousands of square kilometres of forest… the calamity that has come to be known as "The Tunguska Event."

Sifting through the tumble of stones, the reindeer breeder discovered an ancient stone coffer. When he eventually forced the stone lid free, he saw that it contained three great, leather-bound books. Upon opening the first one, he found that they were hand-written upon parchment pages in symbols completely unknown to him. Thinking they might have some value, he carried them off. The nearest township to his settlement was Vanavara, some seventy kilometres to the southeast. The journey would take him at least a month, but there, he might sell them.

At length, he passed them to the proprietor of the settlement trading post in exchange for much-needed supplies. The trading post proprietor passed them on to the local Political Commissar, who forwarded them on to Moscow. There, they remained; an enigmatic puzzle.

Word of the existence of the three volumes came to the ears of the German Military Attaché in Moscow, who passed the information to Berlin. In receipt of knowledge of this information; SS-Brigadeführer Karl Maria Wiligut - one of the most bizarre figures within Himmler's inner circle, fed ReichsFührer-SS Himmler's obsession with Nordic Myth and magic, including his belief that he might re-create Thor's Hammer: "Mjolnir" as an electrical superweapon.

Wiligut easily convinced Himmler that such a weapon as might be created from content gleaned from the three enigmatic volumes could equate to the mythological "Thunder weapon" wielded by Thor; the old Norse Protector-God. According to the old Norse Sagas, the thunderbolt represented by his hammer was the most fearsome, and powerful weapon in existence, capable of levelling mountains.

In a letter previously sent to the Ahnenerbe… the Schutzstaffel (SS) pseudoscientific organization which had been founded in 1935 by Himmler; Hermann Wirth - a Dutch historian obsessed with Atlantis, and Richard Walter Darre - the creator of the "Blood and Soil" theory, and Head of the Race and Settlement Office; both of whom were tasked with finding relics to give academic backing to Nazi racial ideology; contacted Himmler, and, with a view to augment their standing in the Party; embellished their agreement with Himmler's credulous belief that Thor's hammer was:

"An early, highly-developed war weapon of our forefathers."

and was of significant importance to the benefit of the Third Reich.

For this tenuous reason, Himmler had demanded that Ahnenerbe's team should:

"Find all places in the northern Germanic Aryan cultural world where an understanding of the lightning bolt, the thunderbolt; Thor's hammer, or the flying, or thrown hammer exists."

Himmler saw the discovery of any plausible detail relating to the Tunguska Event as being intrinsic to the possibility of developing such a secret miracle weapon of immense destructive capacity in his fanatical "Völkisch": (racist-nationalist) ideology.

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The Ahnenerbe; being solely comprised of scholars and scientists from a broad range of academic disciplines, and lacking any real concept of intelligence gathering in any shape or form, was also interested in harnessing the power of the occult, magic, and psychic powers for use as weapons against their enemies, and to this end, there were various programs devoted to such pursuits, including trying to develop psychic assassins who could kill with their minds; using astral projection to spy on the enemy, astrology to help plan strategies; the use of magic spells as weapons, and the divination of the future, among other various such bizarre projects.

As a result of Himmler's directive concerning the mythical "Thor's Hammer" and, being completely out of their depth; they quickly passed this hot potato to the professionals… the Abwehr intelligence-gathering agency - the military intelligence service for the Reichswehr and Wehrmacht which dealt exclusively with human intelligence, especially raw intelligence reports from field agents and other sources. The Abwehr seized on this opportunity in order to gain much esteem by indulging the immensity of Himmler's intense, and well-known fascination with all things occult to a disturbing degree; and went about determining the validity of the German Military Attaché in Moscow's signal.

The Tunguska Event was well documented. The Abwehr elected to establish if there could conceivably be some sort of weapon capability on the lines of Himmler's obsession surrounding the explosion of 1908, which could be of fundamental advantage to the Reich. What better way to find out than for them to suggest that an archaeological expedition be arranged with the Russians? Consequently, wheels were set in motion.

There was already a tentative Germano-Soviet Accord in place, and ReichsFührer-SS Heinrich Himmler; obsessed as he was, by occult theories and mysticism; was fascinated and enthused by the possibilities.

Into this mounting turmoil that stretches across Europe from the banks of the Rhine in the west, to the frozen wastes of Siberia in the east; is thrust a young German female archaeologist, appointed at the highest level in Berlin, to journey deep into the Soviet Union, ostensibly on a research faculty, but, with a covert agenda hatched by ReichsFührer-SS Heinrich Himmler, himself.

He has chosen to code-name this agenda: "Aktion Donnerwaffe"… "Operation Thunderweapon"… conceived in Himmler's bleak imagination by reports describing a huge, butterfly-shaped area devastated by fire in the Siberian Tundra surrounding Tunguska, which were zealously compounded by Wiligut as proof of his crackpot hypothesis that the desolation was categorically attributable to the archaic deployment of the mythological "Thunder weapon" wielded by Thor; the old Norse Protector-God.

Himmlers’ agenda, agreed at Diplomatic level under the tentative Germano-Soviet accord, prescribed strict adherence to correct etiquette and precedence concerning the sharing of such research findings as might be established, between the two Governments. Himmler's covert agenda is for the young German archaeologist to scrutinise covertly, such findings as might exist for the slightest intimation … in accordance with the criteria specified by the Abwehr intelligence organization… of any data or specimens discovered at the site of the explosion which could possibly have a Military significance; and then, by whatever means necessary, secure such findings to the sole advantage of the Reich.

Unbeknown to Berlin, the young Russian archaeologist she is to work with has been similarly assigned a near-identical hidden agenda by Nikolai Ivanovich Yezhov, The Commissar of the The People's Commissariat of Internal Affairs... (Naródnyy Komissariát Vnútrennikh Del); abbreviated to NKVD.

The name of the young German archaeologist is Karyn Helle von Seringen. The curious thing is… in the faded memories of the old folks… from the half-forgotten tales of Myth and Legend, there is a whispered remembrance of a Warrior maid who was revered throughout these lands as "Die Goldene Kind"… "The Golden Child."

They say she lay to ruin, the designs of "The Darkness" to unleash the dreaded "Night of The Shadows Rising"… whatever that might have been; that would turn all back into Chaos. They say her name was Kathalyn Seregon… which is not so very different from the name of the Fräulein Doktor.

Perhaps this is a simple coincidence… perhaps it is not. Might it be that a faint echo of the magic that was believed to have once embraced these lands, still lingers here? Could it possibly be that "Die Goldene Kind" has returned to lay "The Darkness" by the heels, once, and for all?