Vitali Sertakov
1 THE AWAKENEND DEMON
Arthur Kuznets, a thirty year old biologist from St. Petersburg’s Cryonic Institute, has survived 120 years in a deep frozen state. Upon awakening in his anabiotic capsule he realises that the world he knew has been irretrievably lost. Following a planetary catastrophe the majority of the world’s population has fallen victim to a virus as a result of a flawed vaccine.
Armed gangs rule St. Petersburg in the 22nd century, while clans and hordes of wild mutants are in control outside of the city. The birth rate is declining drastically and every state system has been destroyed. The fewer the people who remain, the greater the influence of old magic and forgotten pagan gods.
No-one is able to survive on their own in this gruesome world. Arthur ends up in the powerful museum commune, the lords of the former tsarist palace the State Hermitage. Arthur has the opportunity of recalling other scientists from their 120 year long slumber in dry ice. To this end he joins a merchant caravan to cover the dangerous route to Moscow. Arthur could become a respected engineer within the commune but destiny has decided otherwise. He is abducted by a caste of powerful telepaths in a forest. The telepaths want to destroy every last trace of technical civilisation. They have a book of prophecies in which it is written that a person from the past appears and changes the destiny of the world. And that this person will bear the name Arthur, the awakened demon.
The hero has to spend several years in the village in the forest, marries and sires children, learns to fight, to sleep in the snow, to “cleanse” polluted cities, to tame animals and plants. Then comes the day when the magicians entrust Arthur with the task they have been preparing him for over the years: the destruction of the worst and most polluted place in the country - Moscow. The telepaths themselves are unable to breathe within the city atmosphere. Arthur is forced to comply for otherwise both he and his family face death. In Moscow Arthur is taken prisoner by the powerful city leader Karin. The attempt to resurrect his colleagues fails – he is betrayed by cowardly scientists. Having escaped the Kremlin as if by a miracle, our hero “cleanses” Moscow. He incites raw nature to attack civilisation. The polluted place is destined for downfall. Then the awakened demon makes a mistake, however: he lets Karin escape.
In accordance with the holy book of the telepathic magicians, the Awakened Demon makes his way back to St. Petersburg. His awful reputation precedes him - as invincible demon of the past. He enters St. Petersburg no longer as the timid scientist but as a warrior who is to become the leader of the new state. The city is now ruled by an evil governor and his clique. In order to oust him Arthur calls upon a thousand naked dogs – the mutant descendants of domestic dogs. Following his victory over the gang, as the new governor he sets about quashing minor adversaries. In order to eliminate treason he sends all surviving relatives of the former governor to Siberia.
Arthur surrounds himself with faithful followers. He establishes a regular army and bodyguards, sets up ministries, mints coins, appoints district leaders, allocates land to farmers and settles newly arriving migrants coming in their thousands to St. Petersburg, the new centre of the state. The telepaths leave the city well alone, placing their trust in Arthur for only the new governor is able to protect their children becoming used to a life far from the forest.
Years of trial and tribulation pass. Then the governor knows that the city is able to survive without him. He finally wants to return to Paris, to the former cryonic institute there where colleagues, 21st century French scientists, might have survived in anabiotic capsules. Their knowledge would be invaluable for the barbaric new world. With a group of followers, Arthur sets off for unknown Europe.
