Prologue

Prologue

The year was 2020, and the world was on the brink of a breakthrough. A team of scientists, led by Dr. Evelyn Carter, had developed a cure for cancer, a disease that had plagued humanity for centuries. The cure was based on a modified virus, called ECHO-1, that could target and destroy cancer cells, while leaving healthy cells intact. The cure was hailed as a miracle, a triumph, a salvation.

But it was a lie.

The cure was never tested properly, never approved by the authorities, never verified by the peers. It was rushed to the market, driven by greed, ambition, and desperation. It was administered to millions of patients, without their consent, without their knowledge, without their safety. It was a disaster, a tragedy, a catastrophe.

The cure was not a cure. It was a curse.

The virus, ECHO-1, did not only kill cancer cells. It also mutated them, and itself, creating new strains of the virus, new forms of cancer, new horrors. It infected not only the patients, but also the people around them, spreading through the air, the water, the blood. It affected not only humans, but also animals, plants, and the environment, altering the DNA, the ecology, and the climate. It unleashed a pandemic, a war, and an apocalypse.

The virus, ECHO-1, echoed the worst parts of humanity. It echoed the greed, the ambition, the desperation. It echoed the violence, the hatred, the fear. It echoed the pain, the suffering, the death.

It echoed the end of the world.