Year: 2170. Humanity survived the terrible catastrophe of the Third World War, but fate prepared another test for it. A century after the war, Earth has become a grim and ruthless place where survivors face a new threat. Humanoid monsters known as plagues return from a dark past to carry out their sinister plans. The main character of this saga is the foreman of a group of miners, who lost all his loved ones in the horrors of post-war reality. His soul is filled with bitterness and a desire for freedom. He decides to unite around himself those who refuse to put up with slavery and lead a desperate uprising against the plagues. However, the plagues are not just merciless warriors. They have inexplicable power and an ancient artifact hidden in mystery - the Black Stone, an object of worship and the main source of their power.*** The book, written 18 years ago (2005), chose Makeyevka, a suburb of Donetsk, as the setting, which turned out to be unusually relevant in our time.