Marie MacFarlane – författare

Yuri Khurshnikov is a twenty-three-year-old conscripted Russian soldier wounded during a brutal winter conflict somewhere along a shattered Eastern European frontline. Disoriented and alone, he is approached by Amadeus, a sharp-tongued and weary woman. She is strangely reluctant to explain who she truly is. She tells him only one thing: he must follow her to a place known as The Gates.As they journey through ruined towns, frozen forests, abandoned roads, and strange liminal spaces where reality itself feels fractured, Yuri slowly begins to understand the horrifying truth: he is dead… and so is she.Yet what begins as a grim passage into the afterlife gradually becomes something deeply human. Amid arguments, dark humour, cigarette breaks, absurd encounters, and moments of unexpected tenderness, the bond between Yuri and Amadeus grows into something neither of them expected.Blending war drama, mythology, psychological reflection, and bittersweet humour, The Journey is a story about grief, forgiveness, healing, and the fragile connections that survive even beyond death itself. Above all, it is a story about the soul's final journey, and the people who walk beside us through the darkness.