Chapter 1: Zurich, 2018

Extended Version

Prologue in the Dark

Our office was located in an old building on the banks of the Limmat River, in a district that locals called 'Crypto Valley'. There, among the stained glass of the 19th century and modern neon signs, we tried to decipher the future. But at that time, I still didn’t know that the future was already watching us through the screens of monitors, like a predator watching its prey.

Part 1: The Code of Atlantis

The project began with an innocent idea — to create an algorithm predicting the volatility of XRP with an accuracy of 0.0001%. We called it 'The Code of Atlantis', laughing at the rumors that Ripple was connected to ancient civilizations. Marcus, my partner, loved to repeat: 'Finance is the religion of the new world, and we are writing its Bible'.

But after a month, the laughter disappeared. The algorithm began to produce anomalies:

- Strange patterns in the form of triads (3, 9, 27 transactions), as if someone deliberately structured the market.

- Repeating timestamps — 13:13 UTC, even on weekends.

- Symbols in the logs: 𐃉 (ancient Greek number '13') and ϟ (like lightning).

Marcus thought it was a glitch. I noticed that each time after such anomalies, the XRP rate changed sharply. Coincidence?

Part 2: Shadows Behind the Door

One night, while we were testing the third version of the code, the lights went out in the building. The generator failed to start. In the silence, I heard footsteps on the stairs — slow, as if someone was dragging a chain behind them.

— Do you hear that too? — Marcus whispered. His face in the blue light of the emergency lamp looked deathly pale.

We went down to the server room. The door was open, even though I distinctly remembered locking it. Inside, it smelled of ozone, like after a thunderstorm. On the server monitor, a message was blinking:

«STOP. THEY SEE».

Marcus erased it, dismissing it as a hacker's joke. But an hour later, the algorithm produced a new forecast: «XRP/USD: 13.13 → 0.00».

Part 3: The Night of the Black Swan

October 23, 2018. We were preparing for a presentation for investors from the CIA (yes, they were also interested in Ripple). At 21:13 the server room went dark again. This time we saw:

- The walls were covered with frost, even though it was +15°C outside.

- The cameras showed empty corridors, but motion sensors were triggered every 13 seconds.

- The hard drives hummed like wounded beasts.

Marcus started checking the cable. At that moment, all the screens exploded with green text:

When the light returned, Marcus was gone. On his desk lay a printed checklist with a bloody fingerprint and the inscription:

«They took me through the mirror. Run. They want the Code».

Part 4: An Investigation That Never Happened

The police called it a 'money escape', even though our accounts were empty. The head of the cybercrime department, Agent Feller, smirked:

— Did you play with Ripple? Seriously? Even the mafia doesn’t mess with them. Advice: change your name. And your face.

But the evidence led to the absurd:

- The cameras in the building showed that Marcus... had vanished. The footage at 21:13:13 was washed out by white noise.

- The GPS data from his phone led to Lake Lucerne, where Nazis conducted occult experiments in 1942.

- A strange artifact was found in the server room: a copper plate engraved with an XRP wallet and the date 13.13.2113.

Part 5: Signs and Synchronization

I ran to Austria, but they found me. The first sign — a flock of crows chasing the train. The second — a waitress in a café who presented a bill for 13.13 francs. The third — a dream: Marcus in black water, surrounded by figures in golden masks, repeating: 'They are building a bridge. Stop the synchronization'.

Now I write this in a 12th-century monastery, where monks keep scrolls about 'the chains that will bind the world'. They say that Ripple is not a company, but a rebirth of the Order of the Teutonic Knights, mixing finance with black magic.

And yes, I will return. Because today the algorithm woke up by itself. The screen reads:

«13 days to convergence. Find the Grey Cardinal».

Epilogue of the Chapter

Note to the manuscript:

Pencil notes found in the margins:

- «Layer 13 is not a blockchain. It’s a door».

- «Marcus was not the first. A SWIFT developer disappeared in 1987. The same symbols».

- «Why do all significant XRP transactions go through 13 nodes?».

And the last entry, circled in blood-red:

«They are not human. They are time loan sharks».

To be continued... Chapter 2 will reveal the mystery of the 'Grey Cardinal' and synchronization with Layer 13.