The pale light of dawn crept across the horizon, casting an eerie glow on the barren land that stretched endlessly in front of us. The camp was silent, the hollow-eyed refugees moving in slow, mechanical motions as if their very souls had been drained by the oppressive weight of this place.
But I couldn't shake the feeling that we were getting closer to something—something that could change everything. The City of Forgotten Names, the place that held the promise of escape. It had to be real. I had to believe it was real.
I stood, stretching my stiff limbs, my eyes scanning the horizon. The wind had kicked up again, and I found myself staring out across the desolate landscape. Nothing moved. No animals, no signs of life. Only the occasional figure from the camp, shuffling about like shadows.
Kaelen and Seonwoo were already up, both of them talking in low voices as they gathered supplies. Mirek, as always, stood apart, his sharp gaze constantly watching the others with the quiet suspicion of a man who had long ago learned to expect betrayal.
"I'm going to look for something,"
I announced suddenly, my voice steady, though the uncertainty gnawed at me. I needed to know. I needed to find something that proved the city was real.
Kaelen looked at me, raising an eyebrow.
"You think you'll find anything out there?" His tone was skeptical, but I could hear the faintest trace of concern under it.
"I don't know," I said, "but I can't just sit here waiting. I need to do something."
Seonwoo stepped forward, offering a small, almost imperceptible nod.
"We'll go with you."
I shook my head, cutting him off. "No. Stay here. I need to do this alone. You've been looking after the camp. Let me handle this."
Kaelen exchanged a glance with Seonwoo before turning back to me.
"Just don't do anything foolish."
I offered a tight smile, one that didn't quite reach my eyes. "No promises."
With that, I turned and walked away, the dry, cracked earth beneath my boots feeling like a dead weight. The further I walked, the more the air seemed to close in around me, thick with the smell of dust and decay. My mind raced, but all I could think about was the City. It had to be real. I couldn't let myself believe otherwise.
Hours passed before I saw anything. In the distance, barely visible through the haze of dust and shadow, there was something—something that didn't belong. A shape. A building. A structure, half-buried by the earth, weathered by time.
My heart skipped a beat as I quickened my pace, moving toward it with a sense of urgency that I couldn't fully explain.
As I neared, the structure revealed itself to be a crumbling stone edifice, its walls cracked and fractured by time and neglect. There were faded markings on the walls—symbols, words, or perhaps just ancient graffiti. I didn't know, but something about them felt significant. I reached out to trace one of the symbols with my fingers, feeling the rough stone beneath my touch.
The silence around me was absolute, the only sound my shallow breath and the occasional rustle of the wind. I was about to pull away when I heard a sound—a faint rustling from behind.
I froze, my heart pounding in my chest as I spun around. My hand instinctively went to the dagger at my side, ready to defend myself. But what I saw was unexpected—a figure, standing off in the distance. He was tall, gaunt, his eyes hollow like the others I had seen. Yet there was something different about him. His presence was not threatening, but it was unsettling.
He didn't move, only watched me. His face was almost expressionless, but his gaze was intense, focused. It felt like he could see through me.
I swallowed hard, feeling a strange tension rise in the air between us.
"Who are you?" I called out, my voice steady, though something inside me felt like it was unraveling.
The man didn't respond immediately. He just continued to watch me, as if weighing me, studying me. His clothes were ragged, his hair unkempt, but there was a strange dignity about him, like a man who had long ago accepted something grim about his fate.
After what felt like an eternity, he finally spoke. His voice was soft, almost like a whisper carried by the wind.
"The City is real," he said, his words sending a chill down my spine. "But it is not what you think it is. It is not a place you can find. It is a place that finds you."
My heart raced, but I couldn't find the words. His cryptic statement left me rattled, and my mind struggled to make sense of it.
"Where is it?" I demanded. "Tell me where it is."
The man's lips curved into something like a sad smile, but there was no humor in it.
"That is not for me to say. It is for you to discover. But be careful. The City does not let you leave easily."
Before I could respond, before I could ask him anything more, the man turned and began to walk away. Slowly at first, then faster, until he was swallowed by the dust and the wind, vanishing into the horizon as if he had never been there at all.
I stood frozen, my mind racing. The City wasn't a place you could find. It found you. I had heard the words, but they didn't make sense. How could it be true? How could something so intangible, so elusive, be our salvation?
I turned back to the crumbling structure, my gaze drawn to the symbols on the walls once more. There was something here, something important. I could feel it.
But what? What was it?
I spent the rest of the day there, searching for any clue, any sign that could explain what was happening. But as the sun began to set, I found nothing more than dust and decay. The only thing that remained were the questions—questions that gnawed at me relentlessly, with no answers in sight.
When I returned to the camp, the others were waiting, their faces etched with concern. I didn't tell them everything. Not yet. I couldn't.
But deep down, I knew one thing for sure: whatever the City was, whatever this place was leading us to, we were getting closer. And I would find it, no matter the cost.
The night had settled in, a thick blanket of silence wrapping itself around the camp. The fire crackled weakly, casting strange shadows on the barren landscape. Most of the refugees were asleep, their hollow eyes closed in uneasy dreams, but I couldn't find rest. Not tonight. I had to know more.
Sitting cross-legged by the fire, I opened the book once again. The pages felt colder now, like they were absorbing the night air, the weight of their secrets heavy in my hands. I flicked through the worn pages, searching for any clue, any scrap of information that might tell me more about this elusive City of Forgotten Names.
I had to believe in it. I couldn't afford not to. But there were too many holes in the story. The further I read, the less certain I became.
I muttered under my breath, my frustration rising.
"This book... it has to tell me more. It has to."
Seonwoo, sitting near the fire with his arms crossed, glanced at me, sensing my tension. "What is it now? "
You keep looking at... whatever that is," Seonwoo said, frowning. "There's nothing there, Harin."
I didn't answer. The page had shifted again, just slightly—enough to confirm a heading: The city lies east, beyond the dust-hollow hills.
Kaelen sighed beside me.
"She's talking to her ghosts again."
"Maybe they listen better than you," I muttered.
I didn't look up, too focused on the pages. "It's not just shadows. There's something here, something I need to understand."
"You've been staring blankly for hours now". The only thing it's giving you is a headache." His voice was dry, laced with a touch of amusement, but I could tell he was just as weary as I was. "Maybe it's time to put it down and sleep."
I shook my head, gripping the edges of the book tighter.
You don't have to see it. You don't even have to believe me. But you wouldn't be alive right now if I hadn't followed what was written in this 'blank' book."
There was a pause. Kaelen didn't look at me, but he wasn't mocking anymore either.
"So what now?" he asked. "Did your ghost pages tell you where the city is?"
I hesitated. The fire crackled between us, an uneven beat against the wind.
"Not exactly," I admitted. "It mentions a place—'Threshold.' Vague. But it's marked. The east ridge lines up with what I've read so far. It's the only lead we have."
Kaelen leaned back, staring up at the night sky.
"So we follow your invisible map into who-knows-what."
"Would you rather wait here and starve?" I snapped.
Seonwoo raised a brow.
"Fine. We scout the ridge. But if it turns out to be nothing again, we do things my way."
"Agreed," I said, softer now. My voice cracked slightly, but I forced it steady. "It's not nothing. I can feel it. This place... it's connected to something bigger."
Kaelen finally glanced at me, his face unreadable.
"You keep saying that. I hope for your sake, you're right."
I stared down at the book again. The page shimmered faintly, words curling into new lines before fading once more.
They couldn't see it. They didn't have to.
But I did.
I flicked another page, my fingers brushing the ink. The words that filled the pages were not always clear, sometimes vague, other times cryptic. They described Kaelen and Seowoon traveling together, just as we had, struggling through the forest, avoiding enemies, and eventually finding something—the City.
But it never went into detail.
"See? It's just like I thought," I muttered, mostly to myself. "It says we'll find it... but it doesn't say how. It doesn't even tell me if it exists or not."
Seonwoo shifted uncomfortably.
"That's the thing with these damn books. They tell you just enough to keep you hanging. But at the end of the day, it's just words. We have to figure this out on our own."
I closed the book with a snap, feeling the weight of his words sink in. The frustration was suffocating, but I had to keep pushing forward.
"I know. But what if... What if it's not just a story?"
Kaelen, who had been silent until now, finally spoke. "What if it is?" His voice was low, like he hadn't meant to speak, but the words came out anyway. "Sometimes it's easier to believe in something when you have nothing else. But what if we're just chasing something that doesn't exist?"
I looked at him, surprised by the harshness in his tone. Kaelen rarely showed emotion, but tonight, something was different.
"You don't believe it either?" I asked, my voice softer now.
He met my gaze for a brief moment before looking away, his eyes narrowing as he stared into the fire.
"It's not about belief, Harin. It's about survival. Whatever's out there, whether it's the City or something else, we can't let it consume us. We need to stay focused on what's in front of us."
I swallowed, a pang of uncertainty settling in my chest. Maybe Kaelen was right. But then again, maybe he wasn't.
"I understand," I said, though the words didn't feel like enough. "But I won't stop until I know."
The silence that followed was heavy, charged. Seonwoo shifted, his posture stiffening, but I could tell he wasn't interested in arguing about it anymore. He was lost in his own thoughts, his hands resting on his knees.
After a few moments, I sighed and flipped open the book again, my eyes scanning the familiar text.
"It says we'll reach the City eventually. That we'll find it after everything... after the forest."
I looked up at Kaelen, my voice trembling slightly.
"But it doesn't tell me how. It doesn't tell me if we're even on the right path. It only says... we will find it."
Kaelen's eyes flickered briefly with something that might have been empathy, but his face remained unreadable.
"And maybe that's the point. The path is never clear. We have to make our own way through it."
I glanced back down at the book, frustrated. "I'm tired of guessing."
"You're not guessing," Kaelen said, his tone steady. "You're looking for answers in a place that doesn't have them. The book doesn't have all the answers, Harin. It never will."
I set the book aside, frustrated by my own helplessness.
"I don't know what else to do, then."
"We keep moving forward," Seonwoo said suddenly, his voice breaking the tension. "We keep moving, no matter what. That's all we can do."
I stared at him for a moment, his words sinking in. Despite the uncertainty, despite the fear gnawing at me, I knew he was right. We couldn't stop. We had no choice but to move forward.
I nodded slowly. "Yeah. We move forward."
I stood up, brushing the dirt off my pants, and looked at the horizon, where the first light of dawn was beginning to break through the night. The City—or whatever it was—was still out there, somewhere. I didn't know how or why, but I believed it was real.
The fire flickered behind me, the book still open on the ground where I had left it. But for now, the words didn't matter. It was the journey that did. The people I was with.
And as long as we kept moving forward, we'd find our way.