Chapter One — The Bell at MidnightAt exactly midnight, every bell in Veyr City rang.Daniel woke before the first one finished.He sat upright in his bed, breathing heavily.For several seconds, he couldn't remember where he was.The room was dark.Not ordinary darkness.It was the kind of darkness that seemed to have weight.Daniel stared toward the window. Pale moonlight slipped through the curtains, drawing a thin silver line across the wooden floor.Then—BOOOOOONG.The first bell rang.Daniel froze.A second bell followed.BOOOOOONG.Then a third.BOOOOOONG.He counted silently.Four.Five.Six.His heart began beating faster.Everyone in Veyr knew the rule.The bells of the Old Tower were never supposed to ring after sunset.The tower had been abandoned for seventy-three years.Daniel reached for the small clock beside his bed.12:00.The fourth bell sounded.He swallowed.His grandmother had warned him about this.If you ever hear the tower at midnight, Daniel…He remembered her voice.Don't look outside.The fifth bell rang.Daniel slowly lowered his hand from the clock.He tried to laugh.It was probably nothing.Wind.Old machinery.Some prank.There had to be an explanation.Then he heard something beneath the bells.A sound coming from outside.A whisper.Daniel's blood ran cold.He couldn't understand the words.But he knew one thing.The voice was calling his name.“Daniel…”He stopped breathing.“Daniel…”The voice came again.This time, closer.He looked toward the window.The curtains moved.There was no wind.Daniel stepped backward.The voice whispered for a third time.“Daniel…”He remembered his grandmother's warning.Don't look outside.The sixth bell rang.Daniel closed his eyes.Seven.Eight.Nine.The bells continued.He counted them automatically.Ten.Eleven.Then—Silence.Daniel opened his eyes.The room felt different.The whisper had stopped.The bells had stopped.Everything was silent.Too silent.He slowly approached the window.His fingers hovered over the curtain.He shouldn't look.He knew that.But curiosity was stronger than fear.Daniel grabbed the curtain.And pulled it aside.Veyr City stretched beneath him.Thousands of houses.Hundreds of narrow streets.The black river cutting through the center of the city.The enormous walls surrounding everything.But there was something wrong.Every window in the city was dark.Every street was empty.Even the streetlamps had gone out.Daniel stared.Then he noticed something in the middle of the street below.A person.Someone standing directly beneath his window.Daniel's heart stopped.The figure wore a long black coat.Its face was hidden beneath a hood.It stood completely motionless.Daniel leaned closer to the glass.The figure slowly raised its head.Daniel couldn't see its face.But he could see its hand.It was pointing directly at him.Then the figure lifted something.A small object.Daniel recognized it immediately.His grandmother's silver pocket watch.The watch she'd been buried with twelve years ago.Daniel stumbled backward.The figure disappeared.Not walked away.Not ran.It simply wasn't there anymore.Daniel rushed to the window.The street was empty.He opened it.Cold air rushed into the room.Something landed on the floor behind him.Clink.Daniel turned.A small silver object lay beside his bed.His grandmother's pocket watch.His hands began trembling.He picked it up.The cover was engraved with a symbol he'd never seen before:An eye surrounded by thirteen black stars.Daniel pressed the button.The watch opened.The hands weren't moving.Instead, beneath the clock face, someone had scratched four words into the metal.Daniel stared at them.YOU WERE NEVER BORN.He dropped the watch.For a long moment, he couldn't move.Then the clock on his wall began ticking backward.Tick.Tick.Tick.Daniel slowly looked up.The clock's hands were moving in reverse.12:00.11:59.11:58.11:57.Then the bedroom door creaked open.Daniel turned.There was nobody there.But from the darkness beyond the doorway came a voice.His grandmother's voice.A voice he hadn't heard since he was seven years old.“Daniel…”His eyes widened.The voice whispered:“Whatever you do…”A pause.“Don't let them remember you.”The door slammed shut.And somewhere deep beneath Veyr City—something woke up .THE CITY THAT FORGOT Chapter Two — The Room Beneath the City Daniel remained frozen in front of the door. For several seconds, he couldn't decide whether the voice had really belonged to his grandmother. It couldn't have. She had been dead for twelve years. He knew that. He had watched them lower her coffin into the ground himself. Yet something about the voice had been unmistakable. The soft hesitation before his name. The slight tremble at the end of each sentence. The way she had always spoken whenever she was frightened. Daniel reached for the doorknob. His fingers stopped inches away. Don't let them remember you. The words echoed inside his head. He looked down at the pocket watch. The silver surface was cold. Far colder than the room. He picked it up again. TO BE CONTINUED...........