THE CITY THAT FORGOT

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. The strange engraving—the eye surrounded by thirteen stars—seemed almost alive beneath the moonlight. Then something happened. One of the stars disappeared. Daniel blinked. There had been thirteen. Now there were twelve. He rubbed the metal with his sleeve. Nothing. The thirteenth star was gone. A sudden knock came from the other side of the door. Daniel jumped. Three knocks. Knock. Knock. Knock. He didn't answer. Another three. Knock. Knock. Knock. Then a whisper. “Daniel.” He backed away. “Who are you?” Silence. Daniel waited. Nothing. He slowly approached the door and pressed his ear against it. At first, he heard nothing. Then— breathing. Someone was standing directly outside. Daniel stepped back. “Who are you?” The breathing stopped. A piece of paper slid underneath the door. Daniel stared at it. The paper was old and yellow. He crouched and picked it up. There was only one sentence written on it. YOU HAVE TEN MINUTES. Daniel's stomach tightened. “Ten minutes for what?” No answer. He turned the paper over. On the back was a map. Daniel recognized Veyr City immediately. But the map was strange. It showed streets that didn't exist. Buildings that had never been built. And beneath the center of the city was a large circular chamber. Someone had marked it with the same symbol from the pocket watch. The eye. The thirteen stars. Daniel stared at the map. A tiny red line connected his house to the underground chamber. He suddenly heard a faint clicking sound. The wall clock. Its hands had started moving again. 12:00. 12:01. 12:02. Daniel looked at the paper. The words had changed. NINE MINUTES. He dropped it. “No.” He rushed to the bedroom door and opened it. The hallway was empty. He ran downstairs. His house was silent. His parents' bedroom door was closed. “Dad?” No response. “Mom?” Nothing. Daniel opened the bedroom door. The bed was empty. He stepped inside. The sheets were still warm. A cold sensation passed through him. His parents had been there only moments ago. He searched the house. Kitchen. Living room. Back room. Nothing. Then he noticed something on the kitchen table. Two cups of tea. Still steaming. Beside them was another piece of paper. Daniel picked it up. His hands began shaking. DON'T SEARCH FOR YOUR PARENTS. He dropped the paper. A noise came from beneath the floor. Three slow knocks. Knock. Knock. Knock. Daniel stared at the wooden boards. Another knock. This time, directly beneath his feet. He stepped backward. The floor suddenly cracked. Daniel jumped away as several wooden boards collapsed inward. Dust filled the room. When it cleared, he saw stairs. Stone stairs. Descending into complete darkness. Daniel's first thought was that there couldn't possibly be anything beneath his house. The foundations were built directly on bedrock. His father had told him that countless times. Yet the stairs were real. He held the pocket watch tightly. The strange symbol on its cover began glowing faintly. Daniel looked toward the kitchen window. Outside, Veyr remained completely silent. He looked at the map again. The red line ended beneath his house. And the underground chamber was directly below him. The pocket watch suddenly opened by itself. The frozen hands began moving. Backward. 12:02. 12:01. 12:00. Then the watch whispered. Not mechanically. Not like metal. It whispered with a human voice. “Eight minutes.” Daniel nearly dropped it. He stared down the staircase. Something moved in the darkness. Two pale eyes appeared. Daniel stopped breathing. The eyes slowly disappeared. Then came a voice. A voice he had never heard before. “You finally came back.” Daniel's blood turned cold. “Back?” The darkness answered. “Yes.” A pause. Then: “Welcome home, Daniel.” The staircase lights suddenly flickered on. One after another. Revealing dozens of photographs covering the walls. Daniel stepped closer. Every photograph showed the same person. Him. Daniel stared in disbelief. There were photographs of him as a child. Him at school. Him sleeping. Him walking through Veyr. Some had dates from years before he was born. And in every photograph, standing somewhere in the background, was the same hooded figure. Daniel's breathing became shallow. He reached for the nearest photograph. Written underneath it were five words: DANIEL — SUBJECT NUMBER SEVEN. He dropped it. Then he noticed something even worse. At the bottom of the staircase, someone had written a message across the stone wall. THERE WERE SIX BEFORE YOU. The pocket watch spoke again. “Seven minutes.” Daniel stared into the darkness. For the first time that night, he understood something. The mysterious figure hadn't come to Veyr City looking for him. It had been waiting for him. For years. And whatever existed beneath the city already knew exactly who Daniel was. The only question was— why had everyone else forgotten?