"You recognize it?" Jude asked.
She nodded slowly. "Not from my own memories. But there are stories about a place like this. A city that was burned to nothing, erased from maps, forgotten by time."
Jude's chest tightened. "Why?"
Lyara looked at him then, her green eyes darker than before. "Because it wasn't supposed to exist in the first place."
A chill ran down his spine. He stood up, glancing around once more. Now that she had said it, the feeling made sense. This wasn't just ruins, it was a place deliberately removed from history. But why? And why had they been brought here?
The ground trembled beneath them.
Jude barely had time to react before a deep rumbling sound filled the air. The ruins groaned, as if waking from a long slumber, and the silence shattered. A gust of wind rushed past them, carrying with it the scent of something ancient and restless.
And then, the whispers began.
