The City Forgotten by Time

I don’t remember much about my life on Earth. But perhaps, out of a kind of nostalgia for this world, I do recall being fascinated by all kinds of entertainment involving magic and fantasy.

When it came to video games, I’m pretty sure I was the kind of person who pressed on every shelf, every statue, even every bed, just to see if some flavor text would pop up.

I bring it up because, without even noticing, I had started doing the same thing in real life. As I wandered through the castle halls, I checked every plaque or inscription I could find, whether in the corridors or in any room that wasn’t locked.

"Some vases even had poems engraved in gold, praising the emperor..."

That’s how I came to realize that the palace (or more precisely, the walled complex where I had woken up) was called the Citadel of Dawn, and that it was supposedly even older than the city I was currently looking at.

At that moment, I was in fact standing at the edge of the Citadel’s massive outer wall, and from there, below a steep cliff at my feet, the city known as Endalor spread out toward the horizon.

After everything I had seen in the palace, I had come to a very important conclusion.

There was absolutely nothing to eat there…

And on top of that, all signs seemed to point to me actually being that so-called emperor... Or maybe I had been, in a past life? I still couldn’t make sense of any of it.

"But more importantly... where is everyone?!"

The palace had been completely empty. The city still lay some distance away, but even from here, it was clear that silence reigned there as well.

"Was this supposed to be a dwarven city? The scale of the buildings doesn’t really fit, and neither do the inscriptions I read back in the palace..."

I thought that because the city wasn’t under open sky. It lay deep inside a massive cavern, and it wasn’t shrouded in darkness only thanks to the enormous glowing crystals embedded in the distant cavern walls.

What struck me most was how the city’s outer walls were directly connected to the cavern walls, something that made less and less sense the more I thought about it. As absurd as it may sound, it felt like the city hadn’t originally been built underground.

"How strange... have my eyes always been this sharp?"

The city was enormous, its walls far off on the horizon, yet I could focus on them like they were right in front of me. Is that normal human vision?

I let out a sigh, tired of not understanding anything, whether about myself or the world around me, and turned back to take a closer look at the palace.

It’s not that I didn’t have memories of this place. I was sure they were buried somewhere. I just couldn’t untangle them from the mess in my head. Still, the sense of nostalgia was unmistakable.

From the wide plaza that lay between the outer wall and the central building, the entire complex rose in a layout that felt both majestic and deliberate.

The plaza was paved with pale stone tiles that caught the light in geometric patterns, gently guiding the eye toward the heart of the citadel. Marble fountains whispered softly, their waters falling in delicate streams.

Those fountains were the only signs that time hadn’t completely stopped within the citadel.

Beyond the plaza, the buildings with their silvery rooftops were joined by elegant arcades of carved stone, forming a symmetrical frame around the central palace.

The façades of every building were adorned with reliefs and sculptures that seemed to portray heroic deeds from some long-forgotten battlefield (or at least, that’s what I guessed).

Columns carved with mythological figures flanked the palace windows, giving the place a solemn and imposing presence.

"Was I really the one who commissioned all this? I just hope it was with a personal fortune and not public funds... In any case, I could spend my whole life exploring the palace and the rest of the citadel, but what matters most right now is finding someone... and something to eat."

I had already drunk water from the fountains. It looked clean, tasted fine, and at least it spared me a trip back to the chamber where I’d first woken up, assuming I could even find it again. But I hadn’t seen anything even remotely resembling a kitchen.

Even if there is food hidden somewhere, I have no idea how long the palace has been abandoned. And I doubt canned food is even a thing in this world. So I have no choice but to head for the city… or beyond.

"My only comfort is that, no matter how much time passes, my hunger just doesn’t seem to get any worse..."

"..."

"The zombie theory resurfaces."

***

The city’s main avenue, made of flawless limestone, was genuinely stunning. If buses existed in this fantasy world, several could’ve driven side by side with no trouble at all.

Enormous white buildings lined the road. Some were likely made of marble, or something close to it. The soft bluish glow from the ceiling made it all feel like it was submerged beneath the sea, like a scene from some ancient legend.

Many of the city's magnificent buildings had balconies from which various processions would have been seen in such a legendary city (according to the palace texts).

The parade happening now, however, was a bit more modest.

It was just the sound of my own footsteps echoing through the silent streets and alleys.

"There’s definitely no one here either... I’m already starting to miss the hundreds of strangers I saw in that hallucination... I mean, memory."

The image of that girl with hair the color of violets who gave me a playful wink came back to me.

If the magical culture of this place is anything like Earth’s... does that mean she was the Supreme Arcane Authority? But she looked way too young for that, and all I had to go on was the fact that she was part of the group closest to the throne, and that she was wearing a pointed hat, like the kind witches and wizards wear.

"In any case... there sure were some strange hair colors in that hall."

Just then, a strand of my long silver hair fell across my eyes, as if to remind me that I wasn’t exactly a model of hair-related normality either.

"Now that I think about it, even my golden eyes wouldn’t be considered normal back on Earth, so I can’t really say anything about her emerald ones..."

"Until we meet again in this world..." That line kept echoing in my mind. "Maybe I’d unconsciously associated it with that girl, and that’s why I focused on her during the hallucination... I mean, memory... "

Hmm? Can a memory look back at you?

"Maybe it really was a hallucination..."

As I tangled myself deeper in those thoughts, my steps carried me all the way to the massive city gates. They looked more like a fortress than an entrance.

But there were certainly three enormous pairs of gates standing there, clearly marking the exit from the city called Endalor.

"I would’ve liked to explore the city in more detail. There were quite a few interesting buildings, not to mention the Citadel of Dawn. But all in due time. What matters most right now is confirming that I’m not the only living person in this world."

It felt like the entire population had vanished in an instant. The city was in perfect condition, so it clearly hadn’t been under siege or anything like that.

"The real problem now is... how am I supposed to open one of these gigantic gate pairs? The ones at the citadel were already open..."

That’s what I said, but to my surprise (and nearly giving me a heart attack), the central gates actually began to open on their own.