The days blurred together in that hollow place.
We searched. Mirek led us around what felt like ruins of hope—buildings broken not by war, but by time and despair. The people who lived here, if you could call it living, watched us with eyes that had already died. I had once imagined the end of the world would be loud. But here it whispered.
Seonwoo walked beside me as we passed the place where the man had spoken to me—the one who said the city was real. The only one who had believed in it.
I looked for him.
"Where is he? The man who talked to me?" I asked Mirek, who had just returned from the northern path.
He shrugged, pulling the scarf tighter around his mouth. "He's mad. Talks to the shadows. He hasn't made sense in years."
That was it. The last thread.
We tried for days after that. Searching. Hoping. Pretending we hadn't already given up.
Kaelen stopped talking. Seonwoo started snapping at the smallest things. Mirek quietly vanished when he thought we weren't looking. And me? I kept flipping through the pages of the book, desperate for anything.
There was nothing.
Just fragments, tangled and out of order. The same phrases repeating over and over. No city. No escape.
I sat beside the dying fire that night, the others asleep or pretending to be. My hands trembled as I opened the book one last time.
"The end is not marked on the map, for it is not a place—but a surrender."
Tears burned my eyes, but I wasn't sure if it was grief or frustration anymore.
"What am I doing?" I whispered to no one. "Chasing stories. Following nothing."
I finally fell asleep with the book clutched to my chest.
That's when the dream came.
There was no sound—just a pressure, a silence that screamed. A shadow stood before me. Its shape was human, but its edges flickered like candlelight. It raised an arm and pointed—not up, but out. Far.
Beyond the hills. Past where the forest ended. Where the sky curved too low. Where no road dared lead.
There, in the valley that stank of rot and sorrow, it jumped.
And when it fell, everything turned white.
I woke up choking on breath.
The dream wouldn't leave me. I knew what I'd seen. The valley. I knew where it was—on the other side of the forest, the side we'd never dared cross. Because no one came back from there.
I opened the book again, heart racing.
"Kaelen, after years trapped within the Refuge, chose the cliff. Seonwoo stopped him at the last moment. But the wind was cruel and both fell. They thought it was the end."
"But as they fell, a light consumed them. And at the bottom where none returned from—there it was."
"The City of Ends. Visible only to those who have given up everything."
I shut the book and stared into the coals, their last embers flickering like the stars above. The city existed.
But to reach it… we had to fall.
"I found it," I said aloud, and my voice was dry as ash. "But we're going to have to die to get there."
Seonwoo blinked slowly at me, as though trying to decide whether I was serious or sleep-talking.
Kaelen, from where he sat hunched over with arms around his knees, raised his head just enough to meet my eyes.
They looked at me like I'd finally gone mad.
"You want us to do what now?" Seonwoo's voice was flat, like he'd stopped registering emotion hours ago.
"Jump," I said, barely breathing. "There's a valley. The book said… if we fall, we'll find it."
Kaelen frowned. "The book again."
Seonwoo scoffed, dragging a hand down his face. "Gods, Harin. You're not well."
I didn't blame them. Maybe I wasn't. But something had changed.
I opened the book again, holding it out like it could explain better than I could.
"Only in surrender is the path revealed. Only by falling can you find what waits beneath. The City shows itself to the hopeless, not the hopeful."
"You said the valley reeks of death," Kaelen muttered. "And you want us to walk there and jump in?"
"I don't want to." My voice cracked. "But it's the only clue we have left. And I think… I think it's the only way out."
Silence settled between us, thicker than the night air. The fire had burned down to a single coil of smoke.
Seonwoo stood and turned his back to me, muttering something under his breath. I didn't catch it all, just fragments: "…been through enough…" and "…not dying for your story."
Kaelen stared into the dying embers.
"What if she's right?" he asked softly. "What if this place really is the end, and the only way forward… is down?"
Seonwoo didn't answer.
Neither did I.
In the end, Seonwoo looked at me — really looked. Not with disdain or disbelief, but with something heavy and reluctant behind his eyes. Resignation, maybe. Or trust.
"I don't get it," he muttered, stepping beside me. "But I've followed you this far. Might as well keep going."
Kaelen stood without a word, brushing dust off his knees. When I turned to him, he only nodded. Quiet agreement. Silent belief.
I swallowed hard. "Thank you," I whispered.
Later, I found Mirek standing at the edge of the settlement, where the wind carved silent music through jagged stone. The place felt stiller than usual — like even time refused to pass here.
"We're going," I said, "to the valley. I wanted to ask… do you want to come with us?"
He smiled faintly, eyes never leaving the horizon.
"No," he said. "I've wandered too long in this place. Those who are truly lost don't leave. I'll stay. Someone needs to guide them."
"You don't have to be the one," I said, feeling strangely small.
"Maybe not." He turned to me, eyes pale and sad. "But who else will? This land needs a voice. I'll be that voice — the Guardian of the Barren."
I reached out, but he stepped back.
"Go, Harin. Find your city. If it's there, if it's real — make it matter. Make sure the lost have somewhere to go when they fall."
I left without another word. My throat ached, but I didn't cry.
We left the refuge at dawn, crossing into dust and silence, toward the valley that reeked of death.
And as I walked, the book stirred again in my arms.
"The lost shall find salvation not in climbing, but in falling. The city lies not in hope, but in surrender."
The days stretched on, each one blending into the next as we traversed the unforgiving terrain. Our supplies dwindled with every step, and the weight of our mission bore heavily upon us.
"We can't keep going like this," Seonwoo muttered, his voice hoarse from days without proper rest.
"We have no choice," I replied, my gaze fixed ahead. "The city is out there. We can't turn back now."
Kaelen remained silent, his face etched with exhaustion. The journey had taken its on all of us.
As we pressed forward, the landscape grew more desolate. The once-familiar terrain had given way to barren stretches of land, devoid of life. The sun beat down relentlessly, and the nights offered little reprieve.
"How much farther?" Kaelen asked one evening, his voice tinged with desperation.
"Not much," I lied, though I wasn't sure myself. The book had provided no clear directions, only cryptic hints that seemed to lead us in circles.
Days turned into weeks, and our strength waned. Yet, we pushed on, driven by the hope that the city awaited us at the end of this grueling path.
One evening, as the sun dipped below the horizon, I opened the book once more, seeking guidance.
"The journey is long, and the path is fraught with trials. Only those who endure will reach the end."
I closed the book, the weight of its words settling over me. We had come this far. We couldn't stop now.
After a long gruesome journey we had reached the so called valley
This is it," I whispered. "The valley. The city is beyond."
Seonwoo scoffed. "Or it's just another dead end."
I refused to entertain that thought. We had come too far, endured too much, to turn back now.
We pressed on, each step a battle against the elements, against our own fatigue. The valley seemed to stretch on forever, its vastness both awe-inspiring and terrifying.
"I don't know how much longer I can go," Kaelen admitted, his voice breaking the silence. His usual stoicism had cracked, revealing the toll the journey had taken on him.
"Just a little further," I urged, though I wasn't sure if I was convincing him or myself.
As we neared the edge of the valley, the ground became steeper, more unstable. The descent into the unknown loomed before us, a chasm that seemed to swallow the light.
"This is it," I said again, though the words felt hollow. "We jump."
Seonwoo and Kaelen exchanged uncertain glances. The weight of the decision hung heavily between us.
"Are you sure?" Kaelen asked. His voice was barely above a whisper.
"No," I admitted. "But it's the only way."
With a deep breath, I took a step forward, ready to leap into the abyss.
I was terrified.
I couldn't lie to myself. My heart pounded in my chest, a deafening rhythm that drowned out the sound of the rushing wind. The book... I still wasn't sure if it was right, if it really held the answers we needed. There was nothing beyond this valley, nothing but a lie. The city ahead, the one we'd worked so hard to reach, felt wrong. And yet... what if it wasn't? What if the book had it right, after all? What if this was way forward?
But how could I be certain?
Seonwoo and Kaelen stood beside me, just as uncertain. I could see it in their eyes, too—the hesitation. It had been days, no, weeks of endless searching, chasing shadows that might have led us nowhere. We were running out of options. There was only one way out, but I didn't know what awaited us on the other side.
"I'm not so sure about this," Seonwoo muttered, his brow furrowed as he glanced at the edge of the valley. "What if we jump, and there's nothing waiting for us?"
I swallowed hard, taking in a deep breath. "We don't have a choice."
Kaelen looked down at the dark chasm below. "And if the book's wrong?"
If the book's wrong...
I shook my head, the uncertainty clawing at me. "Then we die trying."
They both exchanged uneasy glances. My mind screamed at me to stop, to think through the possibility that we were making a mistake, but there was no time. Not anymore. I stepped forward, gritting my teeth, trying to force the fear down.
Seonwoo grabbed my arm. "Harin, wait."
I turned to him. "We're doing this. Now."
I didn't have time for second thoughts. Without another word, I bolted forward, my legs pumping hard, and grabbed both of them, pulling them into the jump with me.
As the ground fell away beneath us, my heart seemed to stop. I couldn't feel anything except the wind screaming past my ears, my pulse thundering through my veins, and then—nothing.
The world around me went dark.