Kingdom of the Forgotten Sun

The airport terminal in Istanbul was packed, loud, and indifferent to Liam's racing mind. He had boarded the first available flight out of New York, guided only by the mysterious map and the gnawing conviction that this wasn't just a story.

Now, as he sipped bitter coffee in the corner of a dim hotel room outside the city, the book lay open in front of him, pages rustling without breeze.

He studied the coordinates again. Southeast, into the Anatolian hinterlands. There were ruins there, yes—but also whispers. Villagers said the place was cursed. Earth swallowed whole teams of researchers. Livestock died. GPS stopped working. Locals no longer approached.

And yet Liam had to go.

The journey took hours. The land grew more desolate with every passing mile. By dusk, the SUV sputtered to a halt at the edge of a crumbling village—barely five buildings, windows boarded, doors hanging open.

Only one structure stood untouched: an ancient stone well in the center.

Liam approached. Something called from inside—not in sound, but in sensation. A pulse beneath the earth, like a second heartbeat.

He opened the book again.

The ink shifted.

Do not enter alone.

He looked around. No one for miles.

"Too late," he muttered, and climbed down the rope.

The descent was slow, cold. Fifty feet below, the wall opened into a narrow tunnel carved with unfamiliar symbols. His flashlight flickered.

Then a gust of warm air struck him.

And a whisper, unmistakable:

"Liam."

He froze. The air shifted again, thick with the scent of fire and dust. His light caught a figure down the tunnel—a silhouette, unmoving, just far enough to be unclear.

"Who's there?" he called.

Silence.

He stepped closer.

The figure stepped back. Then disappeared into the dark.

Liam chased it, deeper, until the tunnel opened into a vast chamber lit by dim shafts of greenish light from cracks in the ceiling. Stone pillars surrounded a circular platform engraved with the same sun-and-arrows symbol.

At the center was a pedestal.

Upon it—a second book.

Identical to his.

He approached slowly. As he touched it, the room shook. Dust fell. The earth groaned.

And behind him, the voice returned, calm and amused:

"You finally made it."

Liam turned. No one.

But a new sentence had appeared in his book:

The gate is open.

Then—

You are not alone.

And Liam knew, deep in his marrow, that something else had entered the world with him.

To be continued...