Across Times Forgotten Path

Dust clung to the edges of the cobblestone road, worn smooth by centuries of footsteps long faded into history. The path twisted through an ancient forest, its trees whispering secrets only the wind could understand. Some claimed the road led to nowhere, while others believed it was a gateway to something lost—something time itself had forgotten.

Elias Varrow never believed in legends. He was a scholar, a seeker of truth in parchment and ink, not fables. But when he discovered a crumbling map hidden within the archives of Altharion’s Grand Library, marked with the words Path of the Forgotten, something deep within him stirred.

And so, he found himself standing at its entrance, the map clutched in his gloved hands.

“It shouldn’t exist,” he murmured to himself.

The path before him shimmered in the twilight, as though the veil between the present and the past had thinned. His heartbeat quickened. This wasn’t just an ordinary road—it was waiting.

With a steadying breath, Elias stepped forward.

The moment his foot touched the stones, the world around him shifted. The sun faded, replaced by a sky heavy with silver clouds. The trees no longer loomed like ancient sentinels; instead, they stood younger, untouched by decay. The scent of rain-soaked earth filled the air, and in the distance, the faint sound of bells echoed.

Elias exhaled sharply. He had read about places where time unraveled, where history bled into the present, but he had never thought he would walk within one.

A soft voice broke through his thoughts.

“You shouldn’t be here.”

Elias turned sharply. Standing at the bend of the road was a woman draped in flowing silver robes, her dark hair catching the soft glow of the strange sky. Her gaze was piercing, filled with something he couldn’t place—recognition.

“I didn’t mean to trespass,” Elias said cautiously. “I was only following the map.”

She took a step closer. “That map should not exist.”

Elias hesitated. “Then why was it hidden in the library of Altharion?”

The woman studied him for a long moment. “Because some paths are meant to be forgotten.”

A gust of wind stirred the leaves around them, and with it, a shadow flickered at the edge of the path. It wasn’t human.

Elias stiffened. “What was that?”

The woman’s expression darkened. “You’ve walked into the space between time, where lost things linger. Some memories should never be found.”

Elias’s grip tightened around the map. “Who are you?”

She hesitated. Then, in a voice barely above a whisper, she said, “Once, I was like you—a seeker of knowledge. But I strayed too far.”

Elias felt a chill creep down his spine. “You’re trapped here.”

She nodded.

His mind raced. If she had been lost to time, then there had to be a way to reverse it. “Is there a way back?”

“Not alone,” she admitted. “But together… perhaps.”

A choice lay before him—continue down the forgotten path and uncover the truths that time had buried, or turn back, leaving the past untouched.

Elias looked at the road ahead, then back at the woman.

He extended his hand. “Then let’s walk this path together.”

And with that, they stepped forward, venturing into the unknown, where history and fate wove a story yet to be told.