Chapter 1: Whispers of the Unseen
The rain lashed against my windshield as I drove through the winding roads of Greywood. My name is Ethan Carter, investigative journalist, and I was chasing a story that shouldn't exist.
A city that wasn't on any map. A place people remembered but couldn't prove existed.
It started with an article I came across in an old newspaper archive. A man named William Henshaw claimed to have escaped from a city called Ravengate—a city that no official record had ever acknowledged. No maps, no satellite images, nothing. Yet, in obscure forums, scattered testimonies from people across decades spoke of Ravengate as if it were real. They described the same streets, the same towering structures, and the same chilling realization: once you enter, you never truly leave.
I had to find it.
I wasn't alone in my obsession. My best friend, Mark, a documentary filmmaker, had been fascinated by urban legends for years. Then there was Sophie, our tech expert, who specialized in tracking anomalies and digital footprints. Together, we had exposed more than a few hoaxes. But something about this one felt different.
The three of us set out for the last known location William Henshaw had mentioned—a desolate stretch of highway beyond Greywood, deep into the misty forest. The stories claimed that those who followed the road past midnight saw signs of the city before reality shifted around them.
Midnight struck.
The road ahead flickered. For a moment, I saw towering buildings in the distance where there had been nothing but trees. Streetlights buzzed to life, lining a road that hadn't been there seconds before.
Mark muttered a curse. Sophie gripped my shoulder.
And then, the world blinked.
Our car rolled forward, but the road behind us was gone. The GPS lost signal. The radio played only static. The city now surrounded us, its streets stretching in all directions, shrouded in an unnatural silence.
We had found Ravengate.
Or maybe... it had found us.
To be continued...