Chapter 1: A Name Lost in Time

Aarav had not thought about Ishani in years.

Not because he wanted to forget.

But because the world had erased her.

They had been best friends in school—inseparable. Every day, they walked home together, sharing jokes, arguing about books, and dreaming of impossible things. What if time loops? What if memories are doors? Ishani always asked the strangest questions.

Then one day, she walked into an abandoned building at the edge of town—

And never came back.

Everyone forgot her.

Teachers erased her name from records. Her family was gone as if they had never existed. When Aarav mentioned her, people just frowned and said, “Who?”

But he remembered.

And then, six years later, a note appeared in his locker.

“Aarav, I am still here. Find me before they do. The door in the old building—midnight. Trust no one.”

His chest tightened.

Because the handwriting was hers.

Chapter 2: The Door That Shouldn’t Exist

The abandoned building was falling apart.

Yet here he was, standing before its rusted doors at midnight, heart racing.

He had told himself for years that she was gone. That he had imagined their friendship.

But the note said otherwise.

Taking a deep breath, he stepped inside.

Dust floated in the air. His phone’s glow cast eerie shadows on the walls, revealing old murals—figures with hollow eyes, reaching for something unseen.

Then he saw it.

A door that wasn’t supposed to be there.

It stood alone in the center of the room, unattached to any wall. Ancient wood, covered in carvings that seemed to shift in the dim light.

It was waiting.

Aarav swallowed hard.

Then—

“Aarav.”

He turned so fast his phone nearly slipped from his hand.

Ishani stood there.

She looked the same as the day she had disappeared. Not a day older.

But her eyes… they held something else. Something unreadable.

“You found me,” she whispered.

Chapter 3: The Space Between Worlds

Aarav stared at her. “Ishani?”

Her lips twitched in a half-smile. “Still slow, aren’t you?”

The familiar tease made his chest tighten.

It was really her.

But how?

Before he could ask, she grabbed his wrist. “We have to go. Now.”

“Go where?”

She turned toward the door. “Through here.”

Aarav hesitated.

This was madness.

But this was also Ishani.

And he had spent six years missing her.

So he took her hand.

And stepped through.

The world dissolved.

Reality peeled away like layers of old paint, revealing a swirling abyss of memories—faces, voices, moments slipping past like echoes. Time had no meaning here.

Then—solid ground.

They stood in a vast, endless city.

Aarav exhaled in awe. “Where are we?”

But Ishani wasn’t looking at the city.

She was looking at the shadows.

The ones moving toward them.

Watching.

Hunting.

She squeezed his hand. “Run.”

Chapter 4: The Ones Who Forget

They ran through twisting streets that made no sense—turning corners that led nowhere, passing doors that flickered between existence and nothingness.

“Talk to me,” Aarav panted. “What is this place?”

“The City of the Forgotten,” Ishani said. “It eats memories. That’s why no one remembers me. Once you enter, the world forgets you ever existed.”

Aarav’s stomach twisted. “Then how do we get out?”

Ishani hesitated. “We have to reach the center. The Heart of Memory.”

A guttural noise echoed behind them.

Aarav turned—

The shadows had faces now. Hollow-eyed figures.

And they were coming closer.

“We’re out of time!” Ishani pulled him forward.

Aarav’s head swam. His thoughts blurred.

His name.

His past.

For a terrifying second—

He forgot why he was running.

Ishani grabbed his face. “Hey. Stay with me.”

Her touch steadied him. His memories rushed back, crashing over him.

“They’re trying to erase you,” she said. “Hold on to us. To me.”

He nodded. “Then let’s finish this.”

Chapter 5: The Heart of Memory

At the city’s center stood a giant mirror, stretching endlessly into the sky.

A reflection of everything they had lost.

Ishani placed her hand against it. “To leave, we have to remember.”

The figures behind them shrieked.

Aarav placed his hand beside hers. “Then let’s do this together.”

The mirror pulsed.

Memories surged—laughter, whispered secrets, the way Ishani used to steal his notebooks and doodle nonsense in the margins.

The city trembled.

And then—

Everything collapsed.

Chapter 6: The Truth Behind the Door

Aarav woke up in his bedroom.

For a second, he thought it had all been a dream.

Then he saw her.

Ishani sat by his window, staring at the sky.

“You’re really here,” he whispered.

She turned, smiling. “We made it.”

Aarav swallowed, his heart full of emotions he didn’t know how to name.

He had his best friend back.

“I missed you,” he admitted.

Her eyes softened. “I missed you too.”

Relief washed over him. “It’s over.”

Ishani tilted her head slightly. “Yes. Over for them.”

Aarav frowned. “What do you mean?”

She exhaled, standing up.

“This world,” she said, looking outside, “was never real, Aarav. Not to me.”

His breath caught. “What?”

She turned to face him. “The City of the Forgotten—it wasn’t a prison.”

Aarav shook his head. “Ishani, what are you saying?”

“It was a kingdom.” Her voice was quiet, yet it sent chills down his spine. “And I was its queen.”

His heart pounded. “You… knew?”

She smiled. “I never needed saving.”

Aarav took a step back. “Then why did you bring me here?”

Ishani studied him for a moment.

“Because,” she said, her voice almost gentle, “I need a king.”

And outside the window—

The city had returned.

Glowing. Alive… Waiting.

Aarav turned back to Ishani, his pulse racing. “I’m not staying here.”

She sighed as if she had expected this. “I know.”

Then she touched his forehead—light as a whisper, yet full of power.

Aarav gasped, his vision blurring. His limbs turned heavy.

Memories unraveled inside him. His childhood, his home, his life—

Fading.

“I’m sorry, Aarav,” Ishani murmured. “But I can’t let you leave with a heart that still belongs to the world you came from.”

His breath hitched. “Ishani—”

“Shh,” she whispered.

And with a final touch—

Aarav forgot.

Forgot the home he had once longed for. The people who might have been waiting. The boy who had stepped through the door to save a friend.

All that remained was the queen before him.

Ishani smiled.

“Now, my king,” she said softly, “we have work to do.”

And in the distance, the City of the Forgotten shimmered… welcoming its new ruler.

But just as the last trace of his past slipped away—

A flicker of something stirred deep within him.

Not a memory, not a name.

But a voice, soft, yet unyielding.

“Aarav.”

His breath caught.

It wasn’t Ishani’s voice.

It wasn’t his own.

It was distant—yet impossibly familiar.

Like a thread of time reaching for him.

Aarav blinked.

And for the briefest second—

The city flickered.

As if something—someone—had not forgotten him.