City at the end of the map
Darkness was falling fast over the old railway station. Simon, Lena and Kuba stood on the platform, looking at the rusty tracks leading deep into the forest. Although no trains had run here for years, rumours of the station's "last run" had long circulated in the area. For others, they were just urban legends, but they, armed with a map from 1924, an old torch and an irrepressible curiosity, decided to see what lay beyond the edge of the known reality.
The map that Szymon found in his grandfather's attic indicated something unusual: a place marked with a red sign, just beyond the bend in the tracks, where, according to contemporary plans, nothing existed anymore, just deserted fields. But at night, as they traversed the dusty platform, the air around them began to seem thicker, as if imbued with a secret.
- Can you imagine that this town still exists somewhere? - whispered Lena, clutching the map so tightly that her knuckles turned white.
- Or that it is a trap for people like us - added Kuba, looking around anxiously.
They tore through the overgrown tracks, and each step deeper into the forest seemed stranger and stranger. Instead of growing upwards, the trees arched over their heads, forming a green tunnel. At one point, a strange light flashed from between the leaves - neon-like, but not coming from any lantern. They soon realised that this was the beginning of a street whose architecture was reminiscent of the imagination of someone who had read too much fantasy as a child: houses with moving facades, clocks floating on the walls, inscriptions in unknown languages.
The city existed and pulsed with something like life, but not the life they knew. Suddenly, as they stood in the middle of the town square, one of the buildings spoke to them by name. The echo of their own thoughts began to echo from the speakers, and the ground beneath their feet awoke.
Instinctively, Simon reached into his pocket for an old map, but the paper had changed - the lines began to move, leading them towards the centre of town, where a giant clock rose, ticking backwards.
Suddenly the clock made a deafening sound and all the lights went out. The city at the end of the map began to change - and there was no turning back.
Author of this ending:
English
polski
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