Story
What might an underground city story sound like from a zone that went dark?
A letter from the dark: an underground city story
It might sound like a letter written by someone who remembers the Great Engine’s warmth and fears the silence left behind. This story imagines one voice from a dark zone reaching toward Zone77, the last working city, with a simple request: remember that we are still here.
To whoever still has a lamp
If this letter reaches you, then somewhere a light is still burning. I have forgotten what a bright room looks like. Here, the dark has settled over the old streets and pressed itself into every doorway. We speak softly, though I no longer know who might hear us.
I am writing by the small glow I have kept covered in my hands. The paper is rough, and the ink blurs when my fingers shake. I want you to know that our zone was once part of a living world beneath the dead sky. We built below the ground because there was nowhere else to go.
What the Engine gave us
The Great Engine gave the underground its heat and light. People trusted its steady presence so completely that we began to mistake it for a promise. Then it stopped. Almost every zone went dark, and our familiar sounds vanished with the glow: voices in the streets, footsteps on stone, the comforting hum that had filled the walls.
I have heard the name Zone77 spoken as if it were both a place and a prayer. They say the Engine still works there. I cannot know what the people of that last working city see when they look around their lamps, but I hope they understand what their light means to those of us who have lost ours.
See also: the Zone77 home page.
A message for the living
The old stories say the Great Clock can start the Engine again. Each season, alliances race to build it, and the alliance that succeeds will lead Zone77. I picture people gathering around that work, each bringing what they can. From here, even the thought of such a gathering feels like warmth.
I do not ask you to promise that everything will be restored. I ask only that you remember the places that fell silent. If the Engine wakes, let its light mean more than survival for one city. Let it be a signal that the dark did not erase us.
The letter’s last line
I fold this page carefully and leave it where a traveler might find it. Perhaps no one will. Still, writing has made the darkness feel less complete. Somewhere beyond it, a clock may turn, and somewhere in Zone77 a person may pause to listen.
If you are reading this, then the message has crossed the silence in some small way. Keep a lamp for the ones who cannot see yours. We are still here, beneath the ground, waiting for the world to remember its own name.
See also: tales from the tunnels.
Questions and answers
Is this letter part of the game’s established history?
It is a fictional voice inspired by the world of Zone77: the Great Engine once gave the underground heat and light, and only Zone77 still works. The letter itself is an imagined story, not a game event.
Where can I read or share more stories from the tunnels?
The Zone77 forum has a place for fan stories, where players can read and write tales of the Clockwork world.
See also: read and write fan stories.
What is the Great Clock in this story’s world?
The Great Clock can start the Great Engine again. In a season, alliances race to build it, and the alliance that does so will lead Zone77.
See also: the guide to the Great Clock.
