This audiobook is narrated by a digital voice.

In the time before mortal memory, when the world was young and the boundaries between realms were thin as morning mist, the celestial sphere existed in perfect harmony. The Luminari, beings of pure light and divine essence, dwelled in the crystal palaces that floated among the stars, their radiance painting the heavens in hues of gold and silver. At their head stood Aurelius the Magnificent, whose crown bore the first star ever kindled and whose voice could command the very fabric of creation.

Yet in the depths of the void, where no light had ever touched, stirred another power. The Umbrani, children of shadow and forgotten dreams, had long dwelled in the spaces between worlds. Their realm was not one of darkness as mortals might imagine, but of profound depth—the kind that exists in the heart of ancient forests or in the silence before dawn. Their sovereign, Nyx'andra the Eternal, possessed a beauty that was both terrible and sublime, her form shifting like smoke, her eyes holding the wisdom of countless eons.

For millennia beyond counting, these two realms had existed in delicate balance. The Luminari brought forth new stars and nurtured the growing worlds below, while the Umbrani tended to the spaces of rest, the quiet moments that allowed creation to pause and gather strength. Where light touched shadow, beautiful things were born—the aurora that danced across northern skies, the gentle twilight that eased the transition from day to night, the silver moon that watched over sleeping mortals.