This audiobook is narrated by a digital voice.

The morning mist clung to the mountainside like a shroud, obscuring the ancient stones that marked the boundary between the mortal realm and the domain of dragons. Seraphina Blackthorne pulled her woolen cloak tighter around her shoulders as she climbed the winding path, each step taking her further from everything she had ever known and closer to a fate she could scarcely comprehend.

Behind her, the village of Thornwick grew smaller with each passing moment, its thatched roofs and smoking chimneys a reminder of the life she was leaving behind. The weight of her decision pressed upon her chest like a stone, but she forced herself to continue. This was her choice, her sacrifice, and she would face it with the dignity befitting her station as the daughter of Lord Blackthorne.

The path grew steeper, and soon the familiar sounds of village life faded entirely, replaced by the whisper of wind through ancient pines and the distant cry of mountain hawks. Seraphina paused at a weathered stone marker, its surface carved with runes that seemed to shift and writhe in the morning light. She could read the old tongue well enough to understand their meaning: "Here begins the realm of Drakmoor the Eternal, Lord of Flame and Shadow."

A shiver ran down her spine that had nothing to do with the mountain cold. For three centuries, the dragon Drakmoor had ruled these peaks, and for three centuries, the villages below had paid him tribute. Gold, livestock, precious gems—all had been offered to keep his wrath at bay. But this year, the harvests had failed, the mines had run dry, and the people had nothing left to give save that which was most precious of all.