This audiobook is narrated by a digital voice.

The morning mist clung to the cobblestones of Valdris like the breath of sleeping giants, and Lyra Ashworth pulled her woolen cloak tighter as she navigated the narrow streets toward the archives. At nineteen, she had already spent three years as an apprentice to Master Aldric, the kingdom's most renowned historian, but today felt different. Today, the very air seemed to hum with anticipation.

The Royal Archives stood at the heart of Valdris, its towering spires reaching toward the heavens like fingers grasping for forgotten truths. As Lyra approached the massive oak doors, carved with intricate runes that seemed to shift in the corner of her eye, she noticed something peculiar. The stone gargoyles that had watched over the entrance for centuries appeared to have turned their heads slightly, their marble eyes now fixed upon her with an intensity that made her skin prickle.

"You're late," came the familiar gravelly voice of Master Aldric as Lyra stepped into the vast reading hall. Sunlight streamed through the stained glass windows, casting kaleidoscopic patterns across the ancient texts that lined the walls from floor to ceiling.

"Forgive me, Master," Lyra replied, still glancing nervously over her shoulder at the entrance. "The gargoyles... they seemed..."

"Alive?" Aldric finished, his weathered face creasing into what might have been a smile. "Yes, I've noticed it too. The old magic stirs, child. Something is awakening."

For months, strange occurrences had been reported throughout the kingdom. Statues weeping tears of silver, ancient trees speaking in languages long forgotten, and most disturbing of all, the appearance of symbols that predated any known civilization. These symbols, carved mysteriously into stone surfaces overnight, seemed to pulse with an inner light when observed directly.