Introduction

Welcome to the archives. The history written upon these pages is meant to be consumed linearly. You may turn the pages, read the texts, and observe the illustrations.

To the casual observer, this is nothing more than a standard text. It has chapters, a table of contents, and footnotes. It requires nothing of you but your attention.

However, the world is rarely as simple as it appears on the surface.

Chapter I

The Silent Woods

The trees stood tall and ancient, their bark scarred by centuries of harsh winters. A traveler walking through this forest might feel a profound sense of isolation.

There was a peculiar silence here, one that seemed to swallow the sound of snapping twigs and crunching leaves.

As dusk approached, the shadows lengthened, stretching across the path like skeletal fingers. It was at this hour that the true nature of the woods revealed itself.

Hidden away from the main road, obscured by dense thickets of briar, lay an old stone marker.