In the forgotten village of Thornevale, where fog clung to the trees like old secrets and the sun hadn’t pierced the sky in over a century, every home kept a lantern burning. Not for light—but for protection.

Legend said that beneath the village lay a buried city, sealed by the gods after its people tried to steal time itself. The seal was fragile, and the lanterns kept the shadows from crawling back out.

Enter Elowen, a runaway thief with a knack for unlocking things that should stay shut. She arrived in Thornevale seeking refuge, but instead found a town ruled by silence and superstition. When her curiosity got the better of her, she stole one of the lanterns—and the ground trembled.

From the cracks emerged the Hollow Ones: eyeless, whispering creatures that fed on memory. They didn’t kill. They erased.

Elowen, now hunted by both villagers and shadows, discovered that she was descended from the last Keeper of the Seal—a bloodline cursed to guard the Lantern of Thornevale. But the lantern was more than a relic. It was a prison key.

To stop the Hollow Ones, Elowen had to descend into the buried city, confront the ghosts of her ancestors, and relight the original flame—one that burned not with fire, but with truth. And truth, she learned, was the most dangerous magic of all.