For methodical cartographer Liora, every border has a line, every myth has a logical origin, and the world is a puzzle waiting to be solved. Armed with her grandfather's cryptic, faded map, she ventures into the desolate borderlands to chart the one place science has never touched: the Aethelwood, a legendary forest whispered to exist outside of time. But when an unnatural fog swallows her whole, she finds herself trapped in a world of silver trees and endless twilight, where her compass spins uselessly and every path leads her deeper into a legend she can no longer deny.
She is discovered by Faolan, the forest's enigmatic, emerald-eyed guardian. Ancient and bound by a sorrowful oath, he is the keeper of the Aethelwood's greatest secret: the Chronomancer's Heart. When Liora touched the glowing stone to save herself, she didn't just trespass-she forged an unbreakable magical bond to the forest, and to the one man who insists she must leave. For a mortal's linear existence is a paradox that threatens to unravel his timeless world. The only problem? The forest itself has other plans and refuses to let her go.
As days bleed into weeks, their forced proximity blossoms into a fragile, unspoken connection, a dangerous choice for a guardian whose solitude is a sacred duty. But their world is shattered when they discover Liora's presence has become a beacon for an ancient evil. A banished sorcerer, Xenos, is manipulating a brutal war between two mortal kingdoms, a conflict designed to mask his true objective: to use an ancient fortress of power as a conduit to drain the Aethelwood and rewrite reality itself.
Now, Liora, the woman of logic, must embrace a magic she never believed in. And Faolan, the guardian of solitude, must trust the mortal who has breached his eternal defenses. They are the only two who know the truth, and to save both their worlds, they must venture into a warzone where time itself has become a weapon. But the price of failure is more than just the end of an age-it is the complete erasure of Faolan from existence.
In a war against a sorcerer who commands time, can a love forged in a magical forest become the one power strong enough to save reality?