The rules were simple: Do not enter the orchard. Do not touch the apples. Do not ask why. James followed the rules. He always had. But Max, was always a bad influence, and never cared much for them. So when Max led him past the crumbling stone wall, when he dared James to climb the massive tree, when he pointed out the golden apple high in the branches... James hesitated. Then, he reached for it. The moment his fingers closed around the fruit, the world changed. Now, shadows shift beneath the roots of the ancient trees, and something forgotten has taken notice. James wakes with no memory of his fall, no scars from his wounds, but something is different. Wrong. Miss Silvia, the village healer with secrets of her own, and Ser Edwin, an old soldier turned blacksmith, know the truth—James has been marked. Touched by something ancient, something that should have remained buried. Magic long forbidden stirs in his veins. Eyes that should not be watching are now fixed upon him. And the gods,silent for an age,may not stay that way for much longer. As whispers of prophecy and forgotten gods awaken, James must choose: flee from the fate unraveling before him, or step forward into a world of power, betrayal, and secrets buried deep beneath the orchard’s roots. One thing is certain: There is no going back. The only way is forward.