Monsters are real. For Lyric Wax, who dreams of a future as a Historian for the Grand Archives, this chilling truth becomes a haunting reality as she navigates her Verdad - a perilous path to adulthood - to find her place in the Imperium and prove herself. She sets out on a journey beyond the safety of familiar walls. Her destination: the mysteries that lie beyond the Great Gates of the Imperium of Kraphax. What begins as a simple errand to a safe Shrine quickly transforms into a horrific ordeal. Lyric along with the irritable Inquisitor Jalin Cortez, and his partner Esperanza Boyorquez, must traverse treacherous realms of darkness and confront terrifying certainties hidden beneath the surface. Will she emerge triumphant, armed with the knowledge of the world's buried secrets, or will she succumb to the ghastly fate that awaits those who delve too deep into the mysteries of the unknown? The answers lie in the shadows she must bring to light. ...they weren't supposed to be real.