The Lothar Empire, the era of roaring steam.
The Mechanicum uses steel and gears to measure the world, claiming that "anything that cannot be observed does not exist."
But in the shadows of the city's sewers, in the sealed cellars of the Old Town, behind the smiles of aristocratic dinner parties - mystery never dies.
Cedric Grey, general cataloguer at the Imperial State Library.
He has mediocre qualifications and a humble background. In a world full of powerful people, he is just a "no-level person".
Until one day, when he was sorting out a batch of banned books that had been sealed for hundreds of years, his finger was cut by an old parchment.
Blood seeped into the paper, and the ancient spells on it penetrated into his palm as if they came alive.
From then on, he began to hear voices - not words in his ears, but secrets in other people's minds that they were afraid to say.
