The old world has fallen, and from its ruins two powers have risen: the Red Directorate, a regime built on technology, control, and experimentation, and the Mountain Kingdom, a hidden civilization that protects the forgotten truths of humanity. Sebastian Corbu, designation COR-7, is the Directorate’s most dangerous Asset—a weapon created to obey without question. Sent into the mountains to recover lost knowledge, Sebastian finds himself stranded among the very people he was trained to destroy. There, he encounters the keepers of the Mountain Kingdom: the Village Elder who protects ancient traditions, the Story Keeper who guards forgotten histories, the Blacksmith who defends their people, and the Old Woman who seems to know secrets about Sebastian’s past. But the mountains hold darker things as well. Ancient spirits wander the forests, and the Whistler—one of the many creatures that haunt the wilderness—waits among the trees. Caught between the world that created him and the world that remembers him, Sebastian must uncover the truth before the Directorate, and the secrets buried beneath the mountains, find him first.