Allendale, Oregon, shrouded in an unending mist, mourns a tragedy everyone remembers: a devastating fire that claimed dozens of lives a decade ago. But for 22-year-old Miriam Ellis, grief takes an unsettling turn when a photograph surfaces, depicting Allendale pristine and untouched just days after the supposed inferno. This ghost image, a phantom memory, ignites an obsessive quest to reconcile the town's curated sorrow with the disturbing truth it desperately tries to conceal.

Miriam’s grandmother’s cryptic journals whisper of the “Whispers of Aisling,” an ancient ritual meant to appease a malevolent entity lurking beneath the town. The fire, Miriam suspects, wasn't a tragedy but a meticulously crafted lie, a veil concealing the ritualistic sacrifice of seven families, their very existence erased from Allendale’s history. Her investigation unearths fragmented newspaper articles, redacted town council minutes, and rumors of vanished families—a chilling counter-narrative of fear, sacrifice, and an ancient, hungry power.

Beneath City Hall, in a forgotten vault, Miriam discovers an obsidian artifact, pulsing with an unsettling energy. This isn’t just a relic; it’s a manipulator of reality, fueled by a decade of unquestioning belief, shaping the town's collective consciousness and enforcing its silence. Joined by Edward Levine, a skeptical historian haunted by his own family's role in Allendale's dark past, Miriam confronts a town steeped in denial.

But the artifact retaliates, twisting Miriam’s memories of her beloved grandmother into something sinister, blurring the line between reality and fabrication. As they delve deeper, the artifact’s influence intensifies, sowing seeds of doubt and manipulating perceptions. Miriam witnesses the town's weekly memorial, a chilling performance of fabricated grief, and faces a devastating choice: succumb to the comforting lie or confront a truth far more terrible than she could have imagined.

In a terrifying climax beneath City Hall, Miriam and Edward confront the artifact at its epicenter. Surrounded by the echoes of the vanished families, Miriam must choose: embrace blissful ignorance or shatter Allendale’s fragile peace forever. Fueled by love and a fierce determination to reclaim the stolen memories, she makes a desperate gamble, using the artifact’s power against itself. Can she break its hold and awaken Allendale to the truth, even if it means facing the devastating consequences of a long-buried darkness?

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Utgivelsesdato

E-bok: 7. januar 2025