As he turned the pages, he felt a strange, magnetic pull to the illustrations. He saw the , representing the eternal cycle of life and the sun. He turned to the Valkyrie , a symbol of protection and wisdom. Further in, he found the Symbol of Rod , the primordial creator, looking like a star with circles at the end of its rays.

Outside, the white stag let out a thunderous bell that echoed through the concrete jungle, signaling the dawn of a new, forgotten age.

The heavy iron lock clicked, and the door to the attic groaned open, releasing a cloud of dust that shimmered in the late afternoon sun. Mark stepped into the room, his eyes scanning the stacks of forgotten relics his grandfather had left behind. Among the broken gramophones and covered furniture, a small, leather-bound chest caught his eye.

Mark backed away from the window, tripping over his chair. He scrambled to his desk and opened his laptop. The screen flickered violently. He looked at the download counter for his file. It wasn't in the dozens. It wasn't even in the thousands. The counter was spinning so fast the numbers were a blur. Millions of people across the globe were downloading the book at that very second.

Inside lay a heavy, ancient book with a dark wooden cover. There was no title on the spine, only an intricate, burned-in symbol of a rotating sun with hooked rays. Mark ran his fingers over the grooves. He didn't know it yet, but he was holding a relic of the Old Gods.