In the far-flung reaches of the Kingdom, where the boundaries of reality blurred with the realm of fantasy, lay a forest so ancient and vast that even the most seasoned cartographers dared not claim full knowledge of its depths.
This was the Verdant Expanse, a lush woodland that stretched for leagues in every direction, its canopy so dense that in many places, sunlight struggled to reach the forest floor.
Just a few miles from the northern enclave's edge, deep within the heart of this primordial forest, stood a mansion. Once a symbol of opulence and power, it now lay in ruins, its former grandeur barely discernible beneath a thick blanket of creeping vines and moss. The mansion's weathered stone walls told silent tales of bygone eras and of secrets long buried and forgotten by the world beyond.
