Lucas Higgins has spent his life studying the past… because it's safer than the present. A reserved historian at King's College London, Lucas believes history should be observed, not lived. Ancient civilisations, lost empires, unanswered myths, they belong on the page, not in the blood. But when a missing NASA scientist leaves behind a trail pointing to the Amazon rainforest, Lucas is pulled out of his carefully constructed isolation and into a mystery that refuses to stay academic. What begins as a scholarly curiosity becomes something far darker. Hidden beneath Inca ruins and erased from official history lies a secret powerful enough to rewrite humanity's origins. As Lucas follows the clues, constellations carved into stone, symbols older than recorded language, he realises he has not been invited to solve a puzzle. He has been chosen. Hunted by forces that have guarded this knowledge for centuries, Lucas must confront more than ancient mechanisms and buried truths. He must face the personal failures he has spent a lifetime avoiding, love left unspoken, loyalties betrayed, and the cost of always standing safely on the side-lines. Because this time, knowledge is not enough. And understanding the past may decide whether the future survives.