The Waking Empire

An ancient empire didn't collapse—it fell asleep. Now it's waking up, and it's looking for Ann. Aelyn Lane—Ann to those few close to her—is eighteen. For as long as she can remember, Ashen Vale has been her world, and her aunt's warnings the law: Don't enter the ruins. Don't touch what glows. Don't ask about the before-times. She's broken every rule. When a strange metallic sphere finds her in the forest, Ann is thrust into a mystery older than the kingdoms that now fight over scraps of land. An ancient civilization is waking up. And somehow, impossibly, its machines recognize her. Now Ann must leave behind the only family she's ever known: the twin nephews she helped raise, the aunt who watched her with fear in her eyes, and the quiet life that was never meant to last. Armed with technology she barely understands and hunted by men who want it for themselves, she'll cross a continent of warring realms to uncover a truth buried for fourteen years. But every answer comes with a price. Every door she opens accelerates a countdown she cannot stop. And the deeper Ann digs into her own past, the more she realizes— Some secrets aren't just hidden. They're waiting. Book One of The Ann Lane series. For readers who love lost civilizations, found family, and protagonists who refuse to let the world burn—even when they might be the spark that lit it.