Lyra wakes up to find her father's legendary sword lying on her table. When she runs to ask him what it means, she finds he has been attacked by one of Hypnos' mechanical owl-bots and is too weakened to defend the valley any further. Lyra learns that she must become the new Defender of Wydran. The village doctor confirms the scale of the threat: Hypnos is an ancient being of mind control whose power is spreading, and his goal is to enslave every mind in the world. Stopping him before that happens is Lyra's job now.