Following a terrible war that buried their empires in fire, survivors fled to a new home across the terrifying sea. Drawn to the great abandoned Obsidian City, ringed in strange black walls with a dark tower reaching high into the heavens, they find haven. Adrian Korien, born to this new world and to a people who distrust old nobility and gods, spends his days dreaming of adventures.
While learning the family way from his father, Adrian also trains in the local guild. Lead by Eyldr, the long-lived inhabitants of this new world, Adrian is taught why the north men fear the southern lands. Curses and poisoned land, men driven mad, and beasts growing grotesque beyond the forests and mountains fill their legends.