The apocalyptic struggle against the Mein has ended. A victorious Corinn Akaran reigns over the Acacian Empire of the Known World. Bolstered by her mastery of the sorcerous powers contained in the Book of Elenet, she rules with an iron hand. And rebuilding a war-weary empire is not easy. Disturbing news reaches her court from the mysterious Other Lands and Corinn dispatches her brother, Dariel, as her emissary across the uncharted seas of the Grey Slopes. From the moment he sets foot on that distant continent, this former brigand is caught up in a web of ancient rivalries, resentments, intrigue and burgeoning treachery. His arrival ignites a firestorm that once more threatens the Known World with invasion - one that will surely dwarf anything his homeland had yet faced. It seems the wheel turns again, and a new cycle of world-shattering and shaping events is about to begin...