Through a swath of forest in the country of Nell, a young Neledar named Percivine Ogthorne scampers desperately from his pursuers: dark beings called Argoms. He fights for his life and, in narrowly escaping, discovers a grand fate looming over him—a fate tied to the secret life of his older brother Sirien, a fate that will have reverberations throughout a land held hostage by a powerful and nefarious Argom.

Alongside a Warlock named Seleborn and an exiled Elf named Fariun, Percivine comes to learn the depths to which his homeland Nell is under attack. Leader of the Argom race, Talus the Dark, now puppeteers the mind of the Landseer, continuing an ancient and bitter rivalry begun when Argoms were long ago defeated.

With Talus’s dark influence, an agreement is made that will allow Argoms to live in Nellian society without any repercussions, angering a large number of Neledar. Yet with the disappearance of the Royal Family, Talus now has free reign to operate as he pleases—all in the service of an even higher, more mysterious power.