The Kingdom of Endoran is on the brink of war. In the capital of Aelmore, King Edric Almson calls for all able-bodied men and women of fighting age to muster to the city's defense.
A power from the Far Sea Archipelago has landed on the shores of the continent. Its eyeless, earless, tongueless armies sweep across the Alliance of the Five Domains. Few can resist. Most have already fallen. Already Empress Nishanesti of the Far Sea has fixed her seat of power in the White Seclusium of the port city of Llanaga in the southern-most kingdom of Ellandon, alongside her siblings, Tewodros and Wendimu.
The third moon grows closer by the day.
The earth quakes.
Each dawn arrives redder than the last, like flames on the horizon.
But in the Endoranian town of Mistcrown, much is the same as it has always been. The mists still cloak the lowland fields from dusk until noon, the temple bells still ring to mark the hour, and the Clouded Cauldron still serves the best ale in the East District. Life isn't as easy as it used to be before the stretch of the Emerald River beside which the town was built all but dried up. Yet even though crime is on the rise, there's still honest work to be had for those who seek it.
Invasions and wars are problems for the Alliance to worry about. Not regular folk. But there are four in Mistcrown who are anything but normal. They are touched by destiny. Willingly or not, they must face the greatest challenge the world has ever known.
They must defeat empires.
They must conquer flames.