Long shrouded in the mists of forgotten lore, a forbidden ritual has risen anew to cast its shadow over the world. Born of despair and tempered by obsession, the Baron of Stratna has devoted the very essence of his being to assembling an arcane puzzle whose reward is as alluring as it is perilous. Yet, in a twist of fate, his life becomes entwined with another's-a connection as unforeseen as it is vital. The same force that ensnared the young man in its inexorable grasp may yet prove to be the only hope of his deliverance.

The Artan legacy, both venerated and feared, stands unmatched among the disciplines of arcana. Its practitioners dare to call it a science, though what science can summon fire at a whim, command the weight of the heavens, or unleash cataclysmic devastation with but a thought? No more than a tool in the hands of its wielder, its morality is forged in the crucible of intention. And now, at the towering heights of Highsummit Manor, this fearsome legacy may serve as the final bastion for a young magian determined to protect all that he holds sacred.