Mikal despised the idea of working with an Imperial, for reasons both personal and political, but only the invaders' magic could repair the artifact weapon that was the last link to a family he'd left behind. Rian was a magician by trade, trying to escape the obligations of his noble birth, and the life his family planned out for him. Living incognito at the border of Imperial territory, he found his solitude interrupted by a mysterious visitor with an impossible commission. Their meeting will set in motion a chain of events that will irrevocably alter everything they know of the world, and set their two civilizations on a course to ruin.