The shadows of each night drew closer. Silver faded to black. Time was slipping away.

Red ash falls, smothering the city’s grimy streets—and Eila’s dream of joining the rebellion against the tyrannical rule of the Cernite Order. It is the time of testing, when those with magical gifts are plucked from their homes, torn from their families, and their futures destroyed in an instant. Eila fears the Order will seize the one person she cannot afford to lose.

†††

Far to the north, Aiden’s father is struck down by a dark spirit, a harbinger of the long-prophesied war that will decide the fate of all humankind. Aiden doesn’t care about the oracles’ predictions; he just wants to save his father. To do so, he must steal a precious relic from the Cernite Order…though that act may trigger the very prophecy he is trying to ignore.

†††

Eila and Aiden’s fates are linked in ways neither can foresee. Together, they could stop the coming apocalypse—or unleash it.