Orphaned and alone in the world, Arvin heads to the only place desperate enough to take him: the camp of a war chief. Though the elders in charge of assignments aren't impressed with Arvin, the war chief himself, Evrick, finds his alchemy skills and unique way of solving problems interesting-and possibly useful.

With the help of his brilliant wife Visteria-who has goals of her own-Evrick plans to raise Vastard from its humble standings into a legitimate Fourteenth Kingdom, equal to Greenshade and Tyrrane in power. He sets Arvin to solve a mystery locked below the sand in an ancient underground ruin, a source of power unlike anything any of them have ever seen.

When Arvin and Visteria make a breakthrough, their celebration is cut violently short by the arrival of a vicious, unkillable race of beings that quickly ravage the human army: the Chromium. Now Arvin and Visteria must use all of their skills to thwart the rise of the Chromium or the Fourteenth Kingdom will fade before it ever has a chance to shine. And the chromium will spread across the Thirteen Kingdoms destroying all in their wake, and possibly beyond.

Their time is running out.