When Carthenne Rel first came to Nyaesh, she feared the A'ras. Now she trains with them, struggling to use the magic they teach, and cut off from the shadow blessing within her. Isolated for her differences, she has only a few friends among the other students. When the strange and powerful Master Invar offers to teach her to access the powers warring within her, Carth is isolated even more.

As the deadly Reshian attack the city, Carth discovers a secret, one linked to the shadows she must suppress, and the combination of her magic becomes key to the A'ras survival. She needs to master her abilities as an even more dangerous threat appears, one that changes everything she's become, and challenges everything she knows about her past.