Anika Borodine, the Imperator's niece, brings Aleksi Stassik to the Epicenter, the heart of the terrible cataclysm that ravaged the Azbuska region 15 years earlier. In the ruins of the orphanage where Aleksi spent part of his childhood, he finds answers to questions about his origins and troubled past. But Aleksi's deep-seated powers, coveted by others, will end up being more terrifying and destructive than anyone could ever have imagined.