The tale of the Burned One, a mad noble who demanded children's lives as tribute and sought eternal life, is told in a forgotten corner of the former Austro-Hungarian Empire.

An amateur folklorist hears it while wandering the Balkans following the end of the Great War and tries to trace its origins. She is driven, by a compulsion beyond reason and explanation, to find what truth, if any, lies behind this unbelievable story.

She will find it in a ruined palace, secluded deep in a forgotten part of that lost empire. What else she finds there is beyond all belief. It will change her, forever.