Cody Carpenter never desired to dwell in a land where walking and talking are prohibited; sleeping and eating are neither required nor desired, and night comes but darkness doesn't.

Cody is quite content to remain in Betugonna Missit, a quaint town few people have ever wanted to visit. Then, a most unfortunate event occurs and a disappearing draft notice appears. Suddenly Cody is required to report to a world that most people have never believed existed.

At an almost abandoned academy, dueling directions, water-walking tournaments and a hero's destiny awaits Cody, but so does a brush with death that reminds him: he has already died.