There is order and there is chaos. One good: one not. This is an absolute, instilled in everyone. Straightforward. And initially, in a remote village, in a realm heavy and old where Alentir grows up, that seems so. Till Elexdreur: till he gets caught in an internal world that increasingly diverges from unwanted external events. After a period of incarceration he leaves his homeland to traverse Kolchin - its forests, waters and passes - till he reaches the lands beneath the high peaks. There he finds a knowledge long-distilled and a corruption newly arrived.