Siox Dia Mont, a Veniorian knight serving on the Wall of Freedom separating the northern lands from the southern, is attacked by his younger brother Luca trying to escape to the south. His investigation into the cause of his brother's actions leads him to the city of Jakerd, where Luca had been training as an artist. There he learns about Luca's conversion to the perverted cult of the Goddess Esun-Liah, and is introduced to Lien Tuna.
His closest friend Regeda, another knight, informs the authorities of his intention to follow Luca in defiance of a ban. Siox faces a severe sentence in a quarry.
The night before he is due to be taken to prison, his king speaks of their god Sedon's plans for Siox - plans that sow the first seeds of doubt about the rectitude of this divinity the young disgraced knight had venerated all his life.
From the Back Cover
Spirits are imprisoned in the darkness of Azad. The Zamelgoths travel north to retrieve the Sacred Inscriptions. Those transformed by the wizard king await the awakening of Dhrazma. A southern warrior has been sent to a penal quarry with his secrets. Arconians have taken an oath of silence whose secret remains a mystery even to themselves. The Meglions pay a price to learn the truth. The Silents have made an everlasting pact with the gods. Two pirate brothers dream of an island with no gods. The Dark Empress shakes Giddar. A Sheilan woman abandons her homeland, repudiating all that she had believed in. The Priestesses of Dvorlak toil ceaselessly in the forest for their goddess.
A three-thousand-year-old legend burgeons anew on Giddar as reality is reformed...
As yet unaware of all this, Siox Dia Mont gazes southward over the Wall of Freedom...
Siox Dia Mont, a Veniorian knight serving on the Wall of Freedom separating the northern lands from the southern, is attacked by his younger brother Luca trying to escape to the south. His investigation into the cause of his brother's actions leads him to the city of Jakerd, where Luca had been training as an artist. There he learns about Luca's conversion to the perverted cult of the Goddess Esun-Liah, and is introduced to Lien Tuna.
His closest friend Regeda, another knight, informs the authorities of his intention to follow Luca in defiance of a ban. Siox faces a severe sentence in a quarry.
The night before he is due to be taken to prison, his king speaks of their god Sedon's plans for Siox - plans that sow the first seeds of doubt about the rectitude of this divinity the young disgraced knight had venerated all his life.
From the Back Cover
Spirits are imprisoned in the darkness of Azad. The Zamelgoths travel north to retrieve the Sacred Inscriptions. Those transformed by the wizard king await the awakening of Dhrazma. A southern warrior has been sent to a penal quarry with his secrets. Arconians have taken an oath of silence whose secret remains a mystery even to themselves. The Meglions pay a price to learn the truth. The Silents have made an everlasting pact with the gods. Two pirate brothers dream of an island with no gods. The Dark Empress shakes Giddar. A Sheilan woman abandons her homeland, repudiating all that she had believed in. The Priestesses of Dvorlak toil ceaselessly in the forest for their goddess.
A three-thousand-year-old legend burgeons anew on Giddar as reality is reformed...
As yet unaware of all this, Siox Dia Mont gazes southward over the Wall of Freedom...