Zix is free. As an aethereal, she had been trapped on the floating island of Turace, forced to be drained by machines to help power the Field – the great force that keeps life moving. Not wanting to die before ever experiencing anything beyond the walls of her prison, she escapes, journeying to the world below.

Back on Turace, the caretakers are putting more pressure on the remaining aethereals. As punishment for losing Zix, Commander Samantha Ren is assigned to care for Eid, a young aethereal barely alive and with little energy to help charge the Field. 

Both those below on Basel and up above on Turace soon realize that the dangers around them are far more complex than they believed. The world is dying. Who will save it?

The sky fell down in a storm of earth and flames. The prison isle of Turace is no more, and angels have returned to Basel.

In the wake of Turace’s destruction, there is plenty of blame to be shared. Ren and Tiln are taken prisoner, and each of them is sent to answer for their perceived crimes. Devon, weighed down by guilt, seeks to make things right by calling in old favors. He swears to serve his country as he has before and to defend it against the overwhelming power of the angels.

And the angels do not stand idly by. After hundreds of years of enslavement, the aethereals are finally free, and they intend to remain that way. Zix leads her people back to their home to seize the city and rebuild it to its former glory. But as memories return, so do old resentments. Pieces of a past long forgotten haunt Zix. She tries to move forward, but echoes of old alliances and betrayals cannot be easily set aside.

Prince Ashemir is on the run. As the sixth son in line to the elfin throne, he never considered himself important. He lived his life carelessly, a constant embarrassment to his father. Suddenly, after a deadly coup, he finds himself the only surviving member of his family. Not knowing who he could trust, he ends up hiding in human territory with the help of Isana, a kind-hearted healer who takes pity on him.

Self-doubt plagues them both as conspiracies, poison, and treachery press in from all directions, and yet there is still hope that something good can thrive in spite of it all.