Like his parents before him, Jake Hawkins dreams of enlisting in the ranks of the Interstellar Alliance to become one of the Awakened—legendary soldiers capable of wielding the very energy that shapes the fabric of the universe itself. But those dreams are crushed when Jake is branded as one of the most talentless cadets the Royal Military Academy has seen in generations, and he's written off as a failure before his journey even begins. However, when his group of trainees is unexpectedly thrust into one life-or-death battle after another, Jake quickly learns that raw talent means little to nothing on the battlefield. With every deadly encounter, Jake inches closer to overcoming his initial limitations, and in a universe consumed by endless war, the frontlines are never that far away.