In the human realm of Cedirc, an assassination attempt is made on on the king on the eve of an important treaty signing, leaving King Alfred DeCarren near death. Unaware of events in the capitol, the king's children make ready to receive the Eno'Kalian delegates in the port city of Aldar, even as forces conspire to stop the foreigners arrival. Meanwhile, far away in their sacred forest, an ilvarri patrol discovers that the gal'roth - twisted, evil creatures - are not as close to extinction as thought decades before. Recovering from near eradication in the wake of the Cataclysm centuries before, they must either turn to the humans of Cedirc, or try to defeat this enemy on their own. Though separated by hundreds of leagues, these two events are connected, and the choices made by each party will have a lasting impact not only on themselves, but on the others as well. Old biases and hatreds will have to be overcome for all to survive, or none will. For all the while, another force works in the shadows, helping both sides and none, their agenda known only to themselves as an old threat, long cast aside in memory, begins to reemerge...