Wenzel is a quiet, shy boy who harbors a secret. Said secret is, that he is a “sorcerer”, i.e. he can use magic, which would normally land him at the stake. To prevent this, his soul (to which his magical power is also bound) was separated from his body and sealed in a mysterious pendant. His older brother Aurel has the task of keeping it safe. Wenzel, whose body always longs for his soul, occasionally steals the pendant, which gives him visions of the future. Wenzel hates his dominant brother, who is always mean to him.
Our protagonist makes his first friend in Peter, who is the only person he tells his secret to. Peter urges him to write a love letter to Amalie, a girl he has a crush on, but in the end she never replies. During a visit to their parents, where we get an impression of their strictness, the two brothers have an argument in the course of which Aurel inadvertently reveals to his younger brother that he has only been adopted.
The aforementioned parents soon urge Peter to have less and less contact with Wenzel. As a result, Wenzel sneaks out of the boarding school more often and visits Mr. Albrecht, the only one of his teachers who likes him and who he trusts. During one of his visits to him, he also witnesses a witch burning in the town, which shakes him to the core.
At the same time, there is an organized resistance by the Ordanian people against the current ruling regime, which adheres to Alethism, an ideology that is strongly hostile to the “Old Believers”, which is the majority denomination in Ordania. The Old Believers worships Melgar, the first emperor of the Ordanian Empire, as their “ Chosen One”, a messianic figure. The so-called Martyrs' Brigades, led by Theodor, offer armed resistance from the shadows and seem to be gaining more and more support from the common people.
One day, Wenzel is spotted by members of this organization as he unwisely practices magic in public. As a result, he is kidnapped by them, but they immediately release him as they recognize him as their new Chosen One. He does not want to join them. Soon afterwards, however, Wenzel catches his brother in flagrante delicto with Amalie. This enrages him so much that he loses control of his magical powers and unintentionally kills Aurel. This forces him to flee and he seeks refuge with the Martyrs' Brigades.
He joins them and is introduced to Theodor and the intelligent and crafty August as his right-hand man. The Teleiotic Church (=“Old Believers Church”) recognizes him as the new Chosen One and Wenzel learns from them that there are actually no other magicians apart from him and that the witch hunts in Ordania primarily serve the purpose of destroying all opponents/critics of the regime.
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Wenzel also gets 2 bodyguards: Brahm and Isidor. He learns sword fighting from them. However, Isidor soon betrays them and tries to steal Wenzel's pendant. This attempt fails, however, and the thief is killed while trying to deliver it to the royal house. Wenzel is now very unsettled, especially as he had learned from August that the leader of the organization, Theodor, supposedly has his own agenda and is not trustworthy. Consequently, Wenzel visits him, reads his mind and can thus assure himself that he is indeed trustworthy.
Meanwhile, the current King of Ordania succumbs to illness and his wife succeeds him as regent. Queen Katharina now wants to enter into negotiations with the increasingly powerful rebels. This is unacceptable to the rest of the influential people at court. After they also learn from the royal advisor Gabriela that Wenzel, a devil's child with magic and the new Chosen One of the rebels, is the biological son of the current regent, they organize a coup. As a result, Catherine and her eldest son die and Gabriela is installed as regent for her son Lucius.
All these things cause great discord in Ordania and beyond, whereupon the Martyrs' Brigades take their big leap with “Operation Evenfall”. They take the old capital Meglarsbruck. There, Wenzel is once again confronted with his “parents”, whose thoughts he reads, through which he learns his true parentage. This upsets him so emotionally that he has another outburst of his magic, which injures August's leg. August would never forgive him for this.
The revolution was now in full swing and the Martyrs' Brigades mobilize the “People's Army” to besiege Greifenburg. Eventually they are able to take the fortified town, as Field Marshal Etzel fails to stop them. They proclaim the “Holy Ordanian Empire”, while the Old Regime gathers all its forces to fight the great decisive battle at Archfeld.However, Theodor's army also wins this battle brilliantly. Afterwards, they even fend off an invasion by the Kashar Hordes from the east, during which Theodor loses a hand.
While all this is going on, Wenzel rescues the girl Amalie, who has been taken hostage by Gabriela. In the process, however, his pendant is destroyed and he is reunited with his soul. Amalie now stays in the palace in Meglarsbruck for a while and she and Wenzel grow closer and eventually fall in love. Wenzel is soon crowned emperor, although he has relatively little actual power.
Prior to this, the main character's parents had died in prison, with Wenzel suspecting that August was behind it. Wenzel has a vision of his assassination by August, something he KNOWS will eventually occur. They thus prophylactically frame August with false accusations and have him executed for treason. However, Petra, who is pregnant with August's child, is able to escape from the palace.