In the wake of a roiling continental conflict, refugee Scipio Kalataunus finds himself enlisted for Avengard's war effort. As a bid to fuel his ambition of someday becoming a master mason and building his own masterpiece, he enlists in the far-off War College of Engineering as a Sapper. The war, ever hungry, comes to a head as the Empire of Sevisk and its dragonriders conquer Avengard, turning Scipio's sister into yet another prisoner. Scipio invents a deadly new weapon with the help of an Exiled God, deserts the War College, and joins an unlikely band of adventurers as they make their way back to the broken city of Avengard so that he may find his family and save his loved ones -- or die trying.