On a ringworld with an artificial sun at its center, where the first men woke up long ago without memories or history, the Holy Church of the Cipher reveres and maintains the divine tools that must have been created by their god that is the ring. Harek and Agnes after surviving their teen-age years together lead a mercenary band on their newest job to assist in the siege of a lord, who in return would gift Agnes his prohibited Book of Runes scribed by the monks of the church, which contains advanced knowledge of the symbols and language that can shape reality itself, which Agnes has only scratched the surface of on her own.