When Witch King and Fourth Prince of the underearth, Kaiisteron—just Kai to his many powerful friends and strange relations—awakens to find himself a prisoner in an underwater stronghold, he has no idea how he got there. Upon learning that his closest ally, the wind Witch Ziede, is also imprisoned, Kai affects a spectacular escape not only from his bonds, but from his very body.

This is not the first time he has accomplished such a trick, in a narrative that gradually brings together plot lines past and present. Magic-wielding expositors, terrifying monsters, haughty holy warriors, crafty politicians, and unimaginably powerful outlander wizards bent on world domination are among Kai’s opponents. He finds himself as much at war with his own demonic nature as with his enemies, reliant on allies old and new to solve the mystery of who imprisoned him, and why. As a conspiracy is gradually uncovered at the highest levels of the Rising World, the empire Kai helped found, questions outnumber answers and dangers threaten from unexpected directions.