Eight years have passed since the cataclysmic end of the Antarian Empire's War of Expansion, a conflict that very nearly crippled the Core Worlds Collective. Emperor Indarys is not finished with the Collective, however, and after years of devious maneuvering has decided to launch a second unprovoked invasion.
Fearing the ramifications of another devastating war, the Ancient Council, the Collective's ruling senate of mages, decides to invoke the practice of gathering powerful magical items to combat high-tier threats. Amid the quickly-escalating conflict, agents of the Collective are sent forth to seek out enchanted artifacts in the hopes of ending the war before it spirals out of control. Serine, apprentice to Arch Wizard Juriel of the Ancient Council, is dispatched to a remote location to acquire one such treasure, only to find that other parties and sinister forces have the same idea...
When the expedition goes awry, Serine finds herself fallen in with a pirate crew; treasure-hunting pirates who have their own reasons for seeking the artifacts and their own mysterious connection to the events of the previous War of Expansion. Together they must face the Antarian Empire, the dangers of a vast fantasy universe, and the arrival of a supernatural threat bearing a grudge from a time long past.