The Illichaean Empire is in turmoil... From the outer regions of the world, obsessions, or troubles, as the indigenous inhabitants of the capital city of Lonvar call them, are increasingly penetrating into it. Troubles are products of human fear of otherworldly forces. The stronger the fear, the more real the trouble. Some of them feed on human emotions, while others do not disdain human flesh. And only battle magicians are able to resist the invasion of embodied obsessions. The young battle mage Temra was initially lucky. He destroyed the moroka before it had time to suck out a human soul, or even feast on human flesh. But even the luckiest magician sooner or later has to face an even luckier enemy...