Archibald D'Enure, a former Archmage who returned from "honorable retirement", decided to take upon himself the responsibility of integrating the elven people into the life of the Empire, so that they would not be threatened with genocide. But the mind of a three-hundred-year old man can fail him at any moment, because he was promised no more than seven years of conscious life... Of all the known means, only one can help his mind remain sharp as in the past - the Vial of the Last Breath: a powerful object that gives the right to command Life and Death. But how to find an object that even in legends is mentioned only once, and its owner, the Nameless God, is the god of deceit and deals, a god without a sanctuary? Luckily, there are two lesser gods who know exactly how to find him. This means that the path of the Archmage and his students lies to the north, to the knightly lands, to their sanctuaries...