Twenty years have passed since the overthrow of the augurs, rulers who drew their power from foreseeing the future. One day the future closed in front of them, and, not wanting to lose power, they gradually went crazy from their own helplessness. Now there are no augurs, and all people who have at least a semblance of magical ability are under constant control, bound by the four doctrines. Davian is one of these gifted ones, a victim of a war that ended before he was born. Davian has no future, he is doomed to eternal contempt and slavery. Moreover, as it turns out, of all the possible abilities, he has only one: the same foresight that almost destroyed the world and then disappeared. But the future is treacherous, changeable, and this discovery sets off a chain of events that will lead to the most unexpected consequences and many deaths. And in the west, in the forest, a strange man comes to consciousness. He doesn't remember who he is; doesn’t remember his name, his clothes are stained with someone else’s blood, and it seems that even his own thoughts at times do not belong to him... The paths of the stranger and Davian will soon cross, and together they will have to find out that there is a danger in the world much worse than the rule of mad augurs.