Triamna, the great state of the South of Four-Earth, is on the verge of great changes: its ruler, the Supreme Hierophant, is seriously ill. Sheliara Niraal, the heiress of a once noble family, and Aldan, a university student, live far from the world of big politics and intrigue, trying to deal with the consequences of undergoing the Ritual of Transfiguration. Both of them do not even realize that, together with the Galtian spy Nallar nor Kerrano and the warrior who was nicknamed the Walker-through-Darkness, they will soon take part in events on the outcome of which the future of not only Triamna, but, possibly, the entire Four-Earth will depend.< /p>