A good-hearted young prince learns that much of his life has been a lie. Battling a fire-breathing dragon to save his people from starvation sets into motion a chance meeting with a mysterious boy, who has a penchant for appearing out of no where and dispensing wisdom far beyond what would be expect from one so young, and a young female thief who stole the robes of an Emerald Sister in her journey North. Betrayed by his child-hood friend Marric, Ash struggles to survive against a battalion of Hylaen soldiers, and prevent a coup of his father, King Alric's kingdom of Larutte in the northern expanse of Daelia, a father who may in many ways be just as bad as the Mad King Caelen of Hylaea to the south.