An epic antediluvian fantasy about the struggle between power and free will—and what happens when the chosen make choices of their own. Ranian is finishing the final hunt of his servitude to a shepherd merchant when a Firesong shudders through his mind. Elva, a Bell Maiden in training, hears it while aiming a knife at an assassin’s heart. Imebron’s studies are upended when the music passes through his body. A Firesong of such strength hasn’t been heard in millennia, not since the Sundering tore the world into its Five Realms. It can only mean that a danger of corresponding magnitude is approaching . . . if it’s not already here. The godly Authority has given its warning signs, and the Resonant have a decision to make: Will the three strangers abandon everything—including their values—to fulfill their calling to protect the Realms?