On a large island in a world called Brin, tensions run high between native tribes, colonial settlers, underground wizards, and gods from other worlds. Tenka is a warrior of the desert cliff dwellers, mostly unbothered by the peoples from across the sea, but when they attack her tribe she volunteers to leave family and home to follow a prophet and find a way to be free of the newcomers once and for all. Krii, an exile from a secretive underground people who horde the world's knowledge to themselves, lives a care free life in a lakeside town, until a combination of disturbing news, changing relationships, and a momentary lapse in judgement push him away from his life and home. Sharn, nephew to a tribal chief and ambassador to a group of coastal settlers, struggles to keep peace between the two peoples. Then a giant creature emerges from the sky carrying in its belly legendary gods of ancient story, bringing with them their own ideas of peace, justice, and worship, upending Sharn's whole world and his tribe's long held beliefs. With cultures crumbling from within and without, and strangers invading and taking more and more, who does their world belong to? Who decides right from wrong? And when the dust settles, who chooses the fate of the old worlds and the new?