No one knows how the magic apocalypse happened, or where it began, but for decades the land has been left to languish under the plague of wild curses. Outside the walls of what few kingdoms remain, dark horrors lurk among the endless night. Within them, mages work tirelessly to keep the encroaching curses at bay, while armies train and stand at the ready. When the princess goes missing, a knight with a curse of his own is summoned to venture into the accursed waste. The king offers to set him free should return with what he is certain will be his daughter''''s remains. What he finds instead is a journey most perilous, a guide most unusual, and a secret most heartbreaking.