In a realm whose many civilizations have turned on one another after years of cultural intolerance, greed, and bloody battles for power, Aurelia Brentwood serves as Queen of Akkinor, the realm's most influential nation. Her reign is interrupted by an uprising orchestrated by those who prefer to see a man on the throne. Alone and betrayed, Aurelia makes the harrowing journey to the western continent of Carthe: a treacherous, unfamiliar place predisposed to hatred of Akkinorians. Aurelia must put her faith in strangers as she travels to Taundosa, the City of Gold, in search of allies and answers.
As Aurelia's negative opinions of Carthe and its people change throughout her journey, she's given the opportunity to make history by securing the allies she needs to defeat her enemies. At the same time, she realizes that her own subjects are not the only ones desperately in need of a just, selfless ruler. The people she once viewed as heathens and barbarians are now turning to the Queen of Akkinor for salvation - all while the people of Akkinor wonder if their true leader will ever return to rescue them from a usurper's cruelty. What begins as a quest to reclaim her throne becomes the fulfillment of something long forgotten by all: an individual's ability to restore peace to the realm by accomplishing the unknown. Aurelia's story becomes the catalyst for a chain reaction of events that threaten to tear the realm apart even further - or, if the gods are kind, to unite the realm as never seen before.