The Mentite War is now behind him, but Matthieu Sartonné finds himself in another company of holy warriors, bound for a frontier only known to him in legend.
Global Church converts in the western Qenshi States fear once again the armies of their southern neighbors, and the nations of the Southern Coalition have responded to their call. It hardly matters that joining them saved Matthieu from the Grand Inquiry in Ossir, as the desire for a better world still grips him as strongly as ever. But now he has seen not only the perfection of the Bathala's island but the false paradise of Cyrnne, and questions the ability of imperfect beings to create anything that is not even more flawed than they are.
This new world is one where the Global Church, under its officers and lords, works to transform a nation into one after its own pattern. What was once a tense stalemate now stands at the brink of open warfare unlike anything the land of Virjatal has seen in decades. Meanwhile, an impoverished priest takes Matthieu into his service, unaware that forces beyond their control threaten to undo everything they seek to mend.
In a land where the work of salvation and the work of death are so closely mingled, how can one man hope to stand against the current of the times?