For a thousand years the Skaa slaved in misery and lived in fear. For a thousand years the Lord Ruler, the 'Sliver of Infinity,' reigned with absolute power and ultimate terror, destroying hope. Then, a terribly scarred, heart-broken half-Skaa rediscovered it in the depths of the Lord Ruler's most hellish prison. Kel's plan looks more like the ultimate long shot, until luck brings a ragged girl named Vin into his life. Like him, she's a half-Skaa orphan, but she's lived a much harsher life. She will have to learn to trust, if Kel is to help her master powers of which she never dreamed. This saga dares to ask a simple question: What if the hero of prophecy fails?