In an ancient era, magic flowed through the world and was protected by wardens who had sworn oaths to guard it. One warden broke that oath — driven by envy and hunger for power, he performed a dark ritual to claim the magic exclusively for himself. The magic was consumed by the act of taking it. The curse remained in the forbidden lands where the ritual was performed, and has remained there ever since. Keely has spent years dreaming of the journey to those lands — to understand what the First Wardens were, and what was lost. When fate offers the opening he has been waiting for, he takes it.