The witches summon the mighty to Es: Lord Tregarth and his wife, Jaelithe; War Marshal Koris and Lady Loyse of Gorm; the famed adept Hilarion and sorceress Kaththea Tregarth; Dahaun of Green Valley; and many others of power. Allies and former enemies face a crisis greater than the Turning, a threat worse than the Kolder, an apocalypse beyond the Great Disaster. The Magestone, the Key to the pandimensional gates, has been lost to Otherspace...

Now all the gates are open. And an infinite flood of evils is about to wash across the world. The known gates can be warded and watched. But heroes of the Light, chosen by their talents, must dare unknown dangers beyond all charted lands, seeking to close gates in a desperate race against the Dark.

Traveling south of Estcarp and Escore, Keris Tregarth, Destree the Voice of Gunnora, the part-Navajo Lady Eleeri, and their companions join an alien giant to traverse deadly jungles, searching for the lost city of the First Adept.

With Garth Howell fallen to the sway of the Dark, Ibycus the Protector, Firdun of Gryphon Eyrie, the werepard Kethan and their small band must go west of Arvon and the Waste to battle the gate-born Power of the Black Mage. Questing north beyond Alizon and End of the World, as icebergs magically force innocents to the demon isle of Dargh, travel Lord Simond and Lady Trusla of Tor Marsh, guided by the witch Frost and a Latt shaman, to challenge a possessing, all-powerful being who has waited since the dawn of time for her freedom -- and her revenge...

Power and peril lurk at every step, Death will be their companion, and if anyone fails, the Witch World is doomed.