Thousands of years ago, one of Sherath's distant ancestors refused to take on a quest. The task has to be done - it's vitally important - but nobody knows exactly what it is. Their race is dying out, and time is running out; and until Sherath comes into his full powers, he can't do it anyway. They have been waiting three hundred years for the saviour spoken of in an ancient prophecy to lead them on a long journey to adulthood and open the doors for them. But their saviour, and the key to success, turns out to be a volatile teenager from modern-day Earth. Sherath has hundreds of years of education in how to use the Power he will have as an adult, with little access to it as yet. Farinka, on the other hand, has access to vast amounts of Power, but no training in how to use it, what can and can't be done, and what is dangerous to try!

Volume 1: Pickpocketing Living in secret and stealing to eat is a hard life , but it's all Kuro has ever known. Fear and necessity honed him from a young age into the finest young thief in in the wizard kingdoms. Nobody can hide forever, though, and a run of poor luck lands Kuro in a place where his quick hands and quiet feet count for nothing: Avalon Academy, school of magic. Out of his depth and unable to escape, can Kuro find a place among the other misfits at the school, or will his past return to ruin the one chance he has to leave his life in the shadows?