Generations after a cataclysmic war shattered an empire and forced magic back into the dark ages, the old powers are stirring. Aaron Talus is an archer who prefers to watch the world from a safe distance. When an assassin threatens the crown princess, his team is given a vital mission: Take Princess Raelyn into hiding. They are an unlikely crew. A studious princess with a destiny, a hunted mage with a vendetta, a dutiful soldier with a hidden agenda - and a mysterious scout named Sapphire, whose strange abilities are as intriguing as they are dangerous. But in the depths of the Wistful Wood, the ancient magics of a fallen empire live on. When prophecy casts Aaron and his friends into the suffocating roles of heroes and monsters, they will have to choose: bow to destiny, or chart their own path.