Years past, the Child-Goddess Aphrael had hidden Bhelliom, the Stone of Power. It rested at the very bottom of the deepest ocean, that nevermore should its awesome power sing temptation to mortal men.

Then a menace arose, a malign force wielding incomprehensible destruction across all the lands. To halt that force of evil, Sparhawk, knight and queen's champion, set out to retrieve the sapphire rose from its briny sleep--even as his foes sought the gem for their own diabolical ends. Sparhawk and his loyal companions must find the Stone and safeguard it, both from those who sought to steal it and from the horrors those evildoers had already loosed upon the world.

The most feared of all the monsters that terrorized Tamuli were the Shining Ones: dreaded, glowing beings whose mere touch could melt human flesh from bone. All too soon, Sparhawk and his companions found themselves stalked by those fell creatures out of myth. For the Shining Ones, too, had designs on Bhelliom--designs that would change the very shape of the world. . . .