After years of desperate search, the human rebel Sofie Renast has finally tracked down her younger brother Emile to the Kavalla death camps. Like her murdered parents, Sofie is an Ophion rebel against the tyrannical regime of the Asteri. The Kavalla death camps are where human prisoners are incarcerated and tortured. Humans have almost no civil rights in Midgard because they lack magic. The Asteri came to Midgard 15,000 years ago and are believed to be raw power, living stars themselves. The humans and their allies have been waging war against the Asteri in some form for the last 15,000 years but have never sustained victory.

Sofie is the rare human with Vanir (magical) abilities, which have been enhanced because she (illegally) made the Drop into immortality. Making the Drop is a rite of passage in which the Vanir pass through the Gates of Death to gain longer lives. Sofie rounds up Emile and other children to escape the camp. Agent Silverbow, Sofie’s senior in the Ophion rebellion, is waiting outside the camps to accompany them to Servast, the port across Kavalla from where the humans can escape safely. The guards are now at the heels of the group, having caught the human scent of the children.