For more than a century, silent animosity has reigned between the Republic of Dulma and the Empire of Lakes. No goods cross their mountain border, no people set foot in rival lands. Some believe their ways are too different to coexist — that the Cocha of the Republic, superior in body and strictly adhering to their stringent philosophy, the Trinity Principle, cannot understand the Humans of the Empire and their worship of the Maker.

The Cocha are born Human, but they do not stay Human. They change, becoming stronger, faster, long of life, different. Honor and etiquette they hold dear, and they shun the firearm for the sword. As well, their Trinity Principle is like no religion in the world. The Cocha call it a guide, and recognize no divinity.

Many Humans view the Cocha with envy and mistrust, none more so than in the Empire of Lakes. How are the Cocha more advanced, more powerful, when they reject The Maker Himself? Again and again, emperors have thrown their armies against the Republic, seeking its riches, and time after time they are repulsed. Yet the Cocha do not pursue. They only watch, and wait, while the rulers of the Empire lick their wounds, and brood, and plan.

Some believe another war is only a matter of time.

Now a chance for true peace emerges. A young Cocha, Eden Ormazz, ambitious but untested, is chosen by the Imperator, ruler of the Republic, to convey a message of peace to the amenable Arch-Minister of the Empire, who has the ear of the new Emperor. Aided by his closest friend and confidant, Avir Ariman, Eden leaves the safety of his home for the alien land of the Empire. In this Human world of nobles and intrigue, fanatic devotion and forbidden weapons, Eden will find among his allies and enemies monsters waiting in the dark — monsters willing to bring death upon all the world, for the chance to kill that once thought divine.

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