Rikard always dreamed of wielding one of the arcane Devices created by the enigmatic Guild of Artificers. Newly apprenticed into the Guild, he is now on the verge of mastering the closely-guarded secrets of creating the Devices. But when one of the Guild’s most venerable Wards is mysteriously activated, Rikard and his fellow apprentices are concerned. What ancient menace has returned a millennium after the Ward was created? Why are the Guild Grandmasters concealing the warning? When Rikard and his friends find themselves in possession of a secret they never wanted, a dark truth hidden even from the Guild Masters, Rikard realizes their fate, and the fate of the Guild itself, rests in their hands.