Desmond Lorien is a widower farmer who is infused with the Latency of War, a legendary ability rendering him an unbeatable general. All he wishes, though, is to stay on his secluded farm and avoid the war that is tearing apart his once peaceful existence. Sand is a bitter young bowyer's daughter bent on revenge for her father's senseless murder in that same war. Though unable to affect justice herself or persuade Lorien to help her, she is willing to risk everything. Ayasha is the enslaved concubine of a powerful dictator. While her own past is hidden to her via the drugs that keep her in submission, eventually she will awake, and the world will know her for who she is - the Latent of Empathy, Elise Journey. Lastly, Michelas is an idealistic, reckless mage, who despite being half-blind and stripped of his powers, relentlessly seeks the answer to prophetic visions he's received. In his struggle to unite the four, they all discover to their horror the heavy responsibilities inherit in being legends, the prices that must be paid for wielding power, and the true nature of their world.