A nine-hundred-year-old man, a long-dead mentor, a series of riddles. Ahern, the High Omit, Ooon's most powerful wizard, narrates the final century of his life, a period of a growing three-way conflict between himself, the edicts of the Old Ways, and the Jaze, who would destroy him. Externally, Ahern's task is to find an apprentice and train him to be the next High Omit, before his life ends. The magic granting him a millennium will ultimately expire, and he will die. He knows the exact moment. Internally, Ahern must reconcile Jume's (his mentor's) training, personality, and prior actions.

And what did a dying Jume mean when he said, "Here is the path's beginning. One day you will come, long after my bones are dust. You will stand and face west, then you will walk." He took several breaths. "Do not forget." The light faded from his eyes. He exhaled: "Eeul." He was gone. What is Eeul? Ahern asked himself. The word is unusual. Why did the Master expend his last breath on "Eeul"? He scoured his memory for meaning, for allusion. He uncovered none. He headed west. They headed west.