Brothers, Etan and Tad, have grown up in comfortable seclusion, protected by their mother. Now adults, their paths will take them away from family, village and each other to be schooled in opposing magical systems and beliefs and steeped in hatred fostered by centuries-long enmity.Tad is sent on a mysterious quest to find the Stone. He has no idea what it is or who to trust. He soon learns that men of untold power, the Quatists, want to destroy the Stone before it can take back its control over the world and that one of the most powerful Quatists that has ever lived, his father, is seeking to destroy him. Tad meets impossible characters who destroy the very fabric of the Science he has always been taught, as he finds himself caught up in a revolt against Quatist rule.Etan is schooled in the mind-bending ways of Quat only to realize that the very men who have mentored him would slaughter him and his family if they knew the significance of his true identity.Tad must find a mythical Stone. Etan must assimilate into the Quatist establishment, to conceal and discover more about his parents. They both must succeed for the fate of the world hangs in the balance.