Genesis is a perilous trial, full of grueling conditions, vicious traps, bloodthirsty beasts, and ruthless competitors. Too bad nobody remembers it long enough to warn future initiants about the danger.

Sixteen-year-old Jonny Leferd has always dreamed of creating a fireball and crushing stones with his bare hands. He lives in Vitalia, a city of conjurers hidden deep in the Rocky Mountains, and it's his turn to be an initiant at Genesis, where he'll warp to the Chaos Realm and acquire his amps. Amps manifest as tattoos that give the bearer incredible powers on Earth, and hundreds of them are hidden in the ten temples on Mount Frazen. Jonny's spent years training for this opportunity, and he's ready to seize it-but the stakes skyrocket when his older brother, Trent, is kidnapped just weeks before the trial begins.

The culprit, Adrian Kelley, is a rogue conjurer and the only initiant to have reached the tenth temple. It's a tremendous and mystifying achievement that Jonny must copy if he's to defeat Adrian, even if so many others before him have failed. But he soon realizes that Genesis is a more treacherous rite of passage than he had ever imagined...and even his immense courage and skill might not be enough to save him-or the girl he loves.