It has been thirteen millennia since The Shattering, and two worlds that had once been one are now barreling towards an unavoidable collision within The Nexus. Here on Earth we are blissfully unaware of the impending doom, but not on Aerth. The First Mother has long known that only one world can pass through The Nexus, and that the survivor will be determined in a battle between two Champions. What she had never expected was that Aerth's Champion would be... a man. But then, Gabriel had never really thought of himself as the Champion type either. Earth's Valerie, however, has been training for this ultimate conflict her entire life. She just never knew it. Steered to Iceland by the discovery of a strange crystalline artifact in her grandparents' house-and followed by a mysterious, genderless stranger-Val is soon to discover that everything she once held as true will be turned around, twisted inside out, and ripped apart. When the Champions do finally confront one another, they learn that the ultimate fight for survival will require them to overcome forces far greater than either could ever have imagined... and endure sacrifices neither is willing to make.