Broken. That's what the world is now. The Long Drought is over, but the rain that falls burns like acid on the flesh.

Young Aster Wood is weak compared to the other survivors who flock to the cities, the only places where a meal and fresh water can be had.

But when he finds a ragged piece of parchment in the hidden corners of his father's childhood home, he is pulled through the cosmos to a place no one on Earth knows exists.

Here, the grass grows green. The wolves glow like the full moon. The wizards play with ancient knowledge, delighted with the simple spells that can bring dying plants back to life and make invisible that which they do not want seen.

And Aster is healthy again.

The heart condition that has plagued him since he was a toddler is suddenly absent, and Aster finds himself running, no, flying across the countryside as if he were born to do it.

Now, he must chase down the long-lost sorcerer, Almara, to discover the truth about his own family's past. And to learn what is yet to come for Earth's future.

And he must work fast if he wants to survive. Almara left not only clues, but enemies behind. If Aster loses the race to find him, and the enemy captures him first, he will never see Earth again.