Secile Shuriek is asked to find her friend’s daughter who was sent to an eastern valley shortly after birth. Secile accepts, even though she was about to start her graduation quest to become a Master; to find the artifact called Vaulinque-litaya and bring it to Nimbdell. Vaulinque-litaya is a sentient dagger. When Vaulinque-litaya pierces a living creature through the heart, it instantly drains the blood from them and replaces the blood with its seed, which rebirths the victim as a powerful creature.
In the eastern valley, sixteen year old Kaia-mei earns a day of exploring the dangerous caves on the valley’s northern slope. Gurandi, the man who raised her, promises to get an early start in the morning, but is not there when she awakens. She decides to start the adventure without him. She finds a map of the caves in his room and gathers her best friend, eighteen year old Caize, to help her. Kaia-mei ends up going in alone. She gets too afraid and decides to leave, but instead discovers a pit and falls into the lower tunnels.
Gurandi returns, learns of Kaia-mei’s impatience, and goes in after her. After reuniting, they are surprised by a band of goblins and Gurandi hides Kaia-mei, and then searches for his own hiding spot. Kaia-mei knows her “father” will die and tries to find him. A fairy, who’s clan lives near the valley and occasionally checks up on the humans, uses magic to get her out of the caves to safety. Caize and his eight year old sister, Brinney, find Kaia-mei unconscious out on the mountain slope. They head toward the village, but the fairy purposely tricks them into arriving at the western cliffs so they can see the army approaching from the south.
The army is sent from the southern kingdom Chea’Laern. Their king sent them to search the caves for an ancient underground library and any other treasures left behind by the valley’s founders. Secile enters the village in search of Kaia-mei, the long lost daughter of her friend. Secile sneaks Kaia-mei and Caize out of the village. Following an instinctual hunch, Secile uses magic to search the area from a bird’s eye view. She spots Vaulinque-litaya in possession of two riders heading for Chea’Laern. She contacts Headmistress Simyna of Nimbdell and reports the find. The Headmistress orders Secile to begin her graduation quest. Simyna sends a prized student named Amberley to escort the children the rest of the way to Nimbdell, and a mercenary to aid Secile in her quest. Along the way Secile explains that Kaia-mei inherited her mother’s power and talent. Not understanding what she could do or how, Kaia-mei feels frustrated and awkward instead of proud.
In Chea’Laern, Vaulinque-litaya’s power is unwittingly released and destroys the Kingdom’s hierarchy.
Vaulinque-litaya’s new general takes the artifact to the valley caves to begin building its army. After searching the castle, Secile warns Headmistress Simyna that the trail they would follow might be a decoy, and that Vaulinque-litaya’s leaders might be setting up base anywhere. Headmistress Simyna deems the mountains around Nimbdell unsafe and sends Amberley’s group back toward Tuntiload to wait until the danger passes, and sends some mages to Chea’Laern for crowd control and to lead refugees to Nimbdell. Secile follows the artifact’s trail to the valley. The mages arrive in Chea’Laern. They search the castle, find the king’s journal and discover the king meant to hand his kingdom over to the southerners if he didn’t find an heir. They find a letter from the south saying the southerners were on there way to take Chea’Laern. The mages evacuate the kingdom.
When a villager’s body is found in the caves, Secile explains that Vaulinque-litaya’s leader stole the villager’s soul. Secile’s group decides to search for the spirit. Recognizing Brinney’s special abilities, she suggests the girl joins their search to help. They find the villager’s spirit and Secile frees her, returning it back to its body. They plan to get Brinney out to safety but are routed by Vaulinque-litaya’s undead minions.
Caize, Kaia-mei and Amberley head to the valley instead of Tuntiload. After Amberley confirms the library’s existence, Kaia-mei and Amberley assume Secile’s group would be at the library. They try to locate the library with magic. But the spell leads them somewhere else instead, and Kaia-mei falls into a chasm and into the underground river. A fairy creates a bubble around Kaia-mei to keep her safe but loses track of her. Kaia-mei drifts out to sea and becomes lost.
Secile’s group is routed to Vaulinque-litaya’s leader. They fail, but Brinney sees the leader is about to kill Secile and the song within her transforms her to her true form. As a being of pure magical energy, she destroys the leader. She reverts to her human form again and collapses from exhaustion. Secile collects Vaulinque-litaya and they return to the village. Secile returns to Nimbdell to report and deliver Vaulinque-litaya.
When Caize and his father check on Brinney in the next room, she is gone. Caize is torn between following his family to Nimbdell to enlist help to find his sister, or to search for Kaia-mei.
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