Betrayed by Kitayne and dropped over the side of the Mayla Rose to die, Salla is now taking the first uneasy steps back into the life he had abandoned. After rejoining his former partner, the renowned explorer Natke Orino, the two have discovered the truth behind the abduction of the Gran Senji of the Majdi Order. It was not for ransom, but for him to act as a compass to lead the Gargazant Ikahn syndicate's leader, Cron-jearre, to the wellspring of the Majdi's powers. For centuries, the wellspring has rested in Tempusalist, a lost city from a bygone age of wonder. With the power concealed there, Cron-jearre's syndicate will become an army, one capable of taking back his fallen empire, and thus reclaiming his title of the Thirteenth Paragon. To stop him and set right the wrongs in which Salla himself had taken part, he and Natke must find and recover the Eyes of the One, artifacts capable of locating the Majdi city. But reaching the talismans is a harrowing ordeal in itself. Hidden in a cavern at the bottom of a primordial jungle, protected by creatures and ancient mystical wards, the Eyes were never meant to be found again. All the while, Kitayne and the crew of the Mayla Rose are running for their lives, and the Majdi Order's mission to rescue the Gran Senji is closing in fast. These disparate threads converge in From Ashes of Empires, the explosive conclusion of The Thirteenth Paragon saga.