Old age has crept upon Ingold the Great, the most powerful wizard in the known Universe. It is not fear of death that drives him to summon J'dra, an elven half-breed, to study the ways of might in his castle upon Wizard's Peak, but desire to teach all he knows to a willing apprentice before it is time for him to walk in the World of the Dead. But Ingold gets more than he bargained for as love enters his lonely world, and turns all that he once knew into a mockery of itself. And all the while, dread towards magic grows stronger in the known worlds of the Universe, threatening to wipe wizards out of existence. Is fear stronger than love, or will darkness devour all of the Universe, driving mages into extinction?