Mystic, historian, and Master of the Hunt, Adam Sinclair is called on to investigate and solve the most dangerous and unimaginable crime of his career--the murder of an Adept.

On the technological, decadent world of Proton, someone was trying to destroy Stile, serf and master Gamesman. His only escape lay through a mysterious “curtain” revealed by a loving robot. Beyond the curtain lay Phaze—a world totally ruled by magic. There, his first encounter was with an amulet that turned into a demon determined to choke him to death. And there, he soon learned, his alternate self had already been murdered by sorcery, and he was due to be the next victim. “Know thyself!” the infallible Oracle told him. But first he must save himself as he shuttled between worlds. On Proton, his fate depended on winning the great Games. On Phaze, he could survive only by mastering magic. And if he used any magic at all, the werewolf and the unicorn who were his only friends were determined to kill him at once!

The ancient magic of wizards was anything but dark. It was the enlightenment that lifted humanity from the squalor of superstition, and the worship of fell spirits and capricious gods, but those days are gone. The shining glory of the sorcerers burned away the subtlety of wisdom, replacing it with easy power, held only in the hands of the elite—a new age built upon the elemental supremacy of aristocrats and the ignorance of the masses. But this will change, for the greatest power comes with knowledge, and the deeper teachings of wizardry have not been utterly lost. The last wizard of the old tradition still survives in solitude, nursing tired grudges and waiting for death. His passing might have gone unnoticed, but for the imposition of a youth too stubborn to accept his refusal to take an apprentice. With a new student comes new hope, and that hope has caused old powers to stir again. That the world will change is inevitable, but the shape of the future is anything but certain.

War looms on the horizon but Selene’s training as a wizard must begin, even though her age makes success nearly unattainable. Will searches for a solution, but their only hope may be a dangerous bargain with the king. The fate of two nations lies on Will’s shoulders and the future is paved with violence. With few options, he needs the aid of uncertain allies and dubious friends. Traitors lurk among them, and soon he will be forced to choose who to trust—and who to sacrifice. For a terrible power has arrived in Darrow, and the price of victory will be paid in blood.

The looming war with Darrow has faded to a distant shadow, but Will's continued studies at Wurthaven are disrupted by an unforeseen threat. Selene's absence has raised suspicion among her friends and more importantly the king, who is now directing his ire at the obvious culprit, her new husband. Meanwhile the citizens of Cerria have begun disappearing and a shadowy figure is stalking Will's half-sister, Laina.With his power pushed to the limit, Will finds himself attempting to preserve a family that rejected him from enemies he never knew existed-all while trying to save a city whose king might rather see him dead. Desperate for help, he may not be able to trust the powers that have helped him in the past, for the fae could be the source of the catastrophe, even as they offer their assistance-for a price.Evil stalks the streets of Cerria at night, seeking the heart's blood of his family, the destruction of the city, and the death of the king. Will may have to decide what is most important for Terabinia, preserving the people of its most prosperous city, or saving its questionable ruler?

In this brilliant continuation of the epic adventure that began in Split Infinity, Piers Anthony again proves himself a master of both fantasy and science fiction For Stile, life was a matter of shuttling madly between two worlds, with the problems growing greater on each. On the science world of Proton, he was a serf, trying to prove his right to exist by competing in the Great Games. On Phaze, where only magic worked, he was the Blue Adept, trying to master the powers of sorcery. And on both worlds, someone was trying to assassinate him. Aside from winning increasingly difficult contests with no time to prepare, all he had to do was win the love of the Lady Blue, fight a dragon, discover the ultimate weapon—and, of course, seek the paranoid Adept or the all-powerful Citizen who was trying to kill him! And now, just when things were growing impossible, he had to fight a mortal duel with the unicorn Herd Leader, against whom his magic powers were useless!

Investigating the murder of an orphanage director and the disappearance of a twelve-year-old resident, police investigator Hanne Wilhelmsen believes that the child must have witnessed the crime, but struggles with doubts about her own deductive instincts.

Now a student at Wurthaven, Will is confronted with the truth of the present. The powerful magic embodied by wizards like his grandfather is but a distant memory, while the practice of the current day is timid and uninspired, and yet he needs the knowledge still preserved and managed by the college. At every turn he finds that sorcery is supreme, while wizards are trained merely to assist and support those who hold the real power—a power based on an evil so deep that few living know the truth of its foundation. As a student of wizardry, he’s expected to know his place and stay in it, but Will isn’t like the other students. His grandfather’s teaching has made him into something different, something forgotten—something they will learn to fear. If he can grow into his power. With every choice, every refusal to submit, Will creates more enemies, enemies who aren’t content to let him live in peace. Without friends or support, Will must survive the knives in the dark, for Cerria is no place for those who refuse to follow the rules.

Scottish nobleman Sir Adam Sinclair--a physician and Adept--faces an unholy cult of black magicians who defile his beloved Scotland and will commit any atrocity to achieve their evil ends. Reissue.

Book fourteen of the Quareia Magical training course