Every thirteen lunar months the Magi of Krarth hold a deadly contest to see which of them will rule that bleak and icy land. Teams of daring adventurers are sent down into the labyrinths that lie beneath the tundra, each searching for the Emblem of Victory that will win power for their patron. Only one team can survive. The others must die.

From the Palace of Eternal Dusk, the Warlock-King holds his realm in thrall. His tyrannized subjects live in perpetual fear, for they know their evil monarch can see into the minds of others and slay them in their dreams. Only outsiders from beyond the boundaries of Wyrd may slay the tyrant - and they will need all the courage and skill that mortals ever can possess.

Will you survive the perils of the desert city of Crescentium? The wandering ghouls and assassins? The half-human monsters? The dreaded Seven-in-One? For this is a land of sorcery and treachery - where you will encounter terrors and wonders more fabulous than you had ever dared imagine - the great Roc, the three wishes, the ship of the Pirate-King, the flying horse, the magic of the beautiful Psyche. And who shall win the Sword of Death, the Demon’s Claw itself?

Of all the desperate adventures, this is the most desperate - and the most vital. Only two years remain before the year 1000, when the Magi's power will have waxed full and the moment of their reincarnation will be at hand! All is not lost; if you can recover the fragments of the Blood Sword, the Magi can be opposed. But to do do, you must travel to the land of death... As you set off on your journey, you know there will be many terros and wonders to be faced. You must penetrate to the very heart of the netherworld and plead your case before Death himself. Can you survive the perils of the Sea of Mists? How will you fare against Typhon the Giant? Can you face the feasting dead? Or track down Entasius the Magician? Can you endure the Doomwalk...?

An Arctic wind freezes your bones, but ahead of you lies a smoking chasm as it goes right down to the glimmering fires of hell. You stand at the top of the abyss which surrounds Spyte, the ruined fortress of the Lords of Krarth. In the darkening sky above, five ominous stars have come into conjunction for the first time in 200 years. Out of the vault of the sky they cast their baleful influence across the frozen landscape. They are the dis-embodied spirits of the last of the Magi seeing the return to the mortal world at midnight and ushering in a new era of terror. You wield the sole force in the world capable of destroying the Magi. The Sword of Life is mankind’s only hope but it is no guarantee of victory. The Magi have had 2 centuries of exile to plan their reincarnation. To stop them you will need greater courage and strength than ever before!