Benetan, captain of the Chaos riders, serves his masters, the magi of the Star Peninsula, who captured him years before. When the cruel Vordegh is elected First Magus and makes clear his obseessive campaign to stamp out the heretics of Order, Benetan is faced with a choice. Will his loyalty lie with the gods of Chaos, or with his beloved Iselia?

"Three times I've compiled those damned lists, and I'm running out of names. But he still wants more. More souls for his experiments. More lives to be wasted in the pursuit of this vain, useless, futile hunt!" First Magus Vordegh's maniacal obsession to destroy the heretic cult of Order was running out of control. As the atrocities grew and the gods remained indifferent to pleas for sanity, the convictions of even Chaos' most devoted servants were starting to disintegrate. Faith seemed meaningless; trust impossible. The world was going mad. Benetan Liss' faith was cruelly tested by the part he was forced to play in Vordegh's savage reprisals. But the choice was stark: obedience or death, there was no third way. Or so he believed, until one violent event brought him into direct conflict with the heretics—and the unearthly source of their power.

"I stand before you in this place, and I walk towards you on this way. The way is old but the way is long, and the way is the way of power. Hear me—hear me, and let the seal be broken!"The words of an ancient ritual, summoning a devastating power which could destroy the Chaos Gate itself. If First Magus Vordegh's insanity was to be stopped, the heretics knew that they must gain control of that power. This was the final gamble, and the odds against them were monstrous. But the rebels had a new ally in the heart of Chaos' own stronghold. One man, driven by one goad—the craving for revenge. And for revenge's sake, he was ready to unleash an apocalypse that even the gods could not withstand... Book 3 of the Star Shadow Trilogy series