In the Young Kingdoms, shadow attacks have become more frequent, and murder is committed in Mystivia for the first time in five hundred years. The Veil has been lifted, and a horde of Shadowbeasts has been unleashed upon the land, submerging its citizens in a new Dark Age. Only the wickedness of the Shadowmaster could be capable of such carnage. In this thrilling sequel to The Keep of Shadows, heroes Sinjin Storm and Valera team up to fight the forceful power of the Shadowmaster. They unite their powers to save the land, but their alliance is much more than a quest on behalf of the people-it is a quest to find their own destinies, as their true purposes unfold in a hidden plan set in motion two thousand years before their birth. With the assistance of an unexpected company of outsiders, Storm and Valera must lead an assault on Dao Mines. Within the mines exists a secret plan of darkness, wrought by the Shadowmaster and his Shadow Realm, to extend the boundaries of their world, crushing goodness and light. The only hope for survival lies in the secrets of the Ancients, as Storm and Valera set forth on a journey that may prove more dangerous than either could have foreseen.