Outside the ancient ruins of a long-forgotten city, a small group of zealots prepare for an important ritual. They are known as the Apophists, and their desire to gain favor with their god¿a mysterious and powerful creature¿compels them to follow a strict set of guidelines; the dragon deity requires two men, a master and a student, to make a sacrifice of freedom and blood. Daven, a young man who was selected as the apprentice, has been forced to play a part in appeasing a god whom he neither believes in nor fears. Angered by his fate, Daven has resolved to expose his religion as a hoax and his teacher as a fraud; his plan, however, is ruined as a foreign army stages an untimely invasion of his village, forcing enslavement upon Daven¿s people. Now, faced with the duty of saving his followers, Daven is thrust into a battle with people whom he doesn¿t understand, and an unintended discovery brings him face-to-face with Apophis himself¿a creature more amazing and terrifying than he could ever have imagined.