The battle for Templar has only just begun.The city is under attack by a mysterious woman in a purple cloak who wields an extraordinary elemental attack: every few hours, a sustained lighting column strikes the city, slowly draining the lives of everyone it touches with its deadly, crackling energy bolts. It leaves behind nothing but mummified victims and scorched earth. When Simon and Virgil witness the ruthless destruction, they have no choice but to stop the woman before she drains the life from the entire city. But her wizardry turns out to be far more dangerous than anything they've ever seen-even the sorcerer Llewyn, a centuries-old kinesthetic mage of the Seventh Order, has never seen a power like hers. There's more at work than just life-draining lightning storms, however...the woman in the cloak holds the secret to the dark magic that will bring Templar to its knees and reduce it to a city of ashes. And when things take a disastrous turn that leaves Simon and Virgil without the help of their closest allies, they'll have to work to find their own way to end the reign of terror.