From the moment 12-year-old Prince Erechtheus docks in Poseidia, capital of the Empire, to be a hostage for 13 years, nothing in his life is easy - or safe. An unexpected and foreboding prophecy, uttered by a blind seer, puts the prince immediately in the crosshairs of Al-Jinn, the powerful and paranoid High Priest from the Temple of Bel. In a fit of perverse desperation, Al-Jinn and several other priests ravenously abuse Erech before placing him on an altar for ritual sacrifice to Lord Bel. Only last-minute intervention from Kul-Kan, High Priest of the rival Temple of One, saves the prince from a gruesome fate. At the Temple of One, although he remains a hostage, Erech is befriended by others his age as they are all educated in the Empire"s arts and sciences. The Temple offers relative sanctuary, but the prince is repeatedly attacked. He survives with the help of his new-found friends and hand-to-hand combat training from Myrine, heir-apparent to the Queen of the Amazons. Erech...