Naran's remarkable Sight magic completed the Blending and brought solidity to their rule. But even their combined elemental powers -- Earth, Fire, Air, Water, Spirit and Sight -- will not turn back the dark clouds of destruction massing at Gandistra's border. For war is inevitable, as a horrific army led by a facelessmalevolent entity sweeps relentlessly across the neighboring lands, enslaving, devouring, and destroying everything in its path. And fallen nobles closer to home implement dire schemes to unseat the reigning Six, intent on regaining the throne through the blackest of acts: mass murder. Only by developing new, untested abilities -- and unearthing startling secrets buried centuries ago -- can Lorand, Rion, Tamrissa, Vallant, Jovvi and Naran hope to prevail.

The hour of reckoning is finally at hand. All else was a mere training for a grim and terrible destiny that they cannot avoid.

When the masters of elemental magic'-six extraordinary men and women-'merge the primal forces they represent, the ultimate sorcerous union comes to be: The Blending. Lorand, Rion, Vallant, Tamrissa, Jovi . . . and Naran, possessor of the newly discovered prescient power of Sight, came together to wrest a beleaguered empire from the strangling graspof treacherous nobles and to save it from the savagery of invading armies. Now it is the benevolent Six who reign, and the common people have found a voiceat last. But now the Ruling Blending are ensconcedin the bloodthirsty arena of politics-'where theirmagicks may hold no sway.

In the roiling waters of the ruling court, the hungry sharks are swimming. Across foreign borders, sinister plots are being hatched to conquer the fledgling republic. But there is a dark, hidden enemy growing ever-stronger amidst the riot of traitorous schemes and secret intrigues'a terrible malevolence which, when it reaches the peak of its power, will wreak havoc upon an unsuspecting empire . . . and on everything and everyone beyond.

In the empire of Gandistra,
a mystical union of elemental
magics reigns...

Lorand, Rion, Tamrissa, Vallant, Jovvi and Naran have combined their elemental powers and their deep compassion to bring a new era of enlightenment to their once enslaved land. The miraculous reforms decreed by the Ruling Sixfold Blending have enabled all to freely pursue the Lmits of their magic. But freedom is a hated thing to some, giving rise to jealousy, deceitfulness and unchecked ambition.

As traitors scheme at home, the Chosen Six are called beyond Gandistra's borders to deal with a dire threat to their empire and their world. For, as the leaders of neighboring Gracely bicker and brood and play politics, an inconceivable army is massing -- an invading wave of impossible terror, dedicated to the total devastation of everything in its path. And it may already be too late to stop a foe immune to every known magic -- including the awesome blended might of Earth, Air, Fire, Water, Sight, and Spirit.

The Six are stronger than the Five ...
But the darkness is most powerful of all

Naran's remarkable Sight magic completed the Blending and brought solidity to their rule. But even their combined elemental powers--Earth, Fire, Air Water, Spirit and Sight--will not turn back the dark clouds of destruction massing at Gandistra's border. For war is inevitable, as a horrific army led by a faceless malevolent entity sweeps relentlessly across the neighboring lands, enslaving, devouring, and destroying everything in its path. And fallen nobles closer to home implement dire schemes to unseat the reigning Six, intent on regaining the throne through the blackest of acts: mass murder. Only by developing new, untested abilities--and unearthing startling secrets buried centuries ago--can Lorand, Rion, Tamrissa, Valiant, Jovvi and Naran hope to prevail.

The hour of reckoning is finally at hand. All else was a mere training for a grim and terrible destiny that they cannot avoid.