The animate created by Murdoch Jannan to assist in the work of magic has gone missing. Activated by Peter Olmstead, a desperate man, the animate claims the life given it by chance and flees from the the Wizard Houses of Serac. Not one can imagine this being's existence, much less its goals. Claiming a name and a future the animate plots against all that is. The Way mages alone see an adversary, a threat to all that exists. First among them is Tara Mercer. Her path is guided by the Way, by the Earth. Slowly, men, states, and gods, wake from slumber, casting their lot with either side of a struggle that will reshape a world.

Arcane is the first book in a series of three.