Best friends Tristin and Jonathon were simply looking for a fun afternoon of swimming in the old quarry outside their hometown. Instead, they found Elshin, a little man who told them that he wasn't from their world. Now a world torn by the tumultuous past of the Great War, ancient Athilien was once a vast world of seven peaceful races. At the center of that peace had always been the Star of Athilien--a magical, seven-pointed star of a rare crystal. With Athilien torn into prejudices and hatred, the Great War had lead to horrible tensions between the races and, ultimately, division of the Star. What once had been a land of seven races became seven separate worlds - races violently torn apart and forced far from contact with one another by incredible upheavals of magic. Elshin tells the boys that they've been called by the Ancients to restore the remaining five pieces of the Star of Athilien to the Cathedral of Baeltoin, reuniting the seven races of ancient Athilien. Riddled with doubt and disbelief, the boys ask for proof and Elshin introduces them to the beginning of an adventure far beyond anything their imaginations could have anticipated.