Young John Smith's tranquil lifestyle is shattered when he is thrust from present day Earth into a mediaeval parallel world of sorcery and violence.
Raised by his Aunt Sybil in a rural island community in present day Hong Kong, sixteen-year-old orphan John Smith arrives home one evening to find a mysterious stranger waiting for him. Sybil introduces the man as Ringleth, an old friend. The visitor then astounds John with the revelation that his life is founded on a huge and intricate deception. His real name is Tarkwyl Gaspar. Like Ringleth and his aunt, he was born in an "otherworld", the ancient kingdom of Yliagor in the parallel world of Qisdara, where sorcery and violent death now abound. There, sixteen years earlier, the Chrysm-Ya, a race of hideous and warlike creatures, surfaced from their foul realm deep in the bowels of the planet to invade and conquer Yliagor. Chrysm-Ya overlord, Kruckoor, then ordered the murder of the King, his Queen and their newborn son and heir, but the Prince’s nurse rescued her royal charge before he could be slain. To safeguard them from the prophesied wholesale slaughter of newborn boys that would follow the Prince’s escape, he and Tarkwyl were safe-housed in otherworlds. Now, Tarkwyl learns, he must return to his homeland and join the struggle to overthrow the usurper and restore the monarchy.