A young bugler with supernatural powers is swept up into an epic struggle for the fate of the world. Cry havoc and sound the song of war! In Arboral Year 1294, the world is dominated by nine massive towers known as the Spires, remnants of an advanced civilization. Filled with lost secrets and powerful knowledge, nations struggle to possess them. Luca is a bugler in a mercenary company who wants nothing more than to leave the battlefield behind and become a true musician, a maestro. But marked as one of the enigmatic Branch-hexed, and gifted with the strange ability to see the sound of his instrument, Luca finds himself drawn reluctantly into a war of epic proportions! The Pontiff"™s expedition to Gallia has reached the capital of Limoges. The city is held by the forces of the Looking Glassists, and defended by the Looking Glass herself, who will give her enemies no quarter. Only Zoe has the power to even attempt to take her on, and if Zoe fails, so does the entire operation. During the battle, Luca encounters a mysterious interloper, and discovers more secrets of the Branched, including a new phase of their development: the Flowering. .
