One Etherstone. One hold weakened. The battle has already split one family apart. The only thing sustaining the district is the pulse of an ancient Etherstone that has sufaced deep into TCOSA territory, beneath the ash-choked sky of Xavareth's Hold. Thousands will be hungry without it. The Etherstone, however, is more than just a relic. It is both a remedy and a contagious disease, born of Zhaïraë’alya’s unknown ailments; one mistake might ruin the land forever. With a thin army of loyalists and civilians, Maeve, the exiled sister who became TVD's monarch, protects the Etherstone. She sees it as a last-ditch defense for people imprisoned under her adversary's authority. The TCOSA strike force tasked to recover it is led by Kaltainasia. She sees it as a dangerous menace that must not be allowed in the enemy's cruel hands. She gives explicit instructions: either destroy the enemy or recover the Etherstone. Despite the weight of her sisters' existence, Aloisia is driven to forge her own path. Silent as steel, Serafelle waits and observes. Duty and family are blurred in a city where Zhaïraë’alya loyalty and worship is strong and not all citizens embrace Maeve's arrival. The decision is straightforward: Save the hold when the four sisters reunite beneath Xavareth's Hold's shattered spires. Preserve the war effort. Save their family's remnants. But every decision has a price. And even blood might burn in the remains of this abandoned hold.