When he was ordained as the Kahlil of the Payshmura Church, Ushiri Ravishan left behind his name and home. In the foreignworld of Nayeshi, he watched over the destroyer incarnation ofthe god Parfir, though the young man--John Toffler--had no ideaof his own deadly potential. Only once in ten years does Kahlil desert his duty. One nighthe returns to Basawar to rescue his sister, Rousma, from the burningconvent of Umbhra'ibaye. After a deadly battle against thewitch Ji Shir'korud, he returns with his sister only to discover thatJohn and two of his friends have intercepted a message meant forthe Kahlil alone: the golden key that unlocks the Rifter's death. Unwittingly, John and his friends have used the key and traveledto Kahlil's home world of Basawar. Though the Great Gate is damaged, Kahlil attempts to followJohn in order to stop him from unleashing apocalyptic ruin onhis home. However, the passage back to Basawar leaves Kahlilbadly injured and deeply changed. When he arrives he no longerpossesses the Prayerscars that marked him as Kahlil, nor doeshe bear the ugly red scar that once disfigured his face. But mostjarringly, his memories of his world's history and his own past arenow all wrong. The Payshmura church had been utterly destroyedand the Fai'daum revolutionaries now rule most of the northlands.