In an age a thousand years after humanity has discovered time-travel technology in the remains of an ancient alien civilization....

Twins, Princes Leonidas and Calanus, are born to the Emperor Ptolemy and Queen Eugenia. Their mother dies in childbirth, and the twins are separated when Calanus is kidnapped by a radical group whose leader is known only as The Stranger.

On the same day an elderly scholar named Nur'ed'Din hides a mysterious box within the walls of his crumbling house; moments later he is murdered by soldiers searching for the box and its secrets. The box remains hidden, awaiting a time of awakening.

A hostile alien race, called the Rifters, threatens mankind with destruction: every hundred years a fleet of powerful alien warships attempt to enter humanity's territory on the edge of the Rift Nebula. It is feared a fleet greater than any seen before is gathering ready to crush humanity completely.

It is in this time that the boy Leonidas grows to become a man under the enlightened teachings of his tutor Theolon. Leonidas is tested by extraordinary events which shape, and prepare, him to lead mankind against ancient enemies; events which will alter the course of humanity's future forever....