It is eleven thousand years from now . . . A lot has happened, and yet a lot is still very familiar. Ariel is a boy in a small town under a wizard's rule. Like many adventurers before him, Ariel is called to explore a world full of unimaginable glories and unknown enemies, a mission to save the world, a girl. Here, as they say, be dragons. But none of this happens before Ariel comes across an artifact from an earlier civilization, a sentient, record-keeping artificial intelligence that carries with it the perspective of the whole of human history, and becomes both Ariel's greatest ally and the narrator of our story.

Part one: Sauvage.The boy -- Games among squires -- Integration -- Invisible planets -- Chronicler's note -- Normal and not -- Hallow's end -- Regret minimization -- The golden elk -- The committee to confound the wizard -- Through the neck -- Spoiler -- Mx. Beaver's bog -- Lord mankeeper -- The lady of the lake -- Part two: Rath Varia. The Eigengrau -- Awake in the city -- Shaking leaves -- The rath-road -- City of transformations -- Around the eyes -- The nose -- A wizard's parlor -- If you don't know what it is, don't touch it -- The wild hunt -- Help wanted -- Cherry blossoms -- Silent running -- The robot's dispensation -- Trash hall -- Part three: Into the wild -- The best kit -- The dish at instaur -- Anthem -- She who sleeps in the stars -- Pizza rolls -- The language machines -- Clovis, alone -- The treasure -- A boy and a girl -- The regional office -- The debate -- A conversation -- Rhetoric -- The data center -- The procession -- Part four: Wyrd. The college of Wyrd -- Morgan Samphire -- The limpid pool -- Emergency -- An education -- The Wyrm of Wyrd -- The empty origin -- An urgent project -- The dragon deck -- Spymaster -- Summer's end -- The Wyrm's gift -- Another Excalibur -- Friendship -- Part five: The gray chapel. A length of string -- Out of memory -- Distillation -- The messenger -- A wizard in the Eigengrau -- The new committee to confound the wizard -- Made for the moon -- Ariel of earth.