The lives of four groups of people are intertwined and connected in ways they are not even aware. An unlikely trio: a poetry teacher, a mad-scientist and a former thief turned doctor, are unexpectedly thrown back together and return to the United American Empire upon hearing strange rumours of a group planning to over throw the Empire. The Empress has been ruling the Empire 15 long years since the tender age of sixteen with the help of her long time servant and most trusted advisor. A group of men who call themselves The Elders can see the future, and it is not bright. A storm is brewing. A motley crew of inventors, all members of the Society of New Alchemy, plot a visit to the Empress that she can't ignore, after their livelihoods are turned upside down when she enacts a new law. They all have secrets...Secrets that can shatter lives in an instant.