This work of historical fiction combines mystery and fantasy into one great, soulful adventure. At the end of the first millennium, on the eastern fringe of the western empire, in a humble blacksmith shop on the edge of a rich market town, a reluctant apprentice of an alchemist sets out on a visionary quest to solve a mystery, rescue his master and open the doorway for his return to the Universal Essence. In this medieval parable for modern life, the student must turn his ideas about reality upside down to receive the honor, power and love he desires. The adventure could reward him with death or immortality.