The Kingdom of Zad has started to suffer the effects of drought. The once reliable Rud-e Bârik, a narrow river to the north, has become a mere trickle and can no longer provide the people what they need. Making matters worse, the king has fallen ill. Bedridden, he is told of a prophecy, confirmed by the Magi priests, that the world will undergo a violent transition as the forces of good and evil vie for supremacy. Whether or not light prevails over darkness depends on the King's gangly and peculiar grandson, Prince Yaya, who soon learns that a slew of recent family tragedies is the result of a sinister plot to ensure a preferred line of succession.

With murderous villains fast upon his trail, the fifteen year-old boy must flee his kingdom and embark on a journey to save the land from drought and endless war. Along the way he relies on his wits and a motley cast of allies to help him navigate unfamiliar terrain filled with foes both natural and elemental. But a quest already fraught with danger is made much more daunting when Yaya learns that those who wield power rarely forsake it. As Yaya's adventures take him through mountains, deserts and forests, his enemies unleash a magical reign of terror and tyranny to consolidate their power and to remove the biggest threat against them - Yaya, the boy prince who may be the land's last unlikely hope.