Xavier, a youth on the eve of his adulthood initiation with Gwen, his girlfriend of next door, is given a scroll by his father. The scroll is from his dead mother, a powerful sorceress, telling him she is very much alive and he has a twin sister. She also informs him, when he wakes an adult on his eighteenth birthday, he will also acquire the gift of magic. The scroll set him out on a quest, first to find his sister, then an unknown uncle, brother to his mother; the uncle will give them guidance in the use of magic. They must reach level two standard in magic to free their mother from the land of the elves where their natural father banished her years ago. Assassins chase them, sent by their father to stop them freeing their mother. When the truth finally reveals itself, friend become foe, and foe become friend, in between it is knowing who to trust.