Brinn, a small Ibalexan, is the last of his kind. After his world is destroyed, he is rescued by the Guardians of Eternal Life, a race of benevolent super beings who have mastered immortality, resurrection, and creation itself. Billions of years ago, they were once known as "human." Humanity has emerged into the New Epochal, a newly born universe created from an ekpyrotic big bang. The Guardians, stewards of the universe, hold the Principal Cause above all things:
Life, a creation of Life, creates Life, and Life lives forever.
The Guardians call Epsilon Truthe, a white dwarf star, their new home. From there, they have spread out across the galaxy to further the Principal Cause. But one amongst them dares to challenge the chancery laws of his people. Now a rogue, exiled Guardian, he sets out on a campaign of dissent and sabotage. Soon, he has recruited a full third of his fellow Guardians to his cause, and a once-united Epsilon Truthe finds itself in conflict.
Brinn is soon propelled to the center of attention as the representative for an ancient alien known as the Archxion. This intervention is timely, for the Guardians' adversary has united with a nihilist faction of the Angelian Conglomerate, a group of races who were once perceived as "angels" by Terran Humanity-and these Angelian separatists consider the Guardians an infestation of their domain.
What's more, they vow to not allow Terran Humanity, or any race for that matter, to transit to the next epochal cycle of the universe.