Ridus Lanier, the youngest scholar of Magistrum—where magic and mechanics are fused into one—unexpectedly gets lucky. A mysterious stranger gives him a real treasure: a scroll containing the blueprint of an artifact known in fairy tales and legends as the Heavenly Gates. Old tales say that whoever opens the Gates will gain boundless riches and knowledge. The young magister understands he’s incredibly lucky, but to open the Gates he will need help from irreconcilable enemies—mages and mechanics, whose war left scorched earth between the Great Cities, called the Wasteland. Ridus doesn’t know whether he’ll be able to agree with the mages and mechanics, whether he can keep his secret hidden, and whether he’ll survive himself—because in the world there are so many who want to stop him.