The peaceful country of Savod has existed for millennia after the gods disappeared, as people say about it. Many technologies of the ancestors exist—people hunt them down and even wage wars over them. An oracle sent a scout, Dеrin, on a secret mission. There is slavery, escape, a guide, and a forest-swamp where beast-people live. His path intersects with the scout Shagrat, who also watches the greys—though those have a different goal: to penetrate the catacombs of the ancestors. And then war becomes inevitable. Their secret mission is about to fail. When they return to the capital, everything turns against the heroes, and now the two of them end up in prison. But what happened? And can the dying oracle uncover the mystery of the catacombs and stop the war?