Collecting chapters 8-13 of The First, this volume sees the personality politics of the First come to full flower. The gods of the CrossGen universe are in the process of being deposed from that self-proclaimed role because of the creation of the Sigil-Bearers. Anxiety over these powerful new arrivals has ruptured the fault lines in the social structure of the First, causing Ingra, Leader of House Sinister, to make a bold move to launch her planned takeover of House Dexter. Seahn has collected together the unhappy second-born, ready to demand that they be given equal status to the First. Persha, Ingra's daughter, sneaks over to House Dexter to meet Pyrem, her father and Leader of that House. And Gannish the Truthseeker learns a frightening truth about the reality of the First.