Gen is imprisoned in Sounis after bragging publicly about stealing the king's seal.

The magus offers Gen his freedom in exchange for stealing the legendary stone Hamiathes's Gift.

Gen, the magus, a soldier named Pol, and two apprentices depart together on their journey.

The magus reveals that Hamiathes's Gift determines Eddis's ruler and announces he will claim all credit for the theft.

Food vanishes from the group's supplies, and the magus blames and whips Gen for the theft.

The waterfall stops at midnight, revealing the hidden entrance to the temple beneath it.

The magus admits he arranged Gen's imprisonment to gain leverage and returns Gen's confiscated tools.

Gen enters the flooded maze on the first night and discovers a room of bones before fleeing at sunrise.

On the third night, Gen breaks through a block of stone and reaches the court of the frozen gods.

Gen wakes outside the maze with Hamiathes's Gift in his hand, and the magus places it around his own neck.

Attolian soldiers ambush the group on the road home and the stone appears to be lost in the fight.

Gen stays behind to hold off pursuing Attolian soldiers while Sophos gives Gen his sword.

Gen is captured by Attolian soldiers and discovers the magus and Sophos are already imprisoned.

Gen breaks the magus and Sophos out of the Attolian prison under cover of darkness.

Gen reveals his true Eddisian identity, confesses he took the stone, and his cousin is crowned queen.

A young thief named Gen is imprisoned in Sounis for bragging about a daring theft, but a royal advisor called the magus offers him freedom in exchange for stealing an ancient stone called Hamiathes's Gift. The traveling party faces conflict and hardship on the road, and when the magus reveals he plans to take all credit for the theft, Gen's determination to succeed becomes deeply personal. The group reaches a hidden maze beneath a waterfall, and across three dangerous nights, Gen fights fear and rising floodwaters to finally reach the court of the gods and claim the stone. The return journey turns violent when Attolian soldiers ambush the group and the stone appears lost, forcing Gen to make a dangerous stand so his companions can escape. After a prison break and a desperate journey through the dark, Gen leads the survivors to the Eddisian border where he reveals his true identity and the full scope of his secret plan. With the stone secured and his cousin crowned queen, Gen's long deception is complete and a hopeful new political alliance takes shape.

The thief's essential journey, from prison cell to triumph.

The magus reveals a chest of gold as the bounty for Gen's capture, crushing Gen's hopes of easy escape.

Gen falls off his horse from sheer exhaustion during the first day of travel.

Pol helps Gen bathe and bandages the infected wounds on Gen's wrists from his prison manacles.

Gen wakes to find his ankle chained to Pol's bed the morning after arriving at the inn.

Gen wins the attention of the barmaid who rejected Ambiades, delighting in Ambiades's visible fury.

Gen argues he deserves a larger share of the group's rations since he is the most essential member of the mission.

Gen and Sophos have their first real conversation, and Sophos is surprised to learn Gen's family are ordinary citizens.

Gen taunts Ambiades about his threadbare cloak, and Sophos explains that Ambiades's family lost their fortune to gambling.

Sophos and Ambiades bind Gen too tightly while fishing, cutting off circulation in his hands until Pol quietly frees him.

Gen dreams of a woman who warns him to take what he seeks but not to offend the gods.

Gen spends the entire second night searching the maze but finds nothing of consequence before fleeing at sunrise.

The group steals horses to flee their pursuers, and the animals' hooves make no sound on the road.

Pol throws Ambiades off a cliff after Ambiades's betrayal of the group is exposed during the Attolian attack.

The magus persuades the queen of Attolia to keep Gen alive, arguing he is too skilled a thief to waste.

Sophos is revealed to be the heir to the throne of Sounis, which will cement a future alliance with Eddis.

Before the journey even begins, the full weight of Gen's situation becomes clear when the magus displays an enormous chest of gold that makes escape from the mission nearly impossible. The early days of travel expose the group's fractious dynamics, as Gen arrives physically weakened from prison and is treated with casual cruelty by some companions while fighting for basic dignity at every turn. A fragile camaraderie begins to form through small exchanges and shared stories, even as Ambiades's bitterness toward Gen deepens over perceived slights and old wounds. As the mission intensifies, Gen enters and exits the flooded maze twice without success, and a portentous dream offers a hint of what the third night may bring. The confrontation with Attolian forces shatters the group, killing Pol and exposing Ambiades as a traitor who sold them out for wealth and status, and the survivors must rely on the magus's diplomacy to avoid execution. The story closes with the quiet revelation that Sophos, the seemingly unremarkable apprentice, holds the key to the most lasting political consequence of the entire adventure.

The hidden details and smaller moments that shape the journey.

Gen accepts the magus's deal despite realizing the enormous gold bounty makes escape from the mission nearly impossible.

The magus explains the political tensions between the three kingdoms and how each has treated the old gods.

The magus tells the group the origin story of the old gods, describing the ancient conflict between Earth and Sky.

Gen and the magus argue heatedly over whether the stories of the old gods belong to Eddisians or to educated scholars.

The magus asks Gen to tell his version of the thief god's story aloud to the group around camp.

The magus retells the second half of the thief god's story with embellishments honoring Gen, who is genuinely impressed.

Gen resolves to stay with the group despite his fury at being whipped, determined to personally steal the stone.

Gen and Ambiades come to blows while left unsupervised; the magus later stops in the lava field and declares Gen will earn his reputation here.

The thief god speaks to Gen in the frozen court of the gods and urges him to take the stone.

Gen dreams again of the woman, who promises he will find what he seeks if he enters the maze a third time.

The magus proposes creating a fake copy of the stone to deceive their enemies after it appears lost in the ambush.

The group learns that Ambiades had been spying for the queen of Attolia and betrayed them in exchange for wealth and status.

Gen confesses to Sophos he became a thief to avoid killing, having just taken a soldier's life in combat.

The escaping group accidentally travels the wrong direction in the dark and stumbles directly onto the Eddisian border.

Gen's cousin weighs destroying Hamiathes's Gift to protect it, and Gen reflects on his role in shaping the world.

From the moment Gen accepts an impossible mission despite knowing the odds are against him, every choice he makes carries hidden weight that only becomes clear at the story's end. The journey deepens through storytelling, as Gen and the magus clash over who has the right to tell the old gods' tales, even as those same stories quietly draw them closer together. A brutal punishment drives a wedge between Gen and the magus, but Gen's private resolve to steal the stone for his own secret reasons keeps him on the path. In the maze, Gen finally reaches the gods themselves and receives the stone, setting off a chain of events including an ambush, a betrayal exposed, a prison break, and a wrong turn that proves fateful. At the Eddisian border, the full truth pours out: Gen's real allegiance, the stone's true destination, and the unexpected political consequence hiding behind Sophos's quiet demeanor. The final revelation that the new queen may choose to destroy the stone leaves the story open, with Gen proud of a plan that quietly changed the shape of the world.