Although Tenashar’s tribe called the Senetha are a technologically advanced people, they have no solution to stop the Orbs from destroying their village and land. The Orbs are archaic war machines used by an earlier civilization which destroyed itslef in war. The effects on their environment are catastrophic. The Orbs are draining the life force of the land–turning it into a burnt desert which can’t sustain life.

Tenashar is appointed by the tribal council to find the solutions as to what is ailing the world. With determination he sets out to cross the continent and oceans to find his answers. He is hurtled into the future, where a small girl named Cadica and a woman called Ilaythesia set him off on the right direction.

He meets Nainashari, a wise man whose home is a cave of wonders. Tenashar journeys across the ocean to islands where great cities reside. Finding an answer within himself, he learns that the Orbs can’t be destroyed, and that they will later cease to function. To survive, all the peoples of the world will live and build underground cities to avoid the Orbs until their energies run out.