The world is divided between two magical realms: Ash, an untamed force tied to fire, destruction, and raw power, and Shadow, a deceptive and elusive magic capable of bending perception, influencing memory, and crafting illusions. The balance between the two realms has long been unstable, creating rifts that unleash shadow-beasts and destructive ash-storms into the mortal world.

Cairos grows up in Blackbarrow, a small mining town on the edge of the Ashlands. The town thrives on mining rare ashstone, but lives in constant fear of the encroaching Shadowwood, a cursed forest where shadow-beasts and illusions warp reality.