Will grows up the only living child in a ruined, long-dead city, raised by three undead guardians: the skeletal warrior Blood, the mummified priestess Mary, and the cantankerous ghost sorcerer Gus. They train him in swordplay, healing, and magic in equal measure, but as Will gets older he starts asking who he really is and why his three guardians ended up here. Piecing together the city's buried history, and the gods both good and corrupt tied to it, becomes the first step on Will's path to becoming a paladin.