Elminster's archenemy, the vampire Lord Manshoon, thinks he has destroyed Elminster at last. But Elminster survives in the form of magical ash, and with the help of his scion and the vestige of the long-dead goddess of magic, he still has a chance to counter Manshoon's insidious plots.

In this third adventure in the Forgotten Realms series, Elminster the mage must make a choice that will change the Realms forever
Emerging at last from a lengthy imprisonment in a dark and dusty tomb, Elminster seeks the guidance of Mystra, the Mother of all Magic. With Mystras's wisdom in his ears, Elminster sets forth on an adventure that leads him to the mysterious and sinister Lady of Shadows, and a Realms-shaking...

"In the 6th and final book of the multi-author Sundering series launched by New York Times best-selling author R.A. Salvatore, Ed Greenwood, the creator of the Forgotten Realms, further chronicles the exploits of Elminster as he fights for the future of Faerûn. Chaos grips Faerûn as vainglory, prophecy, and ancient forces comingle in the shadows cast by war. Agents of the Shadovar lurk in the corners of Candlekeep in search of the arcane secrets...

In the streets of Waterdeep, conspiracies run like water through the gutters, bubbling beneath the seeming calm of the city’s life. As a band of young, foppish lords discovers there is a dark side to the city they all love, a sinister mage and his son seek to create perverted creatures to further their twisted ends. And across it all sprawls the great city itself: brawling, drinking, laughing, living life to the fullest. Even in the face of death....

Seven linked novellas tell seven stories of seven sisters.

Commanded by the vestige of Mystra to work together, Manshoon and Elminster engage instead in a ferocious battle that sends the Sage plummeting into the Underdark as a cloud of ashes. Elminster soon inhabits the body of a fallen dark elf, so that he can begin carrying out Mystra's orders to rally Cormyr's Wizards of War, seek blue flame items to mend immense rifts throughout the realms that are releasing deadly monsters, and prevent the ancient Primordials...