In the city that will become Lea Monde, Mullenkamp and one of the future knights, Galerian, are children growing up in an orphanage. The Dark, being drawn to pain and suffering, has decided to take up residence there after having been summoned (but unable to be controlled!) by someone, and it speaks to Mullenkamp. Fearful, Mullenkamp prays for protection, and has a revelation that the world is about to change, and she will bring about that change. She speaks to the gods, which before this time was a thing only the high priest or priestess could do, and learns many mysteries. The Dark continues to speak to her, claiming that it wants nothing more than to be free from its master, Balam, to be as the other elements, but Mullenkamp knows from other revelations that it is far too dangerous to be without a master - even more so than the other elements.

While still rather young, Mullenkamp is removed from the orphanage by the church, having been discovered to have remarkable affinity for magic, but also dangerous views. Rather than send her away, the church decides to try to reforge her beliefs to utilize her talent for themselves, and she and Marlene meet at something akin to a nunnery, run by the church. Marlene was born of a rape, and her mother went mad, or so she was told. The only clue to her past is the ring she wears upon her finger. 

With Lea Monde full of sorcerers, someone realizes that there's something strangely powerful about the ring, an aura of darkness or whatnot, but Marlene claims not to know why when Mullenkamp asks. They are both rather intelligent, and become fast friends (perhaps lovers?) due to a similar rebellious, outrageous streak, and thus pull many pranks and such. They're so crafty, though, and so talented in the ways of the magical arts, that no one ever manages to catch them. In their teenage years, fed up with such an austere life, they run away from their boarding school or whatnot to flaunt their independance in the face of the church by becoming exotic dancers in a rather dark part of the city.

The truth behind Marlene's birth, however, is that she is the child of the god of the element of Dark, Balam. Someone within the church (whoever summoned the Dark) has figured this out, and thus sends out the king's agents (the "legendary knights", who play a part not unlike those of the Riskbreakers or the PeaceGuard) to retrieve her in hopes of forcing Balam to give him/her great power in the Dark, which no mortal has ever claimed, because the god of the Dark, Balam, is tight-fisted with it.

Galerian, who was a friend of Mullenkamp's in her childhood and is now one of the legendary knights, comes across her dancing in the filthy pub, completely by chance, and is determined to take her out of this "horrible situation", not believing that for once in her life, she is happy. After vowing to return, he does so, and happens to see Marlene dance. The two fall madly in love over time, though he does not know that she is the one he seeks. As he and Mullenkamp are discussing the matter, he lets it slip why he was in that pub - he was looking for a girl with a strangely magical ring, which he could sense some ways off. However, since that first night, he has not felt its presence again.
Finding this very mysterious, Mullenkamp asks Marlene why he can't sense the ring anymore, and Marlene admits that she's masked it. This should have been impossible for any mortal, and Marlene is forced to admit the truth, that she knows of her heritage as a daughter of Balam. She fears her father greatly, and knows of what the Dark will do to someone who hungers for it - her father will simply use that person to fulfill his own desires. It is not that her father is stingy with the power, as most think - it is actually the other gods trying their best to restrain that power, for fear that Balam will take control of that person. The Dark, being a Void, would so entirely fill any man who does not fight against it, that nothing of him would remain, and Balam would consume his soul entirely. The other gods would destroy him, except for two problems: One, the power of all the elements must work together to destroy a deity, and as none of them has power over the Dark, it must fall to mortal hands; secondly, if the Dark is without a keeper, it would run amok through the world, and being essentially madness and need incarnate, that would not be a good thing.

Once Balam was not an evil god, but simply the guardian of knowledge, and so he was given the difficult task of overseeing the Dark, the most potentially dangerous of the six elements. Over time, the vicious, scouring nature of the Dark wore away at his sanity until he became chaos incarnate, and he would destroy the world at his whim if given a willing body of flesh through which to work the Dark in the world of man. In fact, he has tried to manipulate Marlene at times through their shared blood, but she resists. However, his presence in her mind often gives her much wisdom and knowledge that mortal man has never known, and she has been trying to use it to think of a way to stop him.

Seeing that her friend is in such serious jeopardy, Mullenkamp returns to the church, feigning repentance of her rash actions and saying that she does not know where Marlene went. She returns to her studies, learning all she can about the elements and particularly the powers of Light and Dark, in order to help Marlene's situation. In order to gain all the knowledge of the church, however, she must advance through the ranks, and in time she becomes the high priestess.

Galerian becomes their go-between, returning to the church and reporting to Mullenkamp that nothing has been found that would lead to Marlene's whereabouts, and then returning to the tiny home in the slums where Marlene is now laying low to report back anything new that Mullenkamp has learned. Their communication cannot be done privately, for as high priestess, Mullenkamp always has maids and advisors with her when she attends a visitor. Since Mullenkamp has incorporated dance into her own version of the religious rituals, she and Galerian arrange secret meetings in public - each movement in one of her dances holds a meaning that only Marlene, a fellow dancer, can interpret, for they had designed a private language through dance when they were merely two exotic dancers in a dirty pub.

Marlene's strange wisdom attracts the attention of many people in the slums, and soon they flock to her as a wise-woman. Meanwhile, the branch of the church run by the evil person who wanted the power of the dark for themself is continuing to search for her, and growing ever closer.

Eventually, Mullenkamp defies the church's beliefs and finds a way to break Balam's hold on the Dark despite having only mortal power - by building a city that itself is a spellsong to focus the power on, Lea Monde. Lea Monde is planned to act as a magnet for the Dark, to draw it in to a single place. Of course no one objects to the high priestess building a city, though they don't know her true intent. She fears the Dark, but it is only by using all six of the elements together and the focusing power of Lea Monde that she can cast the spell that will bind Balam. However, Balam must enter the physical world for the spell to work, and Marlene agrees to become the bait for her father, for her life holds little happiness for her - in one recent attempt of her father's, she gained foreknowledge of what is to come, and she saw Galerian's death.

When captured eventually, Marlene is branded with the Blood-Sin, which Mullenkamp makes the key to Lea Monde after Marlene escapes and goes to her. The key gives the bearer access to the full power of the Dark through the Gran Grimoire she has designed - meaning that they could easily become possessed by Balam.

The corrupt church of course tries to stop her, saying that their high priestess has gone mad, and the king's knights lead a charge against the temple. Galerian's involvement with the two priestesses is still unknown to all, and he has a rather severe struggle between his loyalty to his country and his love for Marlene. In the end, he turns his companions to the priestesses' side, and they end up holding off the main force of the templars as Marlene allows her father to possess her. 
Opening herself partially to her father, but still struggling against his control, Marlene breaks the seal on the Dark enough so that Mullenkamp can use it to cast the spell, then surrenders, allowing her father to possess her completely. Once she has done so, Mullenkamp casts the spell that shatters Balam into forty-seven shards, which are scattered throughout the world, lest anyone reverse it. While she is doing so, Galerian and the other knights perish at the hands of the templars, but they do buy enough time for Mullenkamp to finish the spell.

Once she is finished, however, the church's forces break through and arrest her, taking her in for trial. She is found guilty of heresy for using the powers of the Dark, giving safe haven to a demoness, and daring to destroy a deity (even if an evil one), and she is burned to death in a public execution. Having completed her destiny and having pleased the gods, Mullenkamp finds that the loss of her two best friends leaves her with no reason to regret death, and so she dances one last time amidst the flames, in memorial for Marlene and Galerian.

Over centuries, not only the Dark remains forbidden, but with the rise of St. Iocus, calling any of the elements is thought to be wicked and labelled as witchcraft.

Possible sequel - Agales is angry at what has been done to his dark lord, and decides to torment the living. Solomon rises against him as the first of Mullenkamp's appointed high priests in her religion.

Things that still need to be determined - how does Mullenkamp find the spell? How does the Bardorba family figure into this? (Perhaps Solomon is a Bardorba?)

Elemental trials - Palolo places a token of some sort (a coin?) high in a thick tree, too heavy to budge with a gust of wind and too high to climb to and the tree is too thick to shake. Mullenkamp is told she is allowed one question in the process of retrieving it. After thinking for a time, she finally asks Palolo, "Will you bring it down for me?" Palolo does so, saying she has passed the test - she is humble enough to ask for assistance, and her faith is strong enough to believe that she will receive it.