This novel takes place in an ancient world, before the appearance of human beings, in a time when beasts and gods alike fought over the creation of the ancestral world. Xandu is a jaguar warrior capable of finding the light of the races and killing the beast. Kayla, a mountain magician, must bring him back to life to rescue a fire pebble that will give rise to another city illuminated by the light of Gandua, which is immortal.