It’s the year 999, and as the first millennium draws to a close, many people throughout Europe are convinced that the world is going to end. A sudden spate of fearful events makes it seem as if the end is indeed approaching. Then, a mysterious figure appears in northern Italy, giving rousing sermons all along his trip to Rome. This strange but charismatic figure, supposedly a monk from “nowhere and everywhere”, is a worker of seemingly miraculous cures. Appearing first in northern Italy, he enlists an army of devotees who follow him on his mission to Rome, the heart of the Christian world at that time. Before long, the mission of this strange holy man intertwines with the plans of 19-year-old Emperor Otto III to build the greatest empire the West has ever seen and the devoted pope who desperately seeks to reform and re-sanctify the Church that is the center of his life.

This historical fiction novel speculates what could happen when evil forces set out to corrupt absolutely and then seize power. While the obvious choice for the cover design would have incorporated a Romanesque painting, the limitations of imagery available from that period prompted our cover cooks to use a 15th-century portrait instead, noting that papal tiaras and vestment designs showed little change throughout the Middle Ages. The accompanying devil whispering in the pope's ear portrays the cunning battle between the forces of good and evil for nothing less than the fate of all humanity.