Sorcerer Rising begins the story of Virgil McDane. Once he was a powerful Wizard, an explorer, scholar, and soldier. Outcast from the Wizard's Guild, stripped of his power and relegated to a lowly Sorcerer, he finds himself more and more desperate. His world is much like our own, only magic is an everyday occurrence. The greatest resource is Aether, patches of raw magic that spawn whole dimensions. Forged from emotion and thought, the possibilities held within these worlds are endless. Some are featureless nightmares, others whole planets filled with their own people, magic, and culture. Only expert mages can extract these otherworldly resources from the mist, namely the Wizards with their global Guild, or Sorcerers, rogue mages powerful enough to work the Aether. Now, a unique phenomenon has provided Virgil with the chance he needs. The Arcus, a column of light and energy that stretches half the world, has landed just outside his home city. Cyrus Aberland, millionaire inventor, is funding an expedition, and with a vendetta against the Guild, he comes looking for a Sorcerer who can do the job. Now Virgil must guide a team of explorers halfway across the world, protect them and himself against the dangerous arcane threats of the world, and reclaim his power.