When Princess Jenna is pursued by a dark wizard, it is the apprentice, Septimus Heap, who must save her while enduring such terrors as a night in the Forest with hungry wolverines and carnivorous trees.

Septimus must battle the remnants of the Dark Domaine, which will remain until the power of the evil Two-Faced Ring is destroyed forever. To accomplish that, the ancient Alchemie Fyre must be relit -- a task that sends Septimus to the very origins of Magyk and Physik, testing both his skills, and his loyalties to ExtraOrdinary Wizard, Marcia Overstrand, and Alchemist Marcellus Pye.

"Alice TodHunter Moon, now apprentice to the ExtraOrdinary Wizard Septimus Heap, must locate the Egg of the Orm--a source of great Magyk--before the baby Orm hatches and imprints on the evil sorcerer Oraton-Marr"--

Purports to be a compilation of pamphlets, journals, restaurant reviews, maps, historical information, and other never-before-published papers from the world of the apprentice alchemist, Septimus Heap.