One of the youngest popes in recent history, Leo XIV, aka Shepherd, has just been elected by the conclave of cardinals. The bishop from New Zealand takes the Chair of Saint Peter and wastes no time beginning a mission to save the world. Given the vast access behind the papal curtain, Shepherd soon finds more hidden beneath the Vatican than just an Archive of old books. A trail of clues leads him to find a prisoner held for centuries by the church. Shepherd is pushed into a conundrum of moral and spiritual judgment that could alter the fate of all humanity in this tale of demons, deities, bishops, and pawns.