Lan Ullvek, previous hero of the world known as Xarken, is forced out of his self-imposed exile by a nuclear war on the planet in which he was living (strongly hinted to be earth, but never said outright). He is forced, through the way magic operates, to return to his home world that he left as he was winning a war that he started. The war was with the insidious and manipulative Circle, known as the Cult to its dissenters due to their use of religious elements to control the masses. In one of the final battles, he loses the love of his life. Having already lost his father to the Cult, he snaps and must leave for his own sanity.

He returns to the organization that he started; the Lightbringers, not knowing the state of the world he left, and not caring. He merely wants to live alone, and away from conflict. This soon proves to not be possible, as his oldest friend and mentor seemingly has fallen to the Cult. Lan decides to return to war, not because of his mentor, but because of a girl that he meets that studied under Kreeta as well. She bears a trait that was spoken of by what were previously thought of as mad prophets, ones who said that a girl with her trait would lead her people to an unparalleled and uncontested victory. These prophets may have been more correct than anyone possibly imagined.

Xarken is largely driven by backstory and character development. The viewers see both sides; The Lightbringers, and the Cult. The Cult's new Queen, a sadistic, sociopathic girl in her late teens, is the subject of the most psychological development and the series explores her strange, twisted mind a great amount. This is, more than anything else, a story about characters, psychology, and how people operate and what makes people act the way they do. It explores why people cling to irrationality for the sake of their own comfort, and demonstrates great development and furtherance of understanding of the character's minds.

The series is told in a rather sporadic fashion. There are sometimes whole episodes of backstory, as it is crucial to understand how things came to be the way they are, and much is revealed about the current story through the backstory. I hope this unique way of presenting a show will make it a very interesting watch.

Episode Synopsis

The episode opens with a girl in her late teens giving a speech to a crowd of people. It is religious in nature, and she seems to be using it to be manipulative. She talks of the Circle, and how they spread their truth so all may reach Ascension.

Lan Ullvek, currently in self-imposed exile after losing his love in a war against the Circle that he started, is forced to return to the world that he abandoned, and, though he refuses to rejoin his old war, he is forced to by some very strange circumstances. His old mentor and greatest friend seems to have fallen to the enemy, and Lan meets a girl that joined his fight right before he left. She seems to be much more than meets the eye.

The Circle seems to have realized this as well.