Count Georik Zaberisk has achieved fame and fortune as personal physician to the King of Hartland, but the poor health of his sister Lillith - who has been frail since birth - forces him to resign early, and he resigns himself to spending his life as a local aristocrat. But one day, while Georik is away from his manor, Lillith is accused of witchcraft by an angry mob of villagers. They assault her, and chop off her head and burn her body. Georik eventually manages to retrieve her head, and to his surprise, discovers that it is still alive. Desperate to make his sister whole again, Georik learns about homunculi, artificial humans that can supposedly be created through alchemy. Georik has no choice but to move deeper and deeper into the forbidden world of alchemy...