Boax is a sorcerer who descends unexpectedly upon a kingdom in a flying machine, professing a desire to wed Princess Arete. His true intent lies in thwarting a prophecy predicting that a princess named Arete would strip him of eternal life. To secure her compliance, he enchants Arete to adopt a docile, conventional princess demeanor, subduing her independence. This ruse persuades her father to sanction the marriage.

Upon escorting Arete to his remote castle, Boax admits his indifference toward her. He confines her in a dungeon to eliminate the prophesied threat to his immortality—a vulnerability rooted in a magical gem sustaining his endless existence. Boax sustains a calculated bargain with a neighboring village, trading enchanted water for their crops to assert dominance through manipulated dependence. His household staff includes Grovel, a frog transformed into a humanoid servant, exemplifying Boax’s power to warp living forms.

Though his magic remains constrained to childhood spells—learned before his people’s extinction left him the lone survivor—Boax projects an imperious facade. He dispatches Arete to seize a ruby from a mountain golden eagle, assuming her enchantment persists. This task advances his agenda while probing her subjugation. When Arete uncovers and challenges the water-magic’s source, Boax confronts her. Consumed by despair as his schemes collapse, he obliterates his castle in a rage, unleashing floods. Escaping the chaos, he inadvertently loses his immortality gem, irrevocably fulfilling the prophecy.

Powerless and adrift afterward, Boax is last observed studying his hands, haunted by Arete’s assertion that true magic dwells in mortal perseverance. This introspection hints at a nascent internal shift away of external enchantments.