Hansio had had it good - a nice castle to live in, servants and vassals, lands, and a wife he loved more than anything. It was very good...until the undead creatures from beyond the Frontier came to his home. Now Hansio is known as "The Hero of the Dying Lands," a fearsome protector of the world's remaining life, trained and bound by oath to the Hastur. He spends his time destroying the undead and their Hooded masters in order to buy time for the world's secretive priests to complete...whatever they are doing. His wife and friends gone, his life consumed by unending, solitary war, Hansio has lost his faith in the Hastur, the soul, and about everything else. He has become brutal, crass, pitiless, and uncaring...and those are his good traits. Then a Hastur offers him release from his oath...if he'll undertake a final mission for the priesthood. Thus begins a journey where he experiences bitter cold, deep personal loss, incredible terror, a personal awakening, and a shocking revelation. Then matters get interesting.