Weeks have passed since the events of "Reaper's Flight," and Kari and Cousins are both left to try and make some sense of the impact to their lives. So when a new mystery involving the Machines appears, they follow it west, further than any have travelled before. Meanwhile, Favo wrestles with his own inner demons, leading him back into a shadow of his former life. But what awaits him in the dark may be too much for even his impressive good luck to manage. Book Five of the six book series "Chronicles of Aesirium," a near-Earth world filled with a tenuous balance of science and magic, and cared for by the mysterious Sheharid Is'iin, called Reapers or Shepherds by those who whisper of their powers over life and death.