The Annurian Empire is disintegrating. The ranks of the Kettral have been decimated from within and the kenta gates - granting instantaneous travel across the vast lands of the empire - can no longer be used.

In order to save the empire, one of the surviving Kettral must voyage beyond the edge of the known world through a land that warps and poisons all living things to find the nesting ground of the giant war hawks. Meanwhile, a monk turned con artist may hold the secret to the kenta gates. But time is running out. Deep within the southern reaches of the empire a malevolent force begins to stir.

What emerges will change the Annurian Empire forever.