Talaza Bane is a Quall assassin. He lives and breathes the clan’s code. All races known to him have one name for his world, Tora. It means - to engage. No race survives on Tora without trial or loss, not even the invincible Scarzen warriors south of his mountain.

On the next dawn of his world, all Talaza has known to be true will be tested. Not his stealth nor skill with blade and poison will help his choice and consequences of his actions will reach farther than the wisest of his clan could ever conceive.

Worlds outside Tora and its star system were made beyond reach for good reason long ago. Agents from both spirit-sider and mortal worlds explore Toran forests and the imposing hinterlands only to leave without engagement. Talaza has seen them arrive in their metal birds that sound like thunder. The last Sky Lord’s visit was different. They did something. Hex, the Dark Star now stirs. He has lived on Tora in their dreams and spoken on the wind long before Quall lived on Black Mountain. Hex is not of Talaza’s world. The mystics always taught that Hex came from the sky.