Bursting into flames and realizing the girl he's falling for is a mutant monster wasn't exactly the night Alistar Noelani was hoping for. Those moments ignite a chain reaction that send his future spiraling down a prickly wormhole full of gigantic bloodthirsty wolves, hungry zombies crying out for help, and stirs up the secrets of the madman sitting atop the throne. As the vermin under his skin whispers in his head and his life crumbles away like ashes, Alistar bands together with the strangers he's come to call friends and they set out to unearth the truth of the Empire for all to see.