Search Worlds Without End

He calls himself Halloween. He is a unique student attending a most prestigious boarding school--the Idlewild Immersive Virtual Reality Academy. While his body sleeps, his mind interacts with those of his fellow students under the tutelage of the enigmatic artificial intelligence known as Maestro.

An inexplicable energy surge has damaged the IVR and fragmented Halloween's mind. Convinced this anomaly was deliberately triggered to kill him, Halloween is desperate to recover his memories--only to discover a devastating revelation about his true existence.

Eighteen years ago, the microbial apocalypse christened Black Ep had virtually wiped humanity from the globe. The survivors of the epidemic have now reached adulthood and are committed to the task of rebuilding civilization. But an ideological rift has divided the survivors into two separate factions--one determined to resurrect the human race, the other obsessed with improving humanity via genetic manipulation.

And as the factions clash with one another, a new biological threat rises from the ashes of Black Ep, an even deadlier contagion with one purpose: mankind's extinction.

A small group of humans has survived the apocalyptic epidemic called Black Ep, a disease that ravaged the world and left them alone on Earth. Their conflicting ideas about how a new, much less populated planet ought to be governed, however, are a source of terrible strife. The early "post-humans" believed in The Doctrine: "The post-plague world is a collective. We're all in this together. Let's look out for each other, share the dirty work, give the needy what they need."

Inevitably, though, as more survivors are roused from their frozen sleep, there are those who disagree. People who remember power are waking up to a new world, and they do not intend to wait their turn....

The Wild existed in beautiful and ruthless perfection--until the people came.

Generations past, disaster drove the people to seek a new home on a wild continent that had never before known a human presence. Spirits of wind, stream, forest, and mist inhabit this land, but these beings care nothing for the people, and some are cruel and hostile.

Siddél is a power among these spirits. He is thunder and lightning, he is the storm--and he despises all people. He has resolved to drive them from the land and for this purpose he created the arowl--mad, ravening beasts with an unquenchable hunger. Arowl are abominations. They hunt all creatures, while craving human flesh above all else.

Bennek is a young warrior, skilled at hunting arowl and eager to slay any that dare venture into the Protected Lands. But he longs for greater deeds. One morning, in the cold blue hour before sunrise, an owl spirit visits, urging Bennek, along with his brother and cousin, to take on a perilous quest. The three youths must find the Snow Chanter--an ancestral spirit that they had thought long gone from the world. History teaches that the Snow Chanter was an enemy of Siddél. If she still exists, might her power help to bring him down?

Bennek is determined to find out. With his kin, he sets off to seek for her. But other forces are stirring. As the trio ventures north into a dangerous land overrun by arowl, they chance to meet a strange young woman--a sorceress, with ambitions even greater than their own.

An end must be made--and soon.

The future of the people hangs in the balance as Lanyon continues her journey north. She must find the Storm Lair, home of the Inyomere Siddél, where she'll have one more chance to slay the great spirit of storm. But her journey grows ever more perilous and strange, and even her devoted companions cannot keep her safe.

Bennek, meanwhile, has been taken south to Habaddon. Through Lanyon's magic he has survived terrible injury, yet he still needs time to heal. But time is short--and Siddél is resolved to destroy Habaddon. As the great Inyomere sends ever more arowl south towards the city, Bennek finds himself swept up in a relentlessly brutal war.

Never before have the people warred against the people.

Bennek senses change flooding the world. Dread weighs on him, and he fears what is to come. But Jahallon sees hope.

Gifted with foresight, Jahallon is certain it won't be much longer before Lanyon returns, bringing the talisman with her. Determined to distract and weaken Lanyon's enemies before they have a chance to waylay her, he launches a great offensive against both the Inyomere Siddél and the sorcerer Édan.

With his growing skills, Bennek serves at Jahallon's side, directing Habaddon's army--but his skills are not enough to contend against Édan, while Siddél remains an even greater enemy. All the while, time is running short.