In the vast crystalline deserts of Earth's last continent life is violent and short. Those who survive do so by preying on one another in a brutal cycle that yields only diminishing returns. Kryl, a wanderer and mercenary, is no exception. The only thing that separates him from a thousand others--the insatiable eukaryotic armor that has bound its life to his. When a vicious band of marauders steal a child from the caravan Kryl has been hired to protect he sets out to win the girl back. Little does he know, the life of the child was purchased by the Pellucid Witch, the most feared of the bandit lords to haunt the desert's caravan routes. After a blood-soaked introduction, Kryl finds himself the willing yet unwitting guest of this enigmatic woman. Taken to her bed and elevated to high standing in her house, Kryl soon discovers there is more to the Witch than meets the eye. Beneath her red stone keep he will come face to face with ancient secrets and an undying evil.