The Culling of Souls

Destiny demands sacrifice. Riots and panic have gripped the Crux... The arrival of the Vychians triggered a cascade of terror for weeks. Thousands are missing or dead, but life goes on. Fei finds herself alone like so many others, thrust into her mother's position when a surprise visit illuminates possibilities the likes of which she had ever dreamed. As the chaos in the streets subsides, Damien and the other Pentarchs seek to grasp their new life with an army at their gates, one which seeks to rule. But a boon soon arrives: Thena, the Northern Pentarch, has returned from her long period of mourning with her fellow Dwarves in Highhearth... Off and away in the churning waters of the Verdant Sea, the crew of the Vauras give thanks to the Ancients for the approaching sails of a passing ship. Yet Sea Rat and the others soon deem the horrors of Hakaan preferable to the scourging of their would-be saviors, for not all ships that sail the seas make berth in friendly ports. Though the whips of their new masters raise fear and welts, those who were found on the flotsam keep an eye upon the waves, wary of what lurks below... Far to the south, Tesador has begun the long road to destiny, learning to be the man he must become if he is to rebirth the Empire of Kai'loth. But he cannot do it alone. Those who came with him to Firefall aid Tesador not just in his lessons of history and governance, but in the trials of love, loss, and life itself, for one of their own must leave the company and return west to Tol'thuran if they are to aid in the Patient's long preparations for the eventual war with the Crux...