Synopsis
Summary:
For centuries, the paranormal world of witches and vampires lived in secret among the humans of the world until a plague the likes of which nobody has seen since ancient times topples society. The infected experience a debilitating fever before dying only to rise again as Ghouls. With grey skin and decaying bodies, Ghouls will attack anyone living including vampires to eat them alive.
The infection spread across the continent of Rueproa, devastating the population so rapidly the Kievenru government had no time to contain the spread with the island nation of Nippon had barely enough time to hastily close their borders. Gaila attempted to establish quarantine zones enforced by the military in an attempt to prevent infection to their neighbors across the channel in the Aventore Republic. The Parlement of the former monarchy sealed the Sealink Tunnel however a lone man stowed away on a goods train brought the sickness to their shores.
The mage going nowhere…
Like most male witches known as a mage, Jack Wolfe was slogging his way through a normal job working as a clerk at a petrol station on the side of the motorway. With his old roommate back in the country from a stint with the Avantore Navy, he just wanted to finish out the week in order to spend the rest of the time celebrating Ford’s return to civilian life. He did not plan to receive a frantic phone call from Valorie Lisbeth of the Witches Council warning him to get as far out into the countryside as possible as the Ghouls were starting to overrun the eastern half of the country. One rescue of Ford’s little sister and her classmates from a herd of Ghouls see him trying to find a sanctuary out at the remote village of Miller’s Run in the heart of the plains.
The vampire wanting to be left alone…
A little less reclusive than witches, the vampires were known for being a race of the night, preying on humans for blood. Of course, they had fallen into the realm of myth and romance fiction which was just fine as far as Violet Kendall was concerned. A solitary hacker, the slender youthful looking vampire preferred avoiding contact with both humans and vampires alike if she could help it. All that was ruined when a call from Casper, a council enforcer, informed her of the outbreak before tasking her with the mission of contacting the witches in an attempt to save as many possible. Grudgingly, she’s now using her motorbike to travel between settlements helping surviving vampires on behalf of the council while searching for her own answers to the Outbreak.
The human outcast facing an incredible journey…
After living on the streets following a fight with his mother’s latest deadbeat boyfriend and being taken in by his veteran uncle, Alex Martin didn’t believe he could find himself in a worse situation. Living on the west coast in Padlowe, he too received a call from Uncle Gideon way up in Tallach Vale at a northern retreat with some fellow veterans. Taking to his uncle’s narrowboat Rogue’s Hope, Alex fled through his hometown via the canals as local guardsmen partnered with the constables declared martial law, instilling roadblocks. As he works his way through lock after lock, he’ll find unlikely allies in those who survived on his trip towards Tallach Vale.