Book excerpt: The lone warrior Garlon trudges across the wild lands, slaying the missionaries of the East wherever he finds them. Using arcane skills that allow him to do battle in the dreamworld known as the Whorl, he terrorizes his victims for days before seeking them out for a final confrontation. When he finally arrives at the first great city of the East, he almost despairs, seeing that the servants of the Eastern gods outnumber him thousands to one. Then a monstrous ally points out that Garlon can address the problem at its source, so he decides to join forces with it to hunt the gods themselves. While Garlon is learning about the universe beyond his world of Mitris, a mysterious being of the Whorl seduces him. Before he can determine if she is truly friend or foe, he is marching off to battle with her at one side and the spawn of a monster on his other.