Book excerpt: Beneath a crimson sun lie wastelands of majestic desolation and cities of cruel splendor, where heroes must battle the horrible monsters and vicious raiders who roam the desert, while in the cities undying sorcerer-kings crush any who dare to oppose them. This is Athas, the unrelenting world of the Dark Sun®; a world shaped by inherently destructive magic, and ruled by intrinsic evil. In such a world, the forces of good—and the heroes who emerge in this unforgiving land—fight not only for themselves, but for life of the world itself. Aric, is a half-elf with a rare natural ability with the psionic discipline known as “the Way.” When Aric is brought into a quest to search for a priceless trove weapons, he would rather keep his head down and live a simple life. But nothing is simple in the city of Nibenay with it reclusive ruler known as the Shadow King. And in a world where metal is the rarest of commodities, Aric’s “way” with metal is an even rarer talent. Enlisted by the Shadow King himself to seek out this cache of metal weaponry, Aric heads into the desert with a treacherous band of adventurers. Allegiances are tested and secrets are uncovered. But sometimes the secrets hidden by the sands of time should remain undiscovered. When Aric and his band uncover an evil perhaps greater than the Shadow King himself, it is a race against time to see who will harness its power.