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. Kr?l, 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. Hired by Kr?l as a guide and translator, the former slave girl Mezka finds herself...