The strong rule the weak. This creed has built the Ruined Empire, a ruthless hierarchy where survival of the fittest dictates the right to rule. Loyalty is weakness, mercy a miscalculation, and friends only an opportunity for a runeblade in the back.

So Ruined must claw their way to the rank of Ruin Lord alone, trusting only their own cunning and telekinetic abilities. But Krothus and Vyrion have a most unusual method for getting ahead, something no other Ruined have been naive (or stupid) enough to try: a carefully negotiated partnership.

It’s an unlikely pairing - Krothus is an arrogant brute, certain of his self-prophesied destiny, while Vyrion is an anxious idealist, burdened with a functioning moral compass that he can’t ignore. But with another civil war looming and the two Ruin Lords they serve set on a collision course, Krothus and Vyrion must contend with Imperial political mayhem, ruthless Ruined rivals, and their rapidly fraying partnership to save the Empire from its greatest threat - itself.