The sky turned black. The screaming started. And the world stopped playing by human rules. When monsters tear through his city and death rains down as black snow, Adistira should die like everyone else. Instead, a child appears in the chaos—barefoot, smiling, calling himself an Observer—and marks him for something worse than death. Torn from Earth and thrown into Astal—a dying realm where gods trade in souls and monsters wear human faces—Adis has one goal: grow strong enough to find the family he left behind. But power doesn't come free. Something ancient and starving, older than the gods themselves, has taken notice. It only wants one answer. Blood, or life? Whichever he chooses, someone he loves will pay the price.