They were the first who dared to enter the badlands: Sol, man of many weapons, Sola his wife, and Sos, who loved them both. The kill-spirits of the blast were retreating, taking with them the evil which the old books had called 'radiation'. But still the badlands held their secrets - terrible secrets laying in wait for those who dared to return. And yet there was no other way, for Sos was pledged to follow Sol—and Sol had been chosen to build a dream—the same dream which had been built so many times, eons before...

Sol controlled the mountain and Sos the Empire. Two worlds so completely different from each other that they could not exist together on the same planet. There had to be war... Var was the chosen one. Half man, half animal, a mutant victim of the blast, he would have continued to live as a savage if Sos had not rescued him from the badlands. And now Var was called upon to repay that debt, to risk his life as the champion of the Empire in a duel he was secretly afraid of winning...

An age of darkness was descending upon the Empire. Soon there would be no food, no weapons and no honour—the laws of the nomads were forgotten in the struggle to survive. Neq was the greatest of warriors. No man faced his sword without feeling its sting. Yet even he could not save the Empire alone, he needed the help of those who had begun its destruction... the great leaders who had thought only of war. And so Neq travelled many dangerous miles to find them,knowing that upon his journey rested the future of the world...