Thief's Prophecy — Nathan Cardwell

With her link to Nirayel severed, Sarah returns to reality just as government agents close in on her home. Meanwhile, in crossed-correlation with the Doctor's untimely connection drop, the paradox previously formed by a genetic similarity to her brother, Jesse, now forces a duplication of Sarah's identity to become overlaid upon that of the previously occupied Selina template, some seventeen years after the invasion of Arbitos. The result is a pseudo-Sarah waking to a world where Dark-elves dominate civilization. This includes the city of New Malice, once known as Arbitos, while her new home, Brinehaven, has become the last Human-occupied city to evade the Empire's grasp.

Before the horrendous accident occurred that not only sent Jesse Berrach to the hospital, but also marked the end of his career and his marriage, he was a dedicated paramedic. During his lengthy recovery, his sister and brother in-law send him a package containing an online game, Wayward Fates. Beneath the title, the slogan reads, Welcome to a world where Destiny is what you take of it, unless Destiny takes you first. Believing that he has finally found something capable of alleviating his chronic boredom, Jesse enters the game at the very moment that IBOT absorbs it. His eyes quickly become fixed and dilated. Small lines of drool form at both corners of his mouth.

Many refugees of the Empire's rise have endeavored to forget their previous lives. These include Borin, who is now Selina's lover, and Marcus, who for reasons beyond Sarah's comprehension, is now Selina's husband. Even as Selina's long-endured melancholy fades, Sarah is drawn away from Brinehaven by the ethereal beckoning of a distant wolf, and toward her own destiny.

Jesse awakes to a world far removed from that of his hospital room. Initially, this is no more than the wheat field in which he finds himself. However, as he exits the field of tall purple grain, he is confronted with more severe conflicts in terms of reality, and begins to doubt his sanity, when he encounters a variety of strange and nightmarish creatures, such as giant rabbits, overly friendly wolves, and a screeching thirty-foot crow-chicken from hell.

While the very boundaries of reality become distorted, the web of star-crossed lives and crisscrossed intrigue continues to expand as Book Three of the Rendering Nirayel series leads the reader into the final events of the four-part novel.