They call it 'the plague of blood.' When it is over, eighty percent of the world's population is dead. Governments have fallen, communication is limited, and those who are left must battle starvation, violence and complete chaos. At St. Augustine's, a boarding school in rural England, the remaining students and nearby villagers deal with the aftermath of the virus and struggle to learn to survive in the world that is left.

When death means life and life means death how do you keep the line from blurring? Man has long since been destroyed, nature has reclaimed the earth and all that remains are the Hylen – a race of alien-human hybrids indoctrinated since birth to believe one thing: they are the tainted souls of the humans that once took advantage of the earth, doomed to relive life in a never ending cycle. The only way to break free? Die the most painful death you can. When and how is left up to you – but dare live past twenty and you are doomed. Xeraelyn Reif is one of Seven Sacreds, the only ‘pure’ beings on the earth, believed to have returned voluntarily after breaking free from the cycle to help save those still stuck. She is the Priestess – the one that will guide her people into their next lives and has been raised since birth for this role. Able to recite the Book of Truth and apply it to any situation Xeraelyn is fully aware of what is expected of her. She steps into her role as Priestess gracefully and is the embodiment of what her people strive to be – until rogue forces from Beyond kidnap her and she is forced to realise that the one thing she believed was a part of her is a lie.