Ages have passed since the peaceable Melem learned to harness the Fathom Orb, imbuing themselves with a trace of its baleful energy to enable “Ghost Walk”—a momentary phase-shift into another dimension. Even when they were sieged by hulking, chitinous marauders, the Ghost Walk saved them as it had many times before. Then, the unthinkable: One of the attackers returned and breached the Orb. With no alternative, the Melem broke their inviolable law and sent their most skilled assassin to the Fathom Orb, not knowing whether she would survive, let alone how she might return.