An army under his command, Ardent  abandons the Canyonlands in order to set the Keep free. Once again, the Color River serves as his guide. Its familiar currents and bends carry him and his new-found friends closer to war. Winding through a wilderness of broken bridges and ghost towns, Ardent worries what chaos awaits. That is, if he arrives at all. Floods and sandstorms, mutinies and madmen, fate itself seems to conspire against success. Far from rescuing the Keep, his army often end...

Surrounded by Extinction, the Keep is enclosed within a fifty foot wall. Only desert and destruction exist beyond. Inside this lone fortress, the Council of Constraint controls everything: curfew, clothes, career, names... In return for surrendering freedom, citizens receive survival. Most don't mind the exchange. The Son of Sara isn't like most people. However, no one seems to share his growing sense of dread. His mother is too busy. His father is dead. His friends think he’s reckless. On...

Bloodied and beaten, Ardent wanders in a wasteland. The heat is oppressive, the desert endless. His chances for survival are slim. Betrayed, abandoned, he wonders if resistance was worth the hurt he caused. Maybe he should have listened. Maybe he should have obeyed: pretended to be happy, completed his tasks, did as he was told... Maybe he should give the Council what it wants most: his death. Only the promise that life beyond the Limits exists urges Ardent onward. Guided by the Color, he ...