Sancia, Clef, and Berenice have gone up against long odds in the past. But the war they're fighting now is one even they can't win. This time, they're not facing robber-baron elites, or even an immortal hierophant, but an entity whose intelligence is spread over half the globe-one that uses the magic of scriving to control not just objects, but human minds. To fight it, they've used scriving technology to transform themselves and their allies into an army-a society-unlike anything humanity has seen before. With its strength at their backs, they've freed a handful of their enemy's hosts from servitude, even defeated some of its fearsome, reality-altering dreadnaughts. Yet despite their efforts, their enemy marches on-implacable. Unstoppable. And to have a chance at victory, Sancia, Clef, and Berenice will have to make a sacrifice beyond anything that's come before.