Varrow is a Hound, a scavenger living in the Ribcage-a city built inside the bones of a dead behemoth. He hunts the "Angels" that fall from the sky, harvesting their golden blood to sell to the addicts of a dying world. It's a dirty job, but it pays the rent.But when his daughter, Elara, contracts the Crust-a plague that turns flesh into living stone-rent money isn't enough. Varrow needs the pure stuff. He needs to bleed a god.Driven by desperation, Varrow orchestrates a suicidal heist to capture a Dominion-Class entity. But as he cracks the shell of the divine, he unleashes a terrifying truth: The universe isn't cruel; it's just immune. Humanity is a chaotic, wet, spreading pathogen, and the Angels have arrived to sterilize the infection.With the stars descending to scour the planet clean, Varrow faces the ultimate choice: Let his daughter die to save the human race, or force-feed her the blood of a god and turn her into the beacon that brings the end of the world.