Hawk's people need the truth to survive. The Protected only care about saving themselves.
Having traveled the world to find a cure for a city-wide malady, Hawk is anxious about his return home. Although facing a death sentence, he believes the medicine he's brought can save his city from extinction. But when he and the captain start behaving oddly, the crew suspects a hybrid is pulling the strings in Rocan, altering people's perceptions, and even occluding the cause of the malady itself.
Hawk's resistance to the altered reality raises red flags among the Protected, a group of humans living in a neighboring realm that relies on Rocan to exist. The Protected also want the cure, and they plan to steal it. Exposing the Protected could collapse the walls of the city, killing everyone in Rocan. Can Hawk fight the control of the Protected to save himself, his family, and his city?