Gaunt Rainbow lives in a bleak dystopia twenty years after the destruction of the walled city Khetam. In this lifetime, a solitary young woman called "Rainbow" is cursed and drains life from the living. She does so automatically so that she remains perfectly healthy. And she is conscious of the wounds she inflicts upon others.The uncontrollable anathema fills her with remorse. After years of knowingly tormenting people, Pamela follows rumors. She goes into the Shur desert. There, she desperately hopes she will find an errant messiah. He will remove her murderous curse.The hunt ends the day she leaves her home. A sniper kills her. Eight years pass then Pamela is resurrected alone in the desert. Her money and supplies are gone, despite the dead bodies and abandoned vehicles surrounding her miraculous return to life.