Apparently, things could get worse, though Tommen is tired of the universe rising to the challenge.

Any hope he might have had that the Akarin could somehow vanquish Rifun died with their defeat, even as the man himself lived, nearly a god to his army as he appears to shrug off what should have been a fatal injury.

In the aftermath of the fortress battle, Tommen is sent on a new mission, to find Richard's third journal, thus completing the Order's collection of holy texts. What sounds like a simple task quickly turns into a much larger mystery as he bounces from planet to planet, speaking to royalty and space pirates and diving into ancient treasure vaults, all the while certain that something just isn't right.

But there is another force at work in all of this, and it will take Tommen to where the dimensions fracture and are woven together. And that's only the gateway into Hell.