Over four hundred years ago, civilization fell in a cataclysm of nuclear fire. Nature itself changed, shifted, wounded by ancient wars, still struggling to find a new balance. The human survivors exist with no laws, no government, barely any degree of civilization, in a world altered beyond recognition. All knowledge is kept locked away in the University for the benefit of a select few. The limited technology relies heavily on steam power, where it exists at all. Even the weather is enough to kill the unprotected at times.In this world, where people struggle to survive one day to the next, two young men cross paths in the dark of night. Ari, raised in the near-paradise of the mountains with their clean air and safe water, ran afoul of a man with a big gun and an ultimatum. No longer welcome in his homeland, he wandered the world, searching for a new life. Grief, born in the black sand desert to a people universally known and hated as the Reavers, was the sole survivor of a vicious massacre and has been haunting the edges of the desert ever since, balanced on the knife edge of survival.One thing keeps him alive: hope that somehow, someday, the world will be a better place. And when he meets up with Ari and finds an unexpected connection, suddenly his hope - his Dream - becomes more than just a wishful thought.It's a simple plan, after all. Just take over the world. Two young men, alone, against an entire world of anarchic chaos. Their assets? Brains, fighting skills, and horses. Never consider the cost of failure. Never think about the impossible odds. And most especially, Grief must never, ever let Ari know the hidden truth within his heart, or the world might just end all over again. Words: approx. 182,000