Massive pillars of stone rose up out of the ground before crumbling and sinking out of view. The roiling sands pushed and liquified the rock around a central unmoving crystal. A mud brown light flickered over the entirety of the grainy ocean. Some might have mistaken it for moonlight, but tonight was a new moon. The jagged, unnatural mountain of glowing glass illuminated a half mile of limestone desert.

On his knees, face pressed directly onto the crystal platform, was a man that would have been unremarkable if not for the distinct lack of fleshy limbs.

Ever-shifting muscles of sand bound the man's flesh, blood, hands, feet and head together as the Earth mana flowed out of the rocky maelstrom around him and into his body. His face was flat as he waited for a response from the creature within the crystal. As he had done countless times already.

"My brethren have awakened. Throughout this pitiful world, inhabitants seek to embrace real power, yet they do not understand that they play with the wrong set of dice. Your work has pleased me. It appears the time to reap what you have sown is upon us."

A path of semi solid rock surged out of the ground. Instead of falling back into the roiling mass of the creature's influence, it provided a miniscule reprieve. The man, eyes glinting with umber fire, retreated away from the crystal without a word. Numerous fossorial creatures parted out of his way as he vanished down a worn road. He knew there was work to do, even after his endless years of toiling. Two creatures that answered to the Dreg split off from the throng.

They shadowed the man step by step, mile after mile, until he stood on a cliff looking down upon a town. He'd been to this city twice before. Once, when life was simple. The other, when he'd begun weaving his will into its residents. He didn't know if the seeds he'd scattered in his wake would be sufficient, but the only fuel he had at that point was hope and rage. With a sandy huff, the man approached the inferior crystal within range of the city.

The words were acid on his tongue, but he knew that anything else would have spawned hells the world wasn't ready for. He'd seen the creatures hidden beyond reach, and the world was far from ready. Yet, as he spoke he coated himself in another layer of determination. Yet another layer of responsibility.

"Demand the tributes. The Aberrant seek action."

The crystal wailed and the man had to pull his sand grain bound limbs tight to avoid being blown away. The wails echoed through the forest around him and out into the world beyond their audible range. His dark rimmed eyes watched the pulse extend beyond even the places he'd been. He needed to remember, if not him then another. The Dreg stirred like it never had before.

END OF BOOK 1