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Celeste finally admits her growing feelings for Oryan, but they have only a few fleeing hours before he is sent off to be the champion in a conflict he wants no part of. The Empire of Navarus is at war with the Kingdom of Vollmar. The world’s greatest Centauri is now the newest soldier in the Empire’s army. With the continuing promise of his father’s freedom, Oryan strives to be the perfect soldier.

Oryan Jeckstadt is born into slavery - the result of an emperor who secretly punishes his enemies with a fate worse than death. He is thrust into a brutal, but wildly popular, sport with participants known as Centauri. Knowing his father’s freedom is at stake, he determines to be the best in the world. After being orphaned, Elesya Celeste trains as a Centauri. Constantly placed in Oryan’s shadow, she strives not just to outshine him, but to eclipse him.

The death of the Warlord is celebrated in Vollmar and mourned in Navarus. The world stands still to notice the passing of a legend. But there are whispers that Oryan still lives. Celeste and Asher are victims of the puppet master who believed he could break Oryan. Forced into slavery, she fights to save her son from those who would silence them forever. Warriors from another time known as Archides are backed into a corner.

The secrets Armay never revealed are coming to light. Oryan now knows his father was an Arkon - a hunter of the terror known as Damrich. Damrich is making his final preparations to make his rule absolute. He only needs to remove the Archide threat, and the pieces are in place to bring the world to its knees. Having been shown the depth of their wisdom and the scale of their struggle, Oryan must choose to aid the waning Archides, or live out his life in quiet retirement with Celeste and Asher.

The Archides are dead. Damrich has won. Damrich’s superweapon, the Harvenger, and his ancient monster Roanoke plague the human race, keeping everyone living in fear. Only small pockets of resistance to Damrich remain. They are divided and lack the resources and manpower to seriously challenge the world dictator. There is no leader with the strength to unite them.

In this “vital, necessary, and beautiful book” (Michael Eric Dyson), antiracist educator Robin DiAngelo deftly illuminates the phenomenon of white fragility and “allows us to understand racism as a practice not restricted to 'bad people'" (Claudia Rankine). Referring to the defensive moves white people make when challenged racially, white fragility is characterized by emotions such as anger, fear, and guilt and by behaviors including argumentation and silence. These behaviors, in turn, function to reinstate white racial equilibrium and prevent meaningful cross-racial dialogue.

Shaka Senghor was raised in a middle-class neighborhood on Detroit’s east side during the height of the 1980s crack epidemic. An honor roll student and a natural leader, he dreamed of becoming a doctor—but at age eleven, his parents’ marriage began to unravel, and beatings from his mother worsened, which sent him on a downward spiral. He ran away from home, turned to drug dealing to survive, and ended up in prison for murder at the age of nineteen, full of anger and despair.