Ash and his crew race across rooftops in pursuit of living lightning from the perpetually raging Motherstorm. This energy the jet-black city of Onyxia depends upon is all that stands between them and starvation. When a monstrous nightmare attacks, death is all but certain - until Ash Dreams a shadow panther into existence to protect himself. But this new power comes with a price: either conscription to the harrowing Academy or indebtment to a wealthy patron.

Daerna belongs to a devout sisterhood who sing canticles to pacify the eternal storm. When she learns of a mysterious sickness spreading through the city's populace, she feels it is her duty to help, even though her order has abandoned the afflicted to their fate. With fellow rebel sisters, her search into the root cause will lead her away from the light into the dark heart of the city where danger lurks.

Geil is a creature born of Dream and bound to the Drake form she conjured to survive her Academy training. While Nightmare-Hunting she encounters a young girl with the dreamer gift and feels compelled to save her from enduring the same cruel fate she faced. But this means returning to the jet-black city, home to the past she has tried to outrun and navigating the political turbulence in the wake of an election.

As each pursues their own ends, they soon discover that they share common interests. But can they find a way to learn from the secrets the city has buried within its past before their whole world turns into a living nightmare?