**Cloaked in the mists of Mesopotamia sleeps the world of Aalayfa, an alternate reality born from the vision of ancient dragon queens; and it is precisely this world that compels the Soultana of Siduri to make the journey in search of Anatat, a Hood of Aden who serves as a minion to the current queen. Anatat is not expecting the powerful being rattling with power who crashes through the gates with large vipers in her hair. Even more astonishing is the familiarity she feels for the beguiling sorceress who ushers her into the isolated desert to initiate her into a heightened state of awareness. For Anatat, it is more than a matter of loyalty but also of trust as she and the sorceress are pulled below the surface of the desert into the underworld of the Chilala, the desert spirits. It is in the dark underworld that Anatat is intrigued to learn of a parallel self living in a very different reality where the story of lovers unfolds in modern day London.** Between the two earth realities, stories interweave: Orion trees, inter-dimensional wolves, shape-shifting crows, python lovers, green haired maidens, flying ships, talking cobras, blue skinned giants, seers, warriors, scorpion queens, desert spirits, and nocturnal structures that lurk in the shadows between time and space; and then there is Heliandra, who would go to any lengths to maintain power over them all.