Some promises are too good to be true... Detective Zane Vrexon and former professor of magic Alyssa Benedictus return to the ashy, smoggy streets of Alviun to investigate a doctor whose prosthetic limbs seem to move like magic. Possibly illegal magic. So when a friend's grandmother gets involved with the doctor, Zane and Alyssa must uncover the doctor's secret. But doing so will require help from Zane's ever-present Shadow, a troubled entity who knows more about what's powering the limbs than he lets on. And the doc's endgame is darker than Zane and Alyssa could have ever imagined.