…Even those depicted in the artworks of other species have all been replaced by blank spaces on canvases, gaps in bas-reliefs, and empty lines in songs. Just about everyone on Haven is certain the Rakshasas went extinct during the same magical catastrophe that gave rise to the White Waste.

A warrior who attains vita ngoma ya akili (battle dance mind) is aware of the flow of an entire battle at the same time she notices one minute flaw in an opponent’s defenses, and can anticipate attacks split seconds before they hit.

The majority of Chimerae live in and around the White Waste, Haven’s largest desert and site of the world’s worst magical catastrophe. … Natural philosopher Marius Thane, who has risked his life to study the Couatl, believes that they await the hatching of the “Paragon”, a being that will lead them in the retaking of Ghost.

“When I recovered from being nearly drowned and trampled by ghosts, there was one ghost left at my side, Uncle Beau. As I huddled with everyone else in the reeking SuperDome, he slowly told me about how the storm took out more than just the levees, but the magical wards that had kept all kinds of evil locked up in this town. Now that evil was running amok all over the South, and as his heir, it was my job to find those old monsters wherever they hid, bring them back…”