taking place in a sci-fi setting with dystopic elements, it follows vālda, who’s part of a culture of people, the antexis, who live in starships, travelling the galaxy to seek out resources and moving on once they exhaust them. they are part of the libaredes, a religion that worships the goddess hyra-taal, the winged serpent. most people remain low level acolytes, but some are chosen to ascend through the ranks, with a chosen few ascending to the highest rank, the moon blessed, at which point they go through an induction ceremony that unlocks latent genetic mutations, transforming them from organic to organic-metaloid hybrids, and gives them telepathic links to each other. vālda’s goal ever since she was found as an orphaned child has been to become one of the moon blessed, and after twenty years of striving towards her goal, she’s finally chosen. but being moon blessed isn’t what she expected, and the longer she lives a changed life, the more she begins to see dark cracks in the culture and religion she’s a part of.