What would you give to be a hero? Stephen Russ never expected to have to answer that question; he went to work, he stayed in his apartment, sometimes had friends over, and the worst thing he'd had to face was looking for a new job after losing his old one.



But that was before a child's desperate scream led him into an alley filled with faceless winged things that almost killed him, before the strange white rat spoke to him, calling itself Silvertail Heartseeker and telling him that this was but the beginning, that the Stars were almost Right and the forces of Azathoth Nine-Armed would soon be unleashed against the world . . . before Silvertail said that his courage and willingness to risk himself made him the perfect choice to be one of the defenders of the world against this evil.



A defender named Princess Holy Aura, the first of the five Apocalypse Maidens.



Now Steve understands the choice: not whether he is willing to die, but whether he is willing to live . . . by giving up "Stephen Russ" to become the one chance that the world has against the monstrous forces that wait on the other side of forever.



Contains mature themes.