[Aftermagic 01] • In the Shadow of Dragons

Magic wasn't real -- until dragons happened. Since then, our world has never been the same.

Six years after the dragons, magic is an insidious infection leaving some people untouched, others scarred, and more slowly transforming into mythological creatures. But once a year, on the anniversary of dragons, a worldwide Eclipse and an intense surge of magic puts everyone at risk for Changing completely -- with deadly results.

The Bishop Corporation was a small, unremarkable drug company until they released HeMo, a drug that combats the magic infection and prevents people from turning into monsters. Most of the time. Now a rising global power, BiCo patrols the population to detect and detain those who show Magesign -- and the elite BiCo Knights ride forth to slay the monsters and protect the people from themselves.

But not everyone believes in BiCo's benevolent stranglehold on magic. The Darkspawn, a small group of rebels, fight to destroy HeMo and allow magic to take hold naturally. For better or worse.

When BiCo sends Teague Harlow, one of their Knights, to join the Darkspawn as a spy, she soon uncovers dark secrets -- but not those she was sent to find. Because BiCo's rule isn't always the beneficial security blanket they claim to provide.

And the real danger may lie in the drug that's supposed to save the world.