Zayed al-Rimal is a man of singular ambition, living among the shifting black sands of an ancient, forgotten world. To the outside eye, he is a scholar of the arcane; to his own soul, he is a man hollowed out by a thirst that gold and power cannot quench.
Bound to a legacy he never asked for, Zayed discovers the terrifying truth of the Hamzad-the spiritual twin that dwells in the mirror of the soul. But this is no mere shadow. It is a predatory entity, a manifestation of his deepest, darkest desires, and it is starving. As the lines between his own identity and the shifting, monstrous reflection blur, Zayed must navigate a labyrinth of treacherous desert politics, lethal occult rituals, and the crumbling spires of a city that defies the laws of nature.
Tethered by a thread of light to a creature that hungers for more than just his body, Zayed must decide: will he master his inner darkness, or will the Hamzad finally reach through the glass to claim the world he calls his own?
Some secrets are meant to be buried. Others are waiting for you to invite them in.