Nearing the middle of the 23rd Century, President Hsieh ruled the most advanced self- contained ecosystem ever created: Barca City—the perfectly sealed biodome surrounding the most advanced technocracy the world has ever seen, a city-building so large it dwarfed the entire southern half of San Francisco Bay. Hsieh had risen faster and higher than even he expected, and now he controlled not only the business of Barca Corporation, but also the people. Nothing would take from him what his fanatical drive and laser-guided obsession had earned him. He was a ruler—nearly a god.
Deep in the ruins of the far-north Bay Area, Ranza’s excitement swelled as she realized she was about to be honored as a lead hunter of the Santa Rosa Nomás tribe. But, her simple world was about to be shaken as if an earthquake racked the Bay Area, toppling the ruins of the former grand San Francisco. It would be sudden and violent–nearly as earth-shaking as the purge that had caused her ancestors to flee deep into the forests of the North Bay, where they formed a nomadic tribe.
An unexpected sighting of humans living freely outside Barca was enough to ignite a war, pitting the simple tribal Nomás against the powerful Barcans. Another purge would make the first seem like a fistfight. These two societies raced toward annihilation, with nothing to save the peace-loving Nomás. Nothing. . . except perhaps magic, and the Phoenix Flower.
