Life is not what it seems to be. With the B.A.L.S. Biological Artificial Life System, humanity has acquired the technology to simulate whatever life one chooses. When the whole of the species opts to live in a simulated fantasy world, no one expected that eventually, the lines between fantasy and reality would blur until they are indistinguishable. In the Almaican empire, Cog Heavenshire believes himself to be a ruler caught in a brutal war against the Horosh. When he is visited by a strange man named Zolin who claims they are living in a simulation, Cog doesn't know what to believe. Yet when Zolin vanishes, people begin appearing in Cog's world, materializing out of thin air. The technology keeping everyone in the simulation is failing, warping time and filling Cog's world with inexplicable events. Determined to unravel the truth behind B.A.L.S. and find the mysterious Zolin, Cog and his allies are forced to fight a war on two fronts: one within their world, and one that transcends it.