The chimeron, genetically engineered hybrids created to defeat the monster Kill Switch, have spent their entire lives training for the deadly confrontation. Not that their lives have been very long yet. Almost every day has been devoted to mastering combat and killing skills, with only a little devoted to their personalities. The humans that engineered the chimeron see only so far as defeating Kill Switch, who seems devoted to wiping out the human race. But Inktomi, their mysterious shamanistic instructor, knows they are destined to fight in a greater cosmic battle against Darkling forces. Inktomi introduces the seven chimeron to their demi-god patrons, who gift the creatures with special abilities and weapons to be used in their approaching cosmic conflict. But Inktomi must do this in secret, without letting the corporate powers who engineered the chimeron know the bigger scheme of things. There is much about the conflict between the Darklings and the opposing Starlings that the chimeron must learn. So bit by bit, Inktomi and his helper Quetzalcoatl unfold the long, harsh history of the clash between the servants of good and the servants of evil. It is a lot for the two-year-old chimeron to absorb.