Ashlani is betrayed by his childhood friend and killed by keelish. After a brief, confusing encounter with the System, he is returned to a body, but not the one he has always known. Instead, he hatches from an egg as one of the keelish.

Ashlani quickly comes to realize that in order to find and get his vengeance on his old friend who murdered him, he will need to follow the commands of the System and the mysterious Administrator.

Ashlani must learn to communicate with his fellow keelish. He establishes himself as Alpha over a pack of hatchlings. His first devout follower, Oncli, is his first, and possibly only friend in this new life. His pain is amplified with Oncli's untimely death. Ashlani leads his pack to gain complete dominance over the brood.

Ashlani's followers gain names and notoriety within the swarm, until they find themselves gaining the swarm leaders' attention. Redael, Rulac, and Wisterl make appearances, pushing Ashlani and the rest of the hatchlings to fall in line, but they refuse. As a remnant of his strength, Ashlani takes nine wolfstags to be domesticated thanks to some of the magics of his fellow keelish, a mother and her eight pups.