It is eighteen months since Thom Everett decided to end the world. With one grief-stricken thought he has unleashed a terrible plague upon the Earth, killing billions and filling the land with the re-animated, flesh-eating corpses of The Risen. Within the walls of an ancient castle, Everett is now the Necromancer to a Dead Empire, with a small community under his protection; human survivors who tolerate him in fear while holding him in contempt for what he has taken from them. The world belongs to him, his incredible mind free to roam wherever he chooses from the safety of his chambers. But there is a place his psychic abilities cannot penetrate, a blind spot indicating a power equal to his own. With a mind spiralling into madness, Everett sees the opportunity to be free of the responsibility that comes with protecting the last of mankind. For Everett, the answer to this is clear: they must all leave their fortified home and head out into the world of The Risen, to seek out the place where he hopes to find redemption. But for those who have no choice but to follow him, the Exodus can only bring with it the uncertain and ever-present horror of being found, and left vulnerable to the remorseless, starving mouths of The Risen.
