"Dark Clouds Rising" is the first book in the "Black Star" series exploring the fantasy world a Crux, a world of ancient falsehoods and broken nations. Within all this chaos, heroes rise to a calling even they cannot fully understand. In "Flesh and Dreams," Stephen, an amnesiac, is found in a forest, wounded. Adopted by a group of dragonslayers, Stephen travels in their quest to rediscover their fervor against Dragons. The quest takes them through the ruin of raided cities, the hall of a corrupt noblewoman, the fire of a battle against a barbaric horde, and the heart of the enemy's lair. All the while, Stephen searches for his past, but a shadow grows in his heart that whispers gleeful memories of bloodlust and rage. In "Reflections," Captain Serdis of the Nessus Law-enforcers hunts a cult that kills for pleasure. The religious cult worships a god of death from the country of Boncawa to the north, a country that warred with Serdis's beloved nation. He knows the cult would like nothing better than to start a war again, and Serdis plans to prevent such an event, but fate has assured his failure.