On the deadly Pantheon Islands, trappers live and die by the favour of Patji - the most dangerous island in the chain, where every plant, animal, and insect is designed to kill. The only advantage humans have are the Aviar, birds that carry parasites granting mental abilities: hiding minds from predators, or showing visions of imminent death. Sixth of the Dusk is one of the last trappers, a solitary man who treats Patji with the wary reverence of a priest tending a murderous god. When he discovers the wreckage of a corporate expedition on the island and rescues Vathi, a sharp-minded company scholar, he learns that outsiders have obtained alien technology capable of locating Aviar from orbit. The Ones Above - visitors from beyond the stars - have been trading with his people, and the price of their generosity may be far steeper than anyone realises. Together, Dusk and Vathi must cross Patji's lethal interior by night to stop the company from activating a device that would change everything. Along the way, Vathi pieces together a secret the trappers have guarded for generations - and both of them begin to see the shape of a trap far larger than anything Patji has ever set. A standalone novella set on the planet First of the Sun in the Cosmere's Drominad system, where the deadliest predator is not the one you can see.
