Returning from tour, Ed finds New Philadelphia overwhelmed by a freak desert teaming with hostile creatures. People who wander onto the shifting sands vanish, as do sections of town, and a swirling energy vortex rises beyond the dunes. This is no ordinary fallout from climate change or the virus plaguing mankind.Kokopelli and others in the dream world warn of an ancient force reaching from the past to corrupt magic and threaten all the realms. Answers lie beyond the vortex, a place where gods may not tread. Aided by friends, a quirky forest sprite, and his candy-loving imp, Ed must travel to a land from legends where alien creatures serve a malevolent deity. But danger lurks around every turn and fixing the problem may take some very strange medicine.