They say in the Outside that Arcade City changes you. It twists and bends you to it’s will, forcing you to become something greater or worse than you ever imagined. At least, those are the rumors. The wardogs who ply their trade in the Outside don’t talk about it much, but it’s apparent from the way they fight and the way they die that something beneath that gigantic Dome happens, and that it is awful. Garth ‘Nickels’ N’Chalez remembers wondering ‘how bad it could possibly get?’. Quite clearly. After all, he’s The Engineer, he’s The Specter, he’s the First Kin’kithal. He laid down a thirty thousand year old con to destroy the Universe in a very specific manner and he’s done battle with things the human mind can barely contain. But that was before Kingsblood. That was before the smoldering Dark Iron curse tried to boil him alive in his own skin and before it tried to give Specter full control of his life. Cruel and vicious and offering up to him the kind of power he craves and fears, Garth has spent most of his time ‘neath The Dome struggling with the passionate urge to lay waste to everything in his path. Desperate to reach Ickford, intent on finding this Agnethea woman who apparently possessed the knowledge to rid him of his poison, Garth can’t wait to be free of both the sludge in his veins and the nattering, cantankerous smith who has been his only companion for too long. At his side, ‘Barnabas the Smith’, who is in truth, King Barnabas Blake the One and Only. Monarch for Arcade City and possessor of unthinkably powerful nanotech, the King has been Garth’s constant companion. Teaching him the methods by which King’s Will can be used to forge the most amazing weapons and tools, Barnabas Blake has also been trying to get Specter to rise up out of the dark places. But that’s all changed. Grown sick and tired of dealing with the mercurial Nickels and his improbable resilience to Kingsblood, King Barnabas Blake tosses Garth ‘Nickels’ N’Chalez to the first Obsidian Golem, Queen Agnethea the Vile, so he might return to his Dome and finally, once and for all, do for the blasted Outsider. And the Queen. And Foul Ickford. And any other damnfool idiot who lives within the cancerous walls. By any means necessary. All so he can begin properly destroying the Universe. Gearmen Dominic Breton and Chevril Pointillier are hot on Garth’s heels, and when they arrive at Ickford, they unwittingly find themselves in the middle of … a situation. One they’re not prepared for. One no one is prepared for. A situation that will change the structure of Arcade City until the very end of it’s days. One that will cause brothers to fight, enemies to stand side by side, hope to falter and blood to boil. It’s the beginning of the end, down there ‘neath The Great Geared Dome, isn’t it just? In the Outside, things are just as awful. Commander Aleksander Politoyov is missing. Tendreel Salingh hunts for answers with her unique powers, drawing the attention of the Harmony soldiers within Latelyspace. Sa Candall hungers for revenge against the Heavy Elites who killed his friend, Shane, and gives the Latelians a weapon that will change the face of combat in the Unreal Universe forever. Chairman Herrig DuPont struggles to keep the Latelian Commonwealth on even ground. Jordan Bishop begins his hunt for Garth, intent on wreaking havoc on the man who ruined his life. The Unreal Universe grows ever more uneasy. Will Garth survive King’s Gauntlet ‘neath The Dome? More to the point, what will he become if he does?

Other than a delicious root beer float and access to proper pizza, all Garth ‘Nickels’ N’Chalez wants is to see the creation of reality 2.0 happen. He already knows it's going to be bloody, rough and extremely trying, but when you sign up to be the Engineer of that new birth, you have very few choices regarding how it goes down. And when you've got the ancient, venerable and godlike Kith Antal leading an army of unstoppable Harmony soldiers coming at you with the express purposes of being the Victor.... You just can't help but feel it's gonna be even worse. But before Garth can even think about dealing with dear old dad, he's got to get inside Arcade City and deal with the so-called mad Goth king Blake. No one really knows what's under the gigantic clockwork dome that's lasted for thirty thousand years and Garth -not for a lack of trying to get proper Intel- finds himself doing what he does best. Which is basically charging in without thinking to see what happens next; forced to kill an innocent man in order to be sentenced to Arcade City for crimes against a King’s Son, Garth’s only information concerning the Domed, ancient city is that it is thirty thousand years old and filled to the brim with madness and chaos. The moment our hero steps through the Geared Doors leading into the fabled and storied Arcade City, Garth finds himself in –as usual- so far in over his head that his only choice is to push forward, ever forward. Inflicted with a terrible case of nanotech derived-Kingsblood poisoning, assaulted by fear, hunted by Gearmen, surrounded by hideously mutated gearheads and wardogs, saddled with an itinerant –and crankier than thou- blacksmith named Barnabas and balked at every turn, Garth begins the trek to Arcadia, wherein the Dark Iron King waits. Along the way, he and his reluctant companion seek to find a cure for Garth’s maladies, all while skirting dark resurgences of that thing the Engineer fears more than anything: Specter. Outside The Dome, the war for Trinity and It’s Armies does not go well; led by SpecSer Commander Aleksander Politoyov, his forces cannot get through the systemic shield created by Huey, and so he turns his attentions outwards. Employing the resourceful –and uncannily insightful- Tendreel Salingh to discover Garth N’Chalez’ true plans, Aleksander unwittingly sets into motion a series of events that will spiral wildly out of control. Herrig, now Chairman of the renamed Latelyspace Commonwealth, is assaulted on all sides. When Garth escaped the confines of Hospitalis aboard Bravo, the shield protecting Latelyspace from invasion dropped just long enough for him to escape, but also for a handful of Trinity’s forces to sneak in. His system is plagued by Heavy Elites, Specter Techs, and regular Army, and the original Horsemen are chomping at the bit to rain wrack and ruin upon everyone and everything that stands in their way. All this and more awaits. The Unreal Universe gears up for the end and everything is quite literally going to Hell in a hand basket. Will Garth survive Arcade City? Against the mighty Dark Iron King and his even mightier King’s Will … well. Garth will need to bring his ‘A’ Game… Won’t he just?

Supplements the geological map series of England and Wales. May be written as much as 30 years after the map.