A stray wizard's lightning bolt ends Lia's life in an instant. Yet her best friend refuses to let her go, performing an impossible ritual to anchor her soul to the world—as a Swarm Queen, a species of monster never before seen. Reborn with an ancient hunger to command and consume, Lia discovers she carries an overwhelming drive to assimilate the world into her collective consciousness. But strength demands patience, and conquest requires evolution. Faced with a second chance at existence, Lia embraces her monstrous nature and begins the transformation that could reshape civilization itself—one assimilation at a time.