Scott Warden is a man haunted by the past - and soon to be haunted by
the future. In early 21st-century Thailand, Scott is an expatriate
slacker. Then, one day, he inadvertently witnesses an impossible event:
the violent appearance of a 200-foot stone pillar in the forested
interior. Its arrival collapses trees for a quarter mile around its
base, freezing ice out of the air and emitting a burst of ionizing
radiation. It appears to be composed of an exotic form of matter. And
the inscription chiseled into it commemorates a military victory - 16
years in the future.
Shortly afterwards, another, larger pillar arrives in the center of
Bangkok - obliterating the city and killing thousands. Over the next
several years, human society is transformed by these mysterious arrivals
from, seemingly, our own near future. Who is the warlord "Kuin" whose
victories they note?
Scott wants only to rebuild his life. But some strange loop of causality
keeps drawing him in, to the central mystery and a final battle with the
future.