A virus has been unleashed across the United States, giving people the power to control minds and separating the population into messiahs, followers and those soon to be converted. It is not long before these "Illusionists" believe their kind wasn't meant to share... Cole Watts is awoken from hallucinogenic bliss into a world of dead lovers, fanatical cults fighting to impose their utopia, telepathic madmen and paranoid survivalists. His only hope of resistance lies in Chicago, where claims of a cure have been discovered. Or is it all just a trick of the brain?