Children of the Whales, Vol. 20 by Abi Umeda

In this postapocalyptic fantasy, a sea of sand swallows everything but the past.

In an endless sea of sand drifts the Mud Whale, a floating island city of clay and magic. In its chambers a small community clings to survival, cut off from its own history by the shadows of the past.

The emperor and the great Nous Ánthropos have arrived on the shores of Kívotos! Chakuro tries to stand against the emperor and his terrible plan, but the show of resistance only gets him and Lykos pulled to the bottom of the Sea of Sand. Everyone knows that nothing survives sinking under the sands, but death isn’t what awaits them in them depths—it’s knowledge.