The world of Marcuria nears its predestined end. This is the last Age. The final Cleansing. Three unwitting harbingers—whose lives have been carefully constructed, vigilantly directed onto dark paths—are being prepared for this culmination. Monsters they are destined to be, not the heroes they always dreamed.
Alyn sees what others cannot: the Dark. This darkness infests the land, swarms over all creation. Even those he loves are infected with it. Hatred for the Dark festers as Alyn battles a raging torrent inside: an alluvion yearning to sweep this perceived blight out of existence.
Jarrod is a carousing layabout haunted by the trauma he suffered as a young child. He drowns himself in drink and the occasional girl to escape the constant, hellacious memories. Yet this isn’t enough. It can never be enough. For years, he has mulled over a solution, but his cowardice is too great of an impediment. Even so, the notion of revenge never wanders out of reach as it foments his craving for knowledge.
Gherart has just celebrated a major promotion to join the ranks of the Eldest’s personal guard. These elite guardsmen are recognized as national heroes, exemplars of virtue and honor. To have come this far, Gherart has had to transform himself into a new man, a religious man. This mighty change entailed purging his life of every connection to his criminal past; however, there is one tie he can’t cut loose: his best friend—a brother in spirit. . .a thief envious of Gherart.
