RD Pires

The shadow of the great usurper, King Fogosombre, has kept the East in darkness for twelve long years. Made paranoid by a foretelling of his downfall, the king’s indiscriminate violence reaches a new zenith, leaving twins Arsenio and Mariana orphaned and homeless, their village burnt to the ground.

Now, as the dying embers of their rebellion fade into the night, the twins make a promise to find aide for their people in foreign lands. To get out from under the king’s reach, they must venture across the Great Ocean into a world they had only dreamt about through travelers’ stories. From their perilous quest arises a tale of emperors and queens, marauders and mysticism, fortitude and forbidden love.

Meanwhile, King Fogosombre conducts profane rituals driven by his lust for indomitability. Toiling with malign magic that may yield dire consequences for all the known world, he seeks a pact with the shadows, a plan to cement his reign indefinitely: a design of darkness.

The threat of war looms.

Reeling from the attack on Kailon, Queen Yiscel entreaties support from her allies to retaliate against the tyrant king of the East. Emperor Kaori can no longer ignore the foreign threat in good conscience. While sending ships into battle will put Nokari lives at risk, denying the call of the island queen would break their already fragile alliance. 

Meanwhile, Arsenio races southward in a bid to stop the war before it can begin. He seeks the assassin of legend – The Jade Dagger – to hunt down Fogosombre and end his reign of terror once and for all. 

What unfolds is a story of sacrifice and survival, persevering against the odds, and finding one’s place in an unforgiving world. Fates intertwine like countermelodies in an epic ballad. It is a song of devotion, a song of danger, a song of dying.