In the forge-flickered quiet of a dying city, a blacksmith's son hammers steel.
Vaelric is nineteen. Strong of arm but uncertain of purpose, he spends his days shaping armor and weapons under his father's watchful eye. But when a monstrous intruder-thought long extinct-crawls from the shadows of his family's forge, Vaelric is thrust into a world he never asked to enter.
What follows is blood, secrecy, and fire.
Vaelric finds himself hunted by enemies he can't yet name, guided only by a secretive wizard and a quest to find a forest dwelling hag with eyes older than time.
As ancient forces stir and darker things bleed into the waking world, Vaelric will be tested in shadow and steel-and what he becomes may determine more than his own fate.
Dark fantasy meets mythic mystery in this gripping coming-of-age saga full of arcane secrets, brutal fights, and the slow forging of a hero.