Scaffold of Destiny
In any epic, multi-volume historical mythos, there exists a single, cataclysmic hinge point where the trajectory of a hero changes forever. It is the moment where raw, mud-and-blood-soaked survival ends, where influence and coercion end, and a larger, cosmic architecture takes over the map.
In Realms of Kyre, that definitive threshold is crossed atop the storm-lashed heights of Beacon Hill.
At a time of his deep exhaustion and disillusion, a star-believer woman speaks with Kyre of the star-cast night sky, and sets him on the road of belief that one of those multitudinous points of light must be his guiding star.
In his travels and trials ahead, he needs to discover which star looks on him, and he must learn to listen.
For the first six volumes of the chronicle, the stranger named Kyre exists in a state of profound uncertainty. He is a man moving through the dark, stitched together by scars of mind and body. Suffering from betrayals and battles, he is hounded by the belief that he is a demon crawled from the depths of The Pit.
He prays for insight into his origins and his destiny, yet his cries go unanswered. The sky remains completely silent. He is left to rely entirely on his bare hands and the weapons they grasp, aided by his preternatural speed. He trusts in his own internal moral compass to navigate the shifting treachery of the Lordlands. Ofttimes, in need of inner strength, he looks to the night sky and wonders…
His transition from constricted paladin to a star-driven decider of destinies is paid for in blood. After almost single-handedly breaking a massive border invasion from Aitierra, Kyre returns to Lordstown expecting a respite, perhaps a measure of acclaim. Instead, he faces infinite betrayal. Viewed as an existential threat by the weak, increasingly deluded and jealous High Lord Rogor, the solitary warrior is condemned to a horrific fate: dungeoned, tortured, and sentenced to be flogged to death.
His broken, bloodless carcass is dragged to the peak of Beacon Hill and chained naked to the ancient alarm scaffold, abandoned to the absolute fury of a catastrophic midnight storm. Kyre left to rot as just another victim of a corrupt regime, his strength spent in service of an ungrateful realm.
But as crackling bolts of lightning blast his scorched flesh in front of a troop of fearful soldiers, the silence of the heavens is shattered. In the black-raging sky above, a single point of brilliant light pierces the gloom—Syrtius, his guardian star?
As the celestial beacon flares in the eastern sky, a miraculous, cosmic power intervenes. A single, agonizing heartbeat is forced through Kyre's dying carcass, squeezing a few drops of blood through a body that should be cold. It is not just a moment of physical resurrection; it is a profound awakening of intent.
Resurrected by fate, perhaps by his own inner power, or that of the storm, or his star, he is still hunted by the very realm he bled to protect. But now, Kyre breaks his bonds, his strings and confinement: he looks to the horizon with an entirely different gaze. The doubts that gnawed at his soul during his early days in the arena are burned away. He no longer wonders if he is a monster from the Pit. He knows he is tied to a higher, prophetic destiny.
As the great chronicle transitions to the high-seas and the brigand and pirate campaigns of Jessica (Book 11), the Realms are no longer dealing with a pawn of the Rua Sisterhood or an enforcer for Lord Rogor. They are dealing with a kingmaker, a realm-master; one who now looks to control and command the open ocean aboard the Wave Ayann.
The strings of the puppet were completely incinerated on Beacon Hill, and the Five Realms are about to discover what happens when a fated hero finally looks up at his star and accepts his destiny.
The heavens have spoken, and the map has changed forever.
Explore the first ten volumes of the Realms of Kyre on Amazon today, and prepare to set sail with Book 11: Jessica - Published on 23 October!
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