Ashes and Echoes — Brian C. Kershner

The capital of the Cadarian Empire has fallen, the Dark Gods' Citadel smolders from subterfuge and sabotage, and the Heart of Stone in Albitonin has been fractured at its foundation. Chaos reigns throughout the world of Espre, and the Heralds of the immortal Dorovar wreak havoc everywhere their footsteps fall. At the core of the crumbling Empire of Cadaria, a new horror stirs. Emperor Kaitain Lorien has awoken from his slumber, twisted and scarred by the machinations of the Children of the Creator. His vengeance against the rebels, the zealots, and his own wife and child could reduce the whole of the Cadarian Empire to ash, as the flashpoint of a civil war flares at a remote Academy. But there are echoes in the distance, echoes of hope. Deep in the Heart of Stone a hero takes her place on the battlefield of the immortals, and soon she will awaken into a conflict that she never dreamed could occur. Will the High Priestess of the Creator turn her back on everything she knows in an effort to save everything she loves? A Princess will follow her heart into the deepest and darkest pits of despair, where an unexpected light awaits. Will she sacrifice her ambition to achieve power that surpasses her wildest dreams? In the wilderness, brothers tangled in ancient prophecy will take all too familiar places in the growing conflict. Can this world support the weight of heroes and villains that burned the last worlds they fought upon? The battle for the soul of Espre and perhaps for the whole of Creation continues in The Quietus of Fate: Ashes and Echoes.