White Staff — Robert Thomas

Locked away in an ancient dungeon in a solitary fortress, the last remaining person that holds a memory of the once powerful kingdom of Euwold breathes slowly in his fetid prison. The magic that holds him prisoner is powerful but it can not control his mind. For three centuries he has searched without success for someone, anyone who can accept his thoughts and free him from his forced exile. One lone night in the dead of winter with the Sorol Mountains blanketed beneath a new snow, the aging wizard's thoughts stumble across one such person. Within a storm's throw from the coast of the Ice Sea, Hafram unleashes his last, desperate hope, an intricate spell that weaves his life force with that of his new-found champion. With his magics fading from age and abandonment, he knows this is his last chance of freeing the continent from the oppressive weight and destruction of the empire from Darthune. The struggle begins again with the quest for the white staff and for the ultimate fate of the continent and of its kingdoms for the next five-thousand years.