The Prod of Immortality — John Taylor

“The prod of immortality stirs the minds of all men. Most break their backs in stiff labor for an age to secure an epitaph; some lend their names to the mountains and rivers of wide domains.”

Imlod Nir is no exception. He feels the draw of renown like all the rest, though it seems his path was chosen for him long ago. Years have passed since the day that saw him spared from sacrifice by his half-sister Galfayan, self-styled Queen of Earth, and her possessed by the Demon, yet daily still is he reminded of the debt he must repay. Charged with hunting the remnants of the Seven of Ramfiram, he struggles for a purpose to his existence beyond the Queen's glorification.

That purpose soon comes as an unexpected gift: the birth of a son for whom a grand destiny is foretold. Yet no sooner is the baby born than he is stripped from his father's grasp; and in order to deliver the forest realms from the Demon's yoke, Imlod must rescue his child from the same fate suffered by him: becoming a slave of Galfayan.