Pact and Pattern

My name is Wen Alder. My name is Foolish Cur. All my life, I have been torn between two legacies: that of my father, whose roots trace back to the right hand of the emperor. That of my mother's family, who reject the oppressive Empire and embrace the resistance. I can choose between them - between protecting my family, or protecting my people - or I can search out a better path...a magical path, filled with secrets, unbound by empire or resistance, which could shake my world to its very foundation. But my search for freedom will entangle me in a war between the gods themselves.

Wen Alder was born into two worlds. On his father’s side, a legacy of proud loyalty and service to the god-like Sienese Emperor spanning generations. And it is expected that Alder, too, will follow this tradition by passing the imperial exams, learning the accepted ways of magic and, if he serves with honor, enhancing his family's prominence by rising to take a most powerful position in Sien—the Hand of the Emperor. But from his mother he has inherited defiance from the Empire, a history of wild gods and magic unlike anything the Imperial sorcerers could yet control.

The boy once known as Wen Alder has become the rebel witch Foolish Cur. Schooled in both the powers that bound him to serve the emperor as well as the furious, wild magic of his mother’s ancestors, he was torn between two worlds, until he realized the brutal nature of the emperor and his rule. Joining the rebellion, he soon experienced the painful sacrifices that come with defiance. Yet even more dangerous times lay ahead. For the emperor—covetous of all the magic he controls—has decided to take his ruthless quest for power to the gods themselves.

Foolish Cur, once named Wen Alder, finds that his allies in the rebellion might cross any line if it means freedom from the Empire. But he can't overcome a foe as strong as Emperor Tenet alone. Koro Ha, Foolish Cur's former tutor, discovers the Empire is not so forgiving of those who raise a traitor. And their suspicion may cost him and his people more than he can imagine. As war against the Empire rages, Foolish Cur knows there is a greater threat. The emperor plans his own coup against the gods, and they will wreak destruction if he tries.

Foolish Cur has fallen into a trap. By resorting to forbidden magic when he failed to overthrow the Emperor, he has done exactly as the gods wanted. Now they are free to wage their war, twisting the world into new forms, as strange and terrible beasts walk the earth. To fix what he has caused will take every ounce of Foolish Cur's cunning. But mending the pattern of the world is too large a task for one man alone.

In an ill-fated attempt to prevent the tyrannical Emperor from rekindling war with the gods, young rebel Foolish Cur made the dreadful mistake of wielding incredibly powerful but forbidden magic. In doing so, he himself fell into a trap of the gods' own making, inadvertently setting them free. Now, after uncountable years, the gods are free to wreak their own chaos upon the world, transforming the lands into a nightmare for mortals while horrific new creatures emerge to terrorize all in their path. The Empire, the rebellion, and existence itself stand on the brink of destruction.