The great and prosperous Empire of Cadaria finds itself at a crossroads. The venerable Emperor Ender 'Justhand' Lorien has succumbed to a plague engineered by the ancient malevolence known as Dorovar and his heralds of destruction. Into the spotlight steps the fallen father's oldest son, Kaitain, whose goals are incompatible with the peaceful mandate of the dearly departed ruler. All around him, Kaitain sees enemies and impediments to his prosperous rule, and to the dominion of the eternal Cadarian Empire. The dragons of Espre are the first of his targets, quickly followed by the enigmatic and misunderstood Dark Gods. However, Kaitain is not content in venting his frustrations on the enemies he sees arrayed around him. No, it's the supposed allies that concern him the most. The Academy of Arcane Arts found themselves quickly isolated from the love of the Imperial Court, and members of the Knights of the Flashing Blade, the Emperor's elite defense force, have been charged with treason on the eve of the Emperor's wedding. But it is not just the new Emperor of Cadaria that has declared war upon the Dark Gods. The dragons of Espre also want to see the end of the Dark Gods, as they see the end of the world of Espre being dragged inexorably closer by the escalating conflicts. But in the darkness of his prison, Dorovar waits for the opportunity to be free. His hand stretches forth through his heralds, sowing devastation on the innocent citizens of Cadaria. Dorovar's aim is to sacrifice the whole of Espre to create a choir of souls large enough to sing him into the Heavens where he will unseat the Creator and remake the whole of Creation in his own warped and hate-filled image. The overture fades and The Quietus of Fate series continues in Chorus of Change.
About the Author: Brian Kershner is a life-long dreamer, writer, and problem-solver. He grew up absorbing anything and everything he could get his hands on, and as a child of the Star Wars era he constantly wanted to see the worlds beyond the little Indiana town he grew up in. There was no adventure too far, and no problem too big. Emboldened by parents who always supported his curiosity and his thoughtfulness, Brian found himself bounding from Space Camp to Laser Summer Camp to Athletic Training Camp to Piano Lessons to Football Practice to Basketball Practice to Choir Practice and back again. Despite all of the roaming and traveling, his family remained close-knit and supportive. Though he flirted with the idea of becoming a doctor, Brian's attentions always fell back to the computer world. He got his first computer when he was six, and not long after found his way into a word processing program and began crafting his own fantastical worlds and even more fantastical characters. As he has grown and changed and experienced life, so too have his characters. He continues to write, craft, and create; whether it is websites for his customers, or characters and worlds for his audience. "Twenty-five years ago, I was enamored with works by Tolkien, Dante, Godwin, and just about every book on King Arthur I could get my hands on. On top of that I read every single one of the Hardy Boys novels, falling in love with the idea of mysteries with unconventional resolutions and fantastical wordplay. "I started simply, a story about a hero and the small band of people he gathered around him. It was all hand-written on yellow legal pads, collected in a binder; a mixture of a child's imagination and a child's writing talent. At the time I was twelve. I always told myself that one day it would be something more. "As a freshman in high school, that something more came in the form of a promise to myself. As much as I loved high fantasy, I was plagued by the fact that it was hard at times to relate to fantasy characters and to see their humanity behind the extraordinary abilities that they often possessed. So I made a promise to myself and anyone who would ever read my works that my characters would be as real as any person they could meet off the street. Whether you loved them or hated them, you could always relate to them, or at least understand their motivations. "Hopefully they will live for you and bring you the same joy."