Adept (The Essence Gate War, Book 1)

Amric is the only human ever raised among the Sil'ath, a race of reptilian warriors, and he shares their loathing of all things magic. Not even that aversion, however, will prevent him from finding friends now lost in a land ravaged by strange powers. After all, it was his orders that sent them there.

Together with his Sil'ath sword-brother, he retraces the steps of their friends to Keldrin's Landing, the barest toehold of civilization in a land fiercely resentful of the intrusion. They find the city besieged from without and within, swollen with refugees fleeing a countryside plagued by magical forces run amok.

Saving a half-breed healer earns the enmity of a powerful man, but sets them on the trail of their missing friends. An enigmatic stranger bearing a name out of dark legend aids them for reasons of his own. A lone huntress dogs their steps, seeking vengeance against a monster from her past.

Deeper into the heart of the darkness they go as they begin to uncover the true scope of the threat facing their world. Something is drawing the magic of the land away to the east by force, and blackest evil gathers in the spreading wasteland to the south, as ancient foes prepare to renew a titanic conflict.

And no matter which prevails, the world will be destroyed.

To save his friends and his world, Amric must unite a small band of misfits and lead them against the destruction of all. In so doing, he will be forced to confront the truth of his own origins, a past he has forgotten but which has never forgotten him.