Thousands of years ago the people of the Myr locked away the world’s evil creatures in a subterranean realm known as the Endless.  For centuries, the Myr was untroubled by these creatures, but the evil never went away.  It was only hidden...

 

 

Gideon Grayson lies dying.  As is the way of his kind, one of his children is destined to inherit his mystical powers.

          Plagued by dreams in which his twin brother Caliban throws the world into chaos, Gideon’s son Remiel seeks out a seer by the name of Lilith Cortese who confirms his worst fears.  Hoping to avoid the future Cortese described, Remiel poisons his brother with an apothecary's potion which gives Caliban all the symptoms of leprosy.

          On a ship bound for Sanctuary, a leper colony on an island in Lake Erras, Caliban escapes by jumping overboard, taking with him the ship’s captain, Gamelyn Blake.  Caliban and Gamelyn are swallowed up by the Worldpool, a churning vortex in the middle of the vast lake.  Concerned for Gamelyn’s son Gerriod, Remiel administers a potion to the boy, making him forget the terrible events of that day.

 

 

Thirty years pass.

 

 

In the land of Camulos, the Kobolds break through to the Endless whilst mining for shatterstone, inadvertently granting the ancient evil known as the Ghul access to the Myr.  Now led by Caliban Grayson, the Ghul strip Camulos of all its shatterstone and round up every single Kobold.  The Kobolds are taken into the Endless where a creature called Succellos uses her unique power to rob them of their free will, reducing the once proud race to mindless slaves.  The Kobolds spend the next year digging, opening breaches throughout the Myr.  The Kobolds also unearth the Cabal, terrifying behemoths that were buried deep in the Endless eons ago.

          One such beast, the Morrigu, attacks the peaceful hamlet of Skyfall Town, the first of many Myrran settlements to be threatened by the Cabal.

          A short distance to the west, Gerriod Blake is transporting supplies to Sanctuary when he is attacked by lepers trying to escape the colony.  He manages to fend off the lepers’ attack but in the process is swept into the great vortex now known as Caliban’s End.

          Gerriod survives his fall into the Endless.  He finds his father bound to a crucifix but is unable to free him.  Informed of Caliban’s plans to subjugate the world above, Gerriod flees the Endless, unaware that his escape is all part of a much greater plan.

          Caliban sends a battalion of Ghul to the Bregon Woods where the witches of Morae dwell.  The witches – known as the Pryderi – share a unique bond with their offspring and Caliban exploits this in a terrible way.  His troops abduct the Pryderi young over a protracted period.  As the months pass more and more witches submit to Caliban's request that they join him in the Endless.

          The Pryderi send Lara Brand to the Isle of Grisandole in the hope that she may find a grimoire known as the Incanto, a tome that would give the witches the power to defend themselves against the Ghul’s relentless attacks.  Lara fails to find the book and is assaulted by the Ghul on the isle.  She escapes and is picked up at sea by an Acoran sea captain by the name of Simeon Kallady.

          Caliban’s forces search the Myr for the whereabouts of his brother.   A Kompiran boat is attacked by the sea beast known as the Ryugin.  The town of Marshmead is invaded by the Ghul.  Similarly in the lands of Acoran, Ankara, Kolpia, Helyas and Sessymir, the Ghul and Cabal make their presence known.

          An Assembly of Nations is convened.  Representatives of almost every Myrran nation attend, hoping to find the means to stop the evil that has crept into the world.  After much discussion, the Myrrans, hoping to avoid all-out war, agree to send three assassination squads into the Endless to kill Caliban.

          One squad, led by a Sessymirian by the name of Lokasenna Hagen, will journey north to the mine of Strom Mir in Nilfheim.  Another squad, led by the politician Maeldune Canna, will head across the Nessan Sea to the Myr’s eastern continent and enter the Endless via Caliban's End.  The third company will be led by Jehenna Canna, the Consul of Acoran.  This group will make their way to Lucien where thousands of Myrrans have already died in battle with the Ghul.

          On the eve of the squads setting out from Cessair, they receive their first loss - the great hero Bannick Landen is killed.

 

 

The three squads begin their journeys and suffer setbacks immediately.  In the underground passage known as the Acoran Way, Jehenna Canna’s squad is ambushed by the Ghul.  They escape only to be attacked the following day by the Cabal behemoth known as Kleesto.  Kali is killed.

 

 

Meanwhile Maeldune Canna’s squad makes its way through the Stone Forest of Tethra.  They too are ambushed but suffer no casualties.  Pylos Castalia realises that the Ghul are vulnerable to the metal known as shatterstone but is forbidden by Maeldune to return to Cessair to inform the Chamberlain.

          Eventually making their way up on to the Ganesa Plateau, Maeldune’s squad discover the grisly remains of thousands of Tethrans, slain by the diminutive Argas, a member of the Cabal.  Remiel risks betraying his Morgai identity in an attempt to save his companions.  The squad are saved from defeat by the unlikely intervention of one the Colossi, gargantuan, ancient creatures that wander the Ganesa Plateau.

          Pylos takes Remiel aside and, having realised his true identity, attacks the priest.  Remiel tries to explain to Pylos his actions and the Helyan spares his life.  The two agree to keep Remiel’s identity a secret – both men realise that they have a traitor in their midst in the form of Maeldune Canna.

 

 

The progress of Lokasenna’s squad has also been curtailed by repeated attacks by the Ghul.  The Tuirrenian archer Will Stoops sacrifices himself to give his companions the chance to flee.  They strike out across the Hollow Hills where Lokasenna’s duplicity is revealed.  Sir Edgar is slain and Tagtug the Mabbit is wounded, brutally impaled on Lokasenna’s steel spike.

 

 

Hundreds of leagues to the south-west, in the face of overwhelming odds, Jehenna Canna abandons her plan to enter the Endless through the breach at Lucien and travels to the Acoran port of Griflet.  En route they meet the Morgai Lilith Cortese who helps them defeat Kleesto.

          The squad sets sail on The Fortitude, a great Acoran clipper captained by Jehenna’s brother Simeon.  In the middle of the Arion Ocean they are set upon by the Ryugin, who kills Simeon and most of the ship’s crew.  The Myrrans manage to wound the Ryugin enough to cause it to retreat, but Jehenna’s squad does not escape unscathed, losing Tawhawki who was cast into the sea by the Ryugin.  

          The ship limps on through the Arion Ocean, facing an uncertain future.

 

 

Maeldune’s company makes its way to Murdertown where Gunther Ross causes trouble with the local constabulary and is taken into custody.  The rest of the squad flees across the Nessan Sea where they are assaulted by a fleet of Ghul.  Remiel saves the squad and they arrive the following day in Nessa to find the Abbey at Garlot burned to the ground.  

          Eventually the squad makes its way to the Grove of Nemetona where they are aided by Cephalus Silenus who grants them access to the Thin Grey Line, a narrow passage through the Amaranthine Mountains.

          In the land of Khepera they discover the city of El Khadir has been decimated by a disease akin to leprosy.  Unwilling to be delayed any longer, Pylos decides that the squad will cross the Marid, a terrible expanse of desert that offers little chance of survival.

 

 

Meanwhile Lara, Sumi and the wounded Tagtug make their way across wilderness, eventually finding the town of Providence on the northern edge of Scoriath.  They battle the Ghul and the Pryderi, both of whom are commanded by Arinna Brine who is now sympathetic to Caliban’s cause. Arinna and the other witches display incredible power and Lara suspects that they have found and accessed the ancient grimoire known as the Incanto.

          Escaping across the inhospitable Oshalla Ocean, Lara, Sumi and Tagtug find sanctuary in the research outpost known as Toshi Station.  Sumi’s brother Matsuo assists them, providing the trio with a leviatha known as Suki who will bear them all the way to Sessymir. However, moments after leaving Toshi Station, they are attacked by the Ryugin.

 

 

The story continues off the coast of Ankara where Jehenna and her squad are at the mercy of a savage electrical storm...

 

 

The story continues the following morning...