The Disputed Legacy (The Ivanov Syndicate #4)

Prologue

A long, long time ago in a place called Opal, a land of murder and mayhem, there was a humble warrior named Lares Atticus, who found a magical book.

The Book of Life, as it would become known, was hidden amongst seven towering magical stones, each holding a secret to the universe.

Stones that stretch miles high, and many say have no beginning or ending.

Neither the stones nor the book had any known origin.

It soon became clear that the book controlled the stones, as the book spoke to the warrior who found it, helping him to create a better world, better worlds.

He soon ruled beyond the borders of Opal, almost becoming one with the book, a hair of separation between them.

It was then carved in what would later be known as the Royal Stone.

Then that he became known as King Lares.

And while this might have seemed to another as a promise of eternity, Lares knew all things end, even him, and one day he’d leave this lifetime.

In consult with the Book of Life, he named seven council members, seven warriors, gifting them with magic, and tasked them with aiding his rule and protection of all that the book had helped him create.

In turn, their names were etched in the stone beneath his own name.

Even then, the book spoke solely to Lares and there were pages inside its ancient covers that only Lares could read.

But power creates greed, and there was another great warrior who wanted all that Lares had amassed.

Macklemore, the powerful king of the druids, yearned to possess the book, and he launched a vicious attack.

Worlds were at war, kings challenging Lares until he was struck down, ash in the wind, death his only destiny.

It was his most trusted council member, Killian Ravengale, who held King Lares as he died, and inherited his magic.

Killian fought a brutal battle against Macklemore and defeated him, and by doing so, he became King Killian, Opal was renamed Ravengale, and his future was ordained to rule worlds in eight hundred years of peace.

But that eight hundred years has ended.