A mage’s ungodly goal: rule among the dead. A noblewoman’s destiny: deliver the kingdom of Endar from evil. The final battle is at hand.

Kragan, wielder of malignant magic, is nearing his ultimate goal. Lorness Carol Rafel is pursuing her millennia-old destiny as well. It has been prophesized that the noble sorceress will destroy Kragan before he lays waste to the kingdom of Endar and reigns as an unholy god.

In Kragan’s favor is the mighty Dread Lord, bound to Kragan’s will, and an army of the resurrected dead that far outnumbers the Forsworn followers at Carol’s side. But Carol has the edge. She and her seer husband, Arn, possess the last remaining pieces of a magical puzzle. In the shards of a shattered trident lies the very key to Kragan’s dark dreams. If Carol and Arn can unleash its undiscovered powers in time to intercept Kragan’s horde. The end is at hand.

The final battle on the besieged fortress is upon them. And Arn’s visions of its outcome are terrifying. As Carol draws on her own increasing forces of magic, more is at stake than she imagines in an endgame in the land of the dead that no one could have foreseen.

Richard Phillips is the author of several science fiction and fantasy series, including The Rho Agenda (The Second Ship, Immune, and Wormhole); The Rho Agenda Inception (Once Dead, Dead Wrong, and Dead Shift); The Rho Agenda Assimilation (The Kasari Nexus, The Altreian Enigma, and The Meridian Ascent); and Mark of Fire, Prophecy’s Daughter, Curse of the Chosen, The Shattered Trident, The Time Seer, and Prophecy’s End in the epic Endarian Prophecy series. Born in Roswell, New Mexico, in 1956, Richard graduated from the United States Military Academy at West Point in 1979 and qualified as a US Army Ranger, serving as an officer in the army. He earned a master’s degree in physics from the Naval Postgraduate School in 1989, completing his thesis work at Los Alamos National Laboratory. After working as a research associate at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, he returned to the army to complete his tour of duty. Richard lives with his wife, Carol, in Phoenix, Arizona. For more information, visit www.rhoagenda.me.