The True Tree Chronicles

The world is in the grasp of the God of Chaos, his only mantra: Do as Thou Wilt. In the slums of Tuilar, Dirge is an apprentice to the Brotherhood of Assassins who worship the god of Death. His only friend Jacob, a jovial young man, feels at home in the world as it is, but Dirge craves structure. When Chaos orchestrates the Cleansing, a mass slaughter of children, people stand up against him. Amid the revolt, the prophet of the forgotten God of Order appears. Drawn to the ways of Order, Dirge finds himself at odds with those who raised him.

The elder gods demand an end to the 500-year reign of the God of Chaos. To counter their plans, the champion of Chaos calls for the Cleansing—the sacrifice of all children under two. Ellis escapes the Cleansing with the help of Dirge, a swordsman who thinks Ellis was born to end the reign of Chaos, and Daylin, a young woman who talks with wolves. Visions drag Ellis north toward an ethereal tower, deep in The Lands of the Dead, staying steps ahead of the fire-wielding priest who killed Ellis’ parents.

Ellis feels the pull of the Tower of Time; it holds the key to his ending the god of Chaos’ hold on the world. But the Tower lies deep in the Lands of the Dead, a place where nothing moves except roaming bands of berserk, spectral warriors who fight a never-ending war. On the outskirts of the Lands of the Dead, Chaos and its evil ways have bewitched, Daylin, Ellis’ best friend. She is enthralled by the Chaos priest Betal, who has entwined her in the political undercurrents of his fellow priests in the Citadel, where only the strong and wicked survive.