Not one, but two comets suddenly appear in the skies above the lands of Munduh, leaving everyone from lord to lowlife in awe and wonder. In a remote corner of the far north, a hunter finds an abandoned baby boy on a bed of pelts in the deep forest. In the south, a king and an astronomer break into an ancient tomb to retrieve an alledgedly magical sword from a bygone era. In the west, a wizard is awakened in the middle of the night as his staff begins to glow all of its own. In the Qull desert, a seemingly mad prophet sentenced to death is about to meet his destiny. And in one of the great central kingdoms, a young prince willing to risk everything for the sake of his legacy is steering his chariot down a road that might lead to all-out war....  

 

Thus begins the story of Ximeron - Warrior of Worlds. For hundreds of years, the people of Munduh have lived in fear of the return of the Radiant,  a powerful warrior-wizard that almost singlehandedly managed to plunge the realms of Munduh into a cataclysm during his last incarnation. Legend has it, though, that the Radiant will return some day, and that his return shall be heralded by a pair of comets. In this case, the advent of the two comets coincides with reports of strange events coming in from places all over the map, unnerving king and peasant alike. By themselves, the comets do not clarify in what guise the Radiant will return or what identity he will assume. They do point in the direction of his place of manifestation, however, or where he will be born. As the comets points to the far north, assassins from many courts and sepulchral temples are dispatched in that general direction with orders to locate the infant Radiant and kill him. In Book One, In the Shadow of the Radiant, we follow the boy Ximeron as he grows up in a hamlet in distant Chrotana, a cold and misty, mountainous land with large forests and mysterious stone circles. He is a foundling, and it was Gamon the Hunter who found him lying on a bed of pelts in the deep forest. Nobody knows who Ximeron's real parents are. No traces of them have ever been found. Gamon and his wife Lieni raise Ximeron as their own. He immediately becomes the victim of superstitious fear and bullying from the clansmen among whom he grows up. 

When Ximeron is six years old, a stranger comes to his hamlet. Ramesh Calciddion is a Khirenya, one of the last, in point of fact. The Khirenyas are holy warriors dedicated to upholding law and order across the borders of the many kingdoms of Munduh. It was they who defeated and killed the original Radiant, and they have sworn an oath to prevent his return at any costs.   

Ramesh instinctively acknowledges that Ximeron is special, although in what way he cannot say. Ximeron might be the Radiant's new avatar, but something about him is all wrong, Ramesh thinks. Thus, despite an earlier pledge to kill the boy, Ramesh decides to take him on as an apprentice instead. In this way, he hopes to atone for a terrible mistake he made in his youth. It is a decision that will test the loyalty of his friends and drive a wedge between the remaining Khirenyas. Thus, born into a world infested with dark magic, slavers, vile religions, bloodthirsty spirits, and cunning monsters, Ximeron will have to grow up fast and cut a swath of blood and mayhem before he may learn the true purpose of his troubled existence. 

Elsewhere, the peace that Ramesh and his fellow Khirenyas have struggled to maintain for over sixteen hundred years after the fall of the first Radiant is coming apart. Royal houses and arch-enemies all over Khamonia are preparing to settle old scores and reshape the political landscape. Nereia, elven kingdom of the north, falls to invaders from the empire of Alakhan, and Queen Arianna and her infant daughter Nadiana become hostages and pawns in nefarious power games that will have dire consequences for Ramesh and his new apprentice. 

Meanwhile, a royal prince whom everybody thought to be long dead, suddenly rises from his grave to claim his inheritance....