Outlaw, mercenary, assassin. Prodigy. Bred to kill, Gryl is scarred by the foul sorceries woven beneath his flesh and castrated to ensure he would have no love save for the blade. To his masters he was just another slave amidst the legion of remorseless prodigies. But Gryl had always been different. Years after the failed invasion of the Shytan Empire he survives in hostile territory by selling his sword and hiding from those seeking to exploit him. Then a chance encounter with an enigmatic priest and his misfit charges offers Gryl the opportunity for penance, the chance to be a part of something not steeped in pain and death. Peace is fleeting, however. Enemies amass and threaten his newfound family but Gryl will do anything to protect them, no matter how much blood must be spilled.