Edward Exeter, seemingly a golden child of a golden age, has a past spattered with tragedy and blood. His present is marred by the outbreak of the Great War, and it is further stained by the death of his friend, Timothy Bodgley, in circumstances that leave Edward in hospital, implicated as Bodgley's murderer. Strange chains of history and causality tighten on Edward's life: He is the unwilling key figure in an otherworldly prediction of salvation and/or disaster, bound to break the prophecy or fulfill it.

A masterful world-builder and award-winning fantasist nonpareil, DAVE DUNCAN carries us through the hidden portals that link two war-wounded worlds...into a miraculous realm where mortals become gods. THE GREAT GAME IS AFOOT! In the midst of the horror of the first World War, a stranger falls from nowhere into the mud and death of the Flanders battlefield—bruised, babbling, and stark naked...with a remarkable story to tell. Wrongly accused murderer Edward Exeter has reappeared on this Earth hearing scars and secrets. From somewhere he calls next door—a place old godly intrigues and an ancient prophecy that he wants no part of. But powerful forces on both sides of a mystical border have other plans for the young fugitive. And now, in the company of loyal comrades, he must flee murderous pursuers from two separate worlds. But there is no escape from his destiny. For Exeter has obligations to the past and the future that must be met...if myriad civilizations are to survive.A masterful world-builder and award-winning fantasistnonpareil, DAVE DUNCAN carries us through the hidden portals that link two war-wounded worlds...into a miraculous realm where mortals become gods. THE GREAT GAME IS AFOOT! In the midst of the horror of the first World War, a stranger falls from nowhere into the mud and death of the Flanders battlefield—bruised, babbling, and stark naked...with a remarkable story to tell. Wrongly accused murderer Edward Exeter has reappeared on this Earth hearing scars and secrets. From somewhere he calls next door—a place old godly intrigues and an ancient prophecy that he wants no part of. But powerful forces on both sides of a mystical border have other plans forthe young fugitive. And now, in the company of loyal comrades, he must flee murderous pursuers from two separate worlds. But there is no escape from his destiny. For Exeter has obligations to the past and the future that must be met...if myriad civilizations are to survive.

Foretold to help the beleaguered natives of Nextdoor overthrow their oppressive godlike rulers, Edward Exeter must destroy the god known as Zath, whose source of strength is in human sacrifice

Book Club Edition. Trilogy from the Canadian Science Fiction and Fantasy Achievement Award-winner. PAST IMPERATIVE, PRESENT TENSE, FUTURE INDEFINITE.