In the time that has passed, while Mirron, Arducius, and Ossacer have been establishing a school for the next generation of Ascendants in the heart of the Conquord (Empire) and fighting against the lies and hatred still being propagated by the Church, Gorian hasn't been idle. He has allied himself with Estorea's strongest foe and devised a means for them to overthrow the empire with minimum losses.
What general or king wouldn't kill to have troops that don't need to be fed, don't have to rest, and will keep marching even if they have a sword stuck through their heart? That's what Gorain can promise them as he has learned the secret of reanimating the dead.
That it goes against everything they have been taught, that it flies in the face of all that's sane and holy, and that he doesn't care for anything other then his own personal gain only shows how far he has fallen from grace.
Ships full of plague-infested rats crewed by reanimated corpses sail into Conquord controlled ports, where they spread death by the thousands, creating more bodies for Gorian's army of mindless vengeance against the world. Country after country is overrun and each successive battle yields up fresh "recruits".
Those soldiers brave enough to stand against their old friends must either dismember them piece by piece or burn them and scatter their ashes to the wind. But even then there is an inevitability about their advance that makes the bravest man wilt eventually, no matter what weapons he has at his disposal.
In the end it will come down to whether three of the original four - Mirron, Arducius and Ossacer - can figure out a way to overcome Gorian before he destroys the world so he can be king of death and putridity. But even if they manage that, will they be able to outface their enemies at home who have turned the very people they saved ten years ago, and for whom they will lay their lives on the line yet again?
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