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Full Summary: The world's resources are near depletion. Desperately, the Advocation wages a bloody war against the broken Kingdom of Kastmaria to secure the little remaining resources for themselves. And they win. Years later, the final bastion of humanity stands tall in the midst of a shattered and barren land. But outside its walls stir a manifold of powers, both dark and holy. Crusaders for rebellion rally their strength and half-beasts roam the ruined land, while mysterious earthen creatures emerge from the deepest caverns of dead Kastmaria. Humanity's end seems inevitable. For when the Element rises, tyrants will fall, prophecies will be fulfilled, and a new war will embrace the world.

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PROLOGUE

No one had ever defied the Advocation. No one had ever dared.

But now, on the anniversary of the Ghost Feast Festive, atop the undulating hills of a raging sea, the rebel organization of the Silver Haze seemed at the height of victory. If only they could secure the Advocation capital of Al’thysi, the ancient city of Eklaze; if only they could capture the Advocate, the tyrannical leader holed up in the thickest building; if only…

If only we could survive.

There was a high chance that they would, of course—Captain Andrew Hayes knew that for certain. Everything would fall into place: As Hayes and his fleet charged down the Aramathian Sea, the Advocation’s attention would be sprung on them, giving the infantry a much needed advantage against the elite soldiers guarding the walls of the capital.

While this attack commenced, three inside-teams would be dispatched, three teams that were comprised of the Advocate’s main council—a group of men and women with whom the Advocate placed his trust. Or in this case, misplaced.

Each team had important missions, varying from espionage, sabotage, and finally, capture. It all had to be done quickly. Quickly and efficiently, the Captain thought, and without hesitation. Capturing the Advocate would prove no easy task, but Andrew Hayes was confident in the soldiers chosen for the job. In any case, he was always up to a challenge.

Provided there were no interruptions, no flaws in the plan, the Silver Haze would be victorious. Capture the Advocate, capture the Advocation; capture the Advocation...capture peace.

Fortune, simplicity, “things going to plan,”—these qualities were notoriously unforthcoming to Hayes throughout his life, but who was he to question destiny? No, he would direct his fleet, lead his soldiers, and accept the outcome of the night; but already, the night seemed to be resisting his every whim.

Heavy rain pummelled the decks of the Divine Gail, the flagship of Hayes’s fleet. Lightning streaked dangerously across the dark sky and nebulous mist blurred any accurate navigation. It became apparent that air support would be impossible.

An explosion to Hayes' left wracked the Divine Gail, sending forth a screeching sound that would deafen an ordinary man. Due to his prolific military experience, Hayes barely noticed. He has been a military man all his life; however, he had left that life many years ago, when he started a family. It took such a tragedy as the rise of the Advocation to return him to military service. Rebel service, more like.

“Captain!” a voice from his left called. Hayes turned to his addressor.

“They’ve destroyed our cannons!” the sailor was fighting to keep his voice level, “if we stay, we’ll be killed for certain!”

Another explosion sunk an adjacent allied destroyer; its flags were sheared and its mast shattered, but the fallen ship stood erect as it sank, as if saluting in its final moments.

“Might be we'll have to retreat. We will regroup a few miles south of here, by Earthbreaker Bay…mark the point and spread the order, make sure every ship knows of our rendezvous point.” Hayes spoke in the loudest voice he could muster, having to speak over the thunder—both the sky’s and the cannons’.

Before his subordinate could reply, Hayes noticed an incoming enemy ship. He issued quick orders: “Hard to starboard...and draw your swords! We have visitors."

His brown-haired first mate nodded. “I’ll tell the others!”

Hayes turned just in time to see countless grapple hooks wrap around the Divine Gail’s mast.

“So you wish to dance,” Hayes smiled to himself.

The captain surged forward, as if meeting his partner in a waltz. Sword of the Summer, they called him, back in the ruined kingdom of Old Kastmaria. He was more than skilled with any weapon, and deadly with a blade. He swung his sword at the first Advocate soldier to land on his ship, catching the intruder unprepared. With his first target incapacitated, he turned to a second soldier.

The mere footman could never stand a chance against Hayes’s unique swordsmanship; nevertheless, the soldier made a valiant attempt. Hayes parried a blow the soldier made and swiftly brought down his blade in a counterattack. As the bloodied soldier crumpled into a heap, Andrew Hayes proceeded to dislodge the metal hooks that ensnared his ship.

Moments after, the Divine Gail’s crew arrived to reinforce their Captain. Hayes fell back to have a word with his first mate, Joshua Andes, who was rolling several caskets of emberstone to his station.

“Keep it up,” Hayes said, “We should be receiving confirmation of the Advocate’s capture any time now…search the seas for a scout ship bearing our flag.”

“It will be done,” Joshua said and took his leave.

“Hold,” Hayes ordered, grabbing Joshua’s shoulder with battle-scarred hands, “I see it now.”

Even in the deterring fog, Hayes was able to discern, in nearby waters, the white and gold flag of the Silver Haze. The small ship anchored and soon the scouts stood before the Captain, arms in salute.

“At ease,” Hayes muttered dismissively, “How does the battle in Eklaze fare?”

“He is not there…”

“What? Who is not where?” Hayes demanded, as sweat began to mix with rain. He knew the answer but wished he didn't.

“The Advocate!” the scout answered, equally shaken, “He was not in the throne room, nor in any room of Acedia. He must have escaped. Our men were completely wiped out when they tried to escape from the Palace.”

“That is not possible,” Hayes shook his head in incredulity, “The Advocate was seen there an hour ago, we had all the exits covered, he must have known we were coming and must have hidden himself inside!”

“The Advocate does not hide.”

The sentence was short; the voice, chilling. The thunderstorm seemed to stop and the downpour of water seemed to freeze mid-air. Time was irrelevant as Hayes spun around; before him, stood the Advocate. Before him, on the slippery decks of the Divine Gail, stood the leader of the largest nation on earth. The Advocate was tall, nobly garbed and shrouded in a mask of gaudy rings and jewels. No human’s presence so darkened the atmosphere as the Advocate’s, and as he spoke again, Hayes found no voice, no will, to speak.

“The Advocate does not hide,” he said again, “What would the people think?”

“I’ll tell you what I think—” Joshua began.

“You, mongrel, do not qualify as a person,” the Advocate countered, silencing the first mate, as death silences the living.

“How are you here? How can you be here?” Hayes said. His eyes were wide with awe, and his mind felt numb.

“How? But whatever do you mean? I am the closest to God a human being has ever come. I can do what I please.”

“God?” Hayes found the defiant bravery to laugh, “There is no God.”

It was the Advocate’s turn to laugh, and he did so exuberantly. “No God? What ironic circumstance be this? How do you figure the absence of God? Where do you think I acquired my power? It is because of God, and God only, my dear captain, that I stand at the height of the world.”

Hayes blinked heavily, his eyelids drooping under the weight of rain and anxiety. “But that is precisely why I know there is no God…at least not a loving one. What God would endow to a man such as you the might of a thousand nations?”

The Advocate’s lips curved into a scimitar of amusement, though no one on the ship bore witness to it, “You think of me…a monster?”

“Worse,” Joshua spat.

“I would take your opinion into consideration,” the Advocate mused, “If only they did not come from dust.”

“Enough,” Hayes said, raising a steady hand before Joshua. He then eyed the Advocate, “Enough of your pretensions, enough of your haughtiness, and enough of your condescendence. Your reign will end before the sun rises.”

Hayes heard a strange clacking noise from behind the Advocate’s black mask.

“Attack,” the Advocate whispered.

Hayes did so. Drawing his sword as his entire crew drew theirs, Hayes charged the lone Advocate, intent on rending the tyrant’s body into pieces. With a wave of his gloved hand, the Advocate destroyed the weapons. Any sense of normalcy that Hayes held in his mind was rapidly disintegrated, just as his sword had crumpled in his hands.

The Advocate smiled, “This is—”

—The Advocate disappeared—

“God’s power.”

From behind Hayes the voice came, and through Hayes the Advocate’s arm went. As fast as the lightning trailing the clouds, the Advocate wrenched from his victim, the heart of the Silver Haze’s leader.

Just as quickly, the Advocate released the Captain’s shriveled body. Lifeless eyes of amber closed as Captain Andrew Hayes sunk to the wooden deck of his ship. Somewhere, Joshua Andes screamed. Somewhere, a plan went awry.

And somewhere, his son, barely a year old, cried for his parents.