When The Gates Open

War finds everyone eventually. Even scribes.

Mads begins the Succession Wars as a village scribe, trained to record, not to fight. But when violence reaches his home and survival forces his hand, he is drafted into the ranks of soldiers who barely understand the cause they are dying for. In the chaos of battle, a near-death moment awakens something within him. A power that does not ask permission. A power that refuses to stay quiet.

Amid brutal conflict and hard-won camaraderie, Mads starts to believe the wars tearing his world apart can be ended. His growing ability pushes him toward dangerous choices, where cruelty comes easy and mercy has a price.

As kingdoms fracture and ideals fail, Mads must decide what kind of man he will become. Because when the gates finally open, what steps through may not be a hero at all.