When an ancient sorceress returns, the fate of the world hangs on a thread. Hagala, exiled for a thousand years and burning with bitter revenge, emerges with a deadly force: majestic dragons and a dark artifact that could summon a god of destruction. Seething from unrequited love and centuries of exile, she feels devoid of happiness. Thus, she decides to exact revenge on the world and the people who betrayed her. Four orphans bound by old friendship find themselves unwilling pawns in a relentless struggle to stop her apocalyptic plan. There, their destinies begin to unfold through new allies, adversaries, extraordinary magic, ancient dragons, and unexpected loves. They face impossible choices between love and power. Can triumph in a knightly tournament avert a cataclysm that threatens an entire kingdom? Or is something far greater required? As kingdoms fracture and suffer from brutal dragon attacks, while the gods weave secret plots, these unlikely heroes must face impossible choices: between love and loyalty, power and sacrifice. The battle for the Key will decide if the world will fall into eternal darkness or rise again through courage and sacrifice. Fans of dark fantasy and epic quests will feel at home in this world, echoes of Brandon Sanderson's worldbuilding and Joe Abercrombie's grit in this gripping tale of magic, dragons, and the complex bonds of friendship, reminiscent of R.A. Salvatore's Drizzt series, Margaret Weis and Tracy Hickman's Dragonlance novels, and the legendary tales of dragons that define the classic Dungeons & Dragons mythos.

Autorentext

As a child, Dalibor Kovacec was a fan of fairy tales, fables and mythology, and when he grew up, this grew into the study of fantasy worlds. Now that love goes in the direction of creating fantasy worlds and writing about them. By the way, the father of two little girls who are each their own world. His day job is programming, and before that he gathered over 15 years of experience in educating adults in the field of technology, and over 20 years of experience in writing for various websites as a copywriter, which, by the way, he still does today.

Favorite quotes:

Never trust anyone whose TV is bigger than their bookshelf. - Emilia Clarke
Sometimes we need fantasy, not to escape, but to survive reality. - author unknown
Any review is a good review. - author unknown