The protagonist of “The Shadow Lord’s Son,” Brannan Marec Mavrenn, has visions of alternate realms. The planet Alsar is sentient, and when humans arrived, it interacted with their minds to create the Shadow Realms: alternate dimensions that reflected their racial and mythological history.
In the trilogy’s first book, To Take Away His Voice, these realms are only touched upon, where Brannan experiences two of them: The Desert of Souls and Annwn, a realm ruled by the Dread Huntsman, Arawn.
But the Realms are endless. They can be reached by travelling the Shadow Ways, perilous pathways lined with portals to these other words. Brannan regularly takes these pathways when he leads the souls of the dead to the entranceway of the Desert.
Gripped by a vision, Brannan finds the mysterious stone in the realm of Annwn. The opening in its face shows darkness and stars, and strange sigils can be seen upon its surface. What is their meaning?
The following two books in the trilogy, “To Discover His Truth” and “To Redeem His People,” will show Brannan’s deeper involvement in these realms as he seeks ways to counter the attacks of the Invaders who will come.