This is book one of The Chronicles of Nuren: The Age of Shadow! This is a coming of age story where a boy will stop at nothing to save his dear friend from the abusive hands of her father. However, he is the son of a heretic and an outsider lich which prevents him from stepping foot into the village where she is kept prisoner, well, at least without the cover of darkness on his side. In his journey he will forgo his freedom and humanity to tap into his damned heritage as a Celandil to obtain the strength to save his precious friend from her captors. Though, in his preparations to free his friend he will learn that to save one person may condemn every last person in the valley of Unadeam to death. Will Skath find a way to not only save his friend, but everyone in the valley? Perhaps it's to idealistic to say that this story will have a happy ending, as after all can the acts of one boy really make the world better when it is fraught with selfishness and zealotry?