Publisher's Synopsis
Millstand held very little for young Bathmal Arined. Aside from his mother, the village held nothing for him at all. And yet, he was trapped within its confines. Born a bastard into a society that all but shuns bastards, Bathmal didn't waste time hoping for a better future. Instead, he spent the idle moments of his free time fantasizing of grand adventure and of places wholly unlike Millstand. Places where everyone had a voice, and everyone mattered and cared for one another regardless of caste. He often spent long hours wandering the worlds of his imagination, battling evil singlehandedly, rescuing cities and nations from hordes of gruesome demons, and returning to countless glorious homecomings. But when the fantasies faded and reality crept back in, Bathmal knew he was just a bastard; and in his world, that equaled to nothing. Then, on a cold winter day on the outskirts of the village, Bathmal's life changes forever. He encounters a knight from the north, who tells Bathmal that there is more to the world than being a bastard, and that even bastards can become knights. Bathmal becomes obsessed with the idea and follows the knight from the village and commences on a life journey that will take him into the frozen mountains, across the sea to an ill-fated kingdom, and into the depths of The Black Realm of Hadez itself, there to face his true tests where success would grant Bathmal the chance to obtain everything he'd dreamed of, and failure meant endless death. Bathmal's journey also leads him to the tale of The Golden Griffin, and sets him down the first few steps of the road towards a possible meeting with history....and a legend come alive.
