Search Worlds Without End

Young Carnelian has spent his entire life alone with his father, who years ago rejected the savage cruelty of the Masters of Osrakum and was sent into exile. But now a ship has come flying through the winter gales to shatter his quiet world. Three Masters disembark, and as they remove their masks of gold, Carnelian is awed by the light that seems to radiate from their skin. In formal conclave they beg Carnelian's father to return with them to Osrakum to oversee the election of a new God Emperor.

And so Carnelian begins to fulfill his destiny. Along his perilous journey to the Osrakum, he is forced to learn bitter lessons in bloodshed, power, intrigue, love, and treachery--and sets in motion the concluding events in a story four thousand years old.

In this sequel to Pinto's debut fantasy, The Chosen, Carnelian, the son of He-who-goes-before, and Osidian, the new God Emperor elect, leave the safety of Osrakum only to fall into the hands of plainsmen raiders. When Carnelian helps the plainsmen evade capture, he wins sanctuary for both himself and the by-now-catatonic Osidian. They journey to the tribe's home in the Earthsky, where Carnelian soon finds himself enjoying life. Osidian, however, burns with desire to return to Osrakum and wreak vengeance on his enemies.

Amidst the massacre he helped bring about, Carnelian is now desperate to find a way to avoid more carnage. His spurned lover Osidian, seeking revenge and determined to win back his stolen throne, has deliberately stoked the wrath of the Masters who rule the world from its center, Osrakum. Osidian's actions threaten to overturn the repressive order of the Commonwealth, and Carnelian soon learns that he and those he loves are inextricably enmeshed in the terrible power game of the Masters.

If he is to survive, he has no choice but to stand with Osidian in defiance of the invincible power of the Masters. In his struggle, Carnelian will unleash apocalyptic forces that will bring his world to a reckoning none could have foreseen, though it has been simmering for 4,000 years.