A Nirendia Journey: Ashton Jeraldson

Ashton Jeraldson, son of Karl and Margaret Jeraldson, lives in the town of Perketh in the Kingdom of Surdel with his best friend Clayton Achates. Ashton and Clayton apprentice to the local blacksmith, known across the Kingdom of Surdel as Master Nathan, a smith of renowned talent and unimpeachable character and dependability.

Clayton is the more gifted blacksmith apprentice, and Ashton doesn’t take his job too seriously. He expects Clayton will eventually become the town’s blacksmith after Master Nathan retires, allowing Ashton to work with Clayton every day at the forge until they both grow old together. But a terrible tragedy takes the gifted apprentice and best friend away. The town mourns, including Clayton’s young wife Riley, whom the pair of friends had been picking flowers for when the son of a southern High Lord’s carriage overtook them on the main cobbled throughfare of Perketh. Ashton mourns his friend at his graveside, even after Riley departs for her home, until an unexpected magic resurrects his friend from the grave.

In the Orcusinian, the first four books of the Age of Magic, the winds of fate sweep Ashton throughout the land of Surdel, from small towns like Perketh to the capital of Kingarth. He becomes known as the Necromancer, a man who raises the dead to take vengeance on the living. But Ashton is not the only necromancer on the world of Nirendia. Deep below the surface, a demon lord named Orcus, Lord of the Undead, stirs. As the chief necromancer in the universe, Orcus does not take kindly to imposters or to those who harness the Words of Creation, gifts from the gods and the original Creators whom have been destroyed by demon lords like Orcus and the Prince of Demons Demogorgon.

Ashton assembles a motley crew of demon fighters: a darkly-aligned paladin; the last prince of the dark elf Etyrian Empire; a red-haired princess coming into her magical powers and deeply wronged by Ashton’s actions; and a psycopathic wood elven archer intent on wiping all orcs from the face of the world. They partner with a chaotic neutral demon lord, one of three vying for power on the planet, who does not appear to lust for the death of all living creatures. But Lord Orcus is strong, far more powerful than any other creature on Nirendia and killable only by few weapons in the universe. To defeat him, Ashton and his cohorts must find those weapons and the creatures able and willing to wield them, before every person on Nirendia becomes just another mindless undead minion of Lord Orcus’ army.

Explore the world of Ashton Jeraldson in the Orcusinian Box Set (Books 1-4 of the Age of Magic)