Mykal’s Talisman Quest in Wizard’s Rise

An empire’s fall leaves a dangerous legacy

Wizard’s Rise by Phillip Tomasso opens The Severed Empire series with the consequences of the Rye Empire’s persecution of magic. The empire has fallen, but the Mountain King wants the lost talismans that could restore the wizards and give him their power. An enslaved sorceress is already forced to assist his search.

Seventeen-year-old Mykal and his friends set out to reach those objects first. Their goal gives the farm boy’s departure an immediate purpose: preventing an ambitious ruler from controlling a power the realm has lost.

A familiar quest with a specific opponent

Mykal must face unfamiliar dangers and reconsider truths he previously had little reason to question. His movement beyond farm life therefore involves both practical risk and a changing understanding of the world.

Readers interested in young protagonists drawn into epic conflicts can follow the race rather than assume that Mykal has already become a savior. War is approaching the Grey Ashland Realm, and the talismans could affect who holds power when it arrives. The premise leaves room for uncertainty about both the journey and its cost. What matters at the outset is that Mykal and his companions have a reason to act before the Mountain King completes a search already underway.