Initiation Rites: The Bones of the Earth-Part 1:

The Dark Age. The Earth has turned on humanity with earthquakes, volcanic eruptions and a new plague that kills the Roman Emperor himself. Barbarian invasions shatter civilizations.

In this chaos, Javor comes of age in a poor, remote village. Try as he might, though, he never fits in with his own people. There is just something about him that keeps him apart from the others.

When barbarian raiders kidnap the girl he loves, he takes a mysterious dagger handed down from his great-grandfather and tries to rescue her. But that's just the beginning of new horrors that murder Javor's parents and devastate the village.

Bent of revenge, Javor does not realize that his quest is taking him directly into the war of the earth against humanity. The young man, shunned by his own people, holds the key to humankind's survival.