The Malevolent Seven

Think you know wizards? Think again.

Picture a wizard. Go ahead, close your eyes. There he is, see? Old, skinny guy with a long, straggly beard. No doubt he's wearing iridescent silk robes that couldn't protect his frail body from a light breeze. The hat's a must, too, right? Big, floppy thing, covered in esoteric symbols that would instantly show every other mage where this one gets his magic?

Now, open your eyes and let me show you what a real war mage looks like . . . but be warned: you're probably not going to like it. We're violent, angry, dangerously broken people who sell our skills to the highest bidder, moral or ethical considerations be damned.

At least, until such irritating concepts as 'friendship' and 'the end of the world' get in the way.

My name is Cade Ombra, and I currently make my living as a mercenary wonderist. I used to have a far more noble-sounding job title, until I discovered the people I worked for weren't quite as noble as I'd believed. Now I'm on the run and my only friend, a homicidal thunder mage, has invited me to join him on a suicide mision against some of the deadliest wizards in the world.

Time to recruit some very nasty people to help us on this job . . .