Alchemist Warrior - Matthew Lewis-Williams

'When the world tree is set ablaze, its branches eaten by flame, this will be the time of chaos, the time of shaking; when the Planet Man arises and slays the spirits in the four directions, this will be Ragnarok, the time of death. God help his enemies.' - Druid Allrock, of the Nos faith. - a quote from the first chapter.

The book begins with John Canderosana, the protagonist, learning of a great evil threat to Terra, the world of this book. This threat is Malik Shlomi, an evil spirit in the far south of the world. John is a Warden, a race of beings tasked with the subduing of evil upon Terra. As he journeys back to his friends and allies in Gonggoren, the Warden castle, he comes across Kendricks, a jester-like figure who becomes his friend. Kendricks has a tesseract that, once imbued with the power of six powerful spirits, has the ability to kill Malik Shlomi.

After encountering one of the six spirits, John and the Wardens learn of another threat in the west, of the Kaskani spiders. It is then decided that Ember, a very powerful Warden, should travel west with a few of his allies to kill the Kaskani queen.

Kendricks travels north in a soul-searching attempt to become a Warden, vanquishing evil forces and singing whilst doing so, as is his jester nature. Kendricks goes through a lot in the north, passing through many initiations and gaining wisdom.