Daelan, an avatar of the God-King, Darius, volunteers to explore Hell, but is horrified to find himself stuck when all of his fellow avatars and the God-King himself are murdered. Every moment of torture and suffering in Hell hardens his resolve to make those responsible pay in blood and pain.
It takes him centuries and a mountain of demon corpses, but he finally claws his way out when a couple of foolish boys in Salem, Oregon, perform an unsavory ritual and get far more than they bargained for.
The newly freed Daelan is torn. He wants to shed the sins and memories of his past even as he seeks vengeance. Regardless of what he desires, there are those who will stop at nothing to extract the secrets of the only living descendant of the God-King. They should be careful what they wish for, though, lest they unleash a mage with 200 years of trauma on an almost magic-less Earth...