Before the Ashes: An Update on The Paladin of the Silver Order

When readers first meet Tymir Valemar in Ashes of the Last Paladin, the Silver Order is already gone.

Its warriors have fallen. Its battles have become stories. Its crest survives upon Tymir’s damaged armor, and its name follows him like another ghost from a life he has spent years trying to leave behind.

We know that Tymir fought beside the Order during the Great Demon War. We know that he stood at the final Hellgate as the other paladins fell around him. We know that when the battle ended, he was the last surviving member of the Silver Order.

What we do not see is how any of it began.

That is the story I am writing now.

I am currently working on the opening chapters of The Paladin of the Silver Order, the prequel to Ashes of the Last Paladin. Although the story will eventually lead toward the Great Demon War and the final stand that made Tymir a legend, it begins long before the Hellgates opened.

Before the Warblade.

Before the stories and songs.

Before anyone called Tymir the Last Paladin.

At the beginning of this story, Tymir is only a boy living with his mother and father in a small village. He has no armor, no sacred weapon, and no idea what the future will eventually demand from him.

He dreams of becoming a hero, but his understanding of heroism is still innocent. He imagines brave warriors, glorious battles, and victories where good always defeats evil. He has not yet learned how much pain, sacrifice, and loss can hide behind the stories people tell.

The Silver Order is also only beginning.

It is not yet the legendary brotherhood remembered after the Great Demon War. Its warriors are strangers traveling beneath an unfamiliar crest—a sword surrounded by phoenix wings and flame. Rumors follow them from village to village. Some claim they are holy warriors. Others say they hunt demons. Most ordinary people are not even certain the creatures they fight truly exist.

One of the first major moments in the book follows wounded soldiers entering Tymir’s village.

Their armor is unlike anything he has ever seen. Some are injured. Others must be carried through the gates. Their condition tells a much darker story than the heroic adventures Tymir has imagined, but he cannot take his eyes off the symbol they carry.

The villagers whisper that the soldiers belong to a new Order.

They speak of demons, missing travelers, and attacks in distant settlements. To most of the adults, the arrival of these warriors is unsettling. It suggests that something dangerous is growing beyond the safety of their village.

Tymir sees something different. He sees heroes. That moment becomes the first spark of the journey ahead.

Readers of Ashes of the Last Paladin already know the warrior Tymir eventually becomes. They know that his name will one day be spoken with reverence across the land. They know he will stand before horrors that destroy armies and somehow continue fighting.

But Tymir does not begin as that man. He must earn his place within the Silver Order. The prequel will follow him as he enters the Order and slowly rises through its ranks. He will not immediately be treated as a legendary warrior or natural leader. He will have to train, fail, learn, and prove that he belongs among the paladins he once admired from a distance.

He will begin at the bottom. He will meet warriors who are more experienced, more disciplined, and far more prepared for battle than he is. Some will encourage him. Others will doubt him. There will be people he looks up to, people he competes against, and people who eventually become as close to him as family.

Tymir’s rise will not happen because destiny simply hands him greatness. It will happen because he refuses to stop. Every trial will shape him. Every failure will teach him something. Every battle will strip away another piece of the boy who once believed becoming a hero would be simple. Over time, Tymir will grow from an uncertain recruit into one of the greatest paladins the Silver Order has ever known.

His importance will come from what he does on the battlefield, the people he protects, and the strength he shows when others can no longer stand. He earns the respect of those around him through his actions rather than through a title or position of authority.

That distinction matters to his story.

Tymir does not become legendary because he sits above the other paladins. He becomes legendary because he stands beside them.

He fights with them.

He bleeds with them.

And eventually, he is forced to watch them fall.

The Silver Order must also grow during this story. It begins as a newly formed group attempting to understand an enemy most of the world does not yet believe exists. Its first members will come from different backgrounds and carry different reasons for joining. Some will be guided by faith. Others will seek revenge. Some will truly want to protect the innocent, while others may be drawn toward glory, influence, or power.

The Order remembered in Ashes will not appear fully formed. Readers will watch it become that Order. They will see its traditions created, its sacred halls established, and its crest slowly gain meaning. They will witness the victories that turn its warriors into symbols of hope, along with the mistakes and secrets that begin forming cracks beneath the surface. In Ashes of the Last Paladin, the Silver Order exists mainly through what it left behind.

It survives through Tymir’s battered armor, the stories people tell about the war, and the grief he carries for those who died beside him. Its members are already gone, and their final battle has been transformed into legend. The prequel will give those lost warriors names, personalities, hopes, and fears.

They will no longer be faceless paladins who fell at the Hellgate. They will be Tymir’s friends, rivals, mentors, and brothers and sisters in arms. Readers will know who they were before history reduced them to part of Tymir’s legend.

Their loss will mean more because we will finally understand what Tymir lost. At its heart, however, The Paladin of the Silver Order remains Tymir’s story. Before he becomes a paladin, he is a son.

Before he carries a sword, he helps his mother prepare dinner and listens to his father speak proudly of the man he might someday become. Before the world knows his name, he belongs only to the family who raised him.

I want readers to meet that Tymir. I want them to understand the home he came from, the people who shaped him, and the ordinary life that existed before duty began pulling him away from it. His decision to join the Silver Order should carry weight because readers know exactly what he is leaving behind. Writing these early chapters has reminded me that this prequel is about more than filling in the missing history of the Silver Order.

It is about showing how Tymir became Tymir. Readers will see his faith being built before it is shattered. They will see his courage developing before it is tested at the gates of Hell. They will see the friendships and experiences that shape the warrior introduced in Ashes of the Last Paladin. They will also see the earliest signs of the dangerous choices and hidden truths that eventually change him forever.

There is still a long journey ahead, and I do not have a release date to announce yet. I want to give Tymir’s rise through the Order the time it deserves.

He should not become a legendary paladin overnight. Every rank must be earned. Every friendship must be built. Every loss must matter.

Readers already know where Tymir’s road eventually leads. They know the Silver Order will fall. They know he will stand alone at the final Hellgate while the people he trained, fought, and grew beside die around him.

That knowledge will hang over every victory and every friendship in the prequel. But the story does not begin with the fall. It begins with the first spark. Before the Silver Order became a legend, it was only beginning. Before Tymir became its greatest paladin, he was only a boy watching wounded soldiers enter his village. And before he became the last of them, he had to earn the right to stand among them.