Maximus Xanders, visionary of Atalatha and legendary Knight of Virtue, has just finished his greatest invention. Though known for his technological marvels in weaponry and strategies, his latest venture has a more personal touch. Built in secrecy, the innovation is spied by an unlikely guest. A trade is agreed upon: in exchange for silence on the matter, Maximus will tell a tale of his own meager beginnings.
Decades earlier, when Maximus was a boy just reaching manhood, he longed for a different life. Living among the countryside, his family was everything, with the exception of a passion for tinkering. When his father brought home Charcoal, a stubborn, massive horse, Maximus could never have predicted the friendship that would form, or the bond that would be a part of him for the rest of his life.