The First Incision

THE AEGIS OF ASCLEPIUS: BOOK I: THE FIRST INCISION

THE GUARDIANS OF LIFE VERSUS THE GATEKEEPERS OF DEATH.

Charleston, South Carolina. A city of history, secrets, and shadows. For Elias Thorne, a brilliant medical student beginning his prestigious intern year at the city's historic medical university, the campus holds more than just a demanding schedule. He is about to be drawn into a hidden war between the Guardians of Life and the Gatekeepers of Death-a conflict that reaches into the heart of the city and threatens lives at an unspeakable cost.

Elias is recruited by the secretive order, The Aegis, after his freakish athleticism and medical intuition single him out during a mass-casualty simulation. Now, he must balance his grueling 80-hour surgical work weeks with "The Trials"-a series of intense physical and intellectual tests hidden within the bowels of historic Charleston.

As he starts his residency, Elias notices strange, impossible symptoms in patients being moved to a restricted floor. Mentored by the sharp-tongued Senior Trauma Resident, Dr. Clara Vance, and the enigmatic Head of Neurosurgery, Dr. Alistair Sterling, Elias is initiated into a world where the Hippocratic Oath means being the final line of defense against systemic threats the public is never allowed to know about.

The climax arrives at a gala in the French Quarter, where a "silent" outbreak forces Elias to use a makeshift cure, all while maintaining his doctor persona and preventing a city-wide panic. Elias Thorne, who began as a skeptical student, must complete his first incision-and pray it doesn't become his last.