In the Shadow of Kings by Philip C. Quaintrell

ONLY ONE CAN END THE WAR.
HE STANDS BETWEEN TWO WORLDS, A SAVIOUR AND A DESTROYER TO BOTH.
DRAGONS AND AEGRES WILL FALL.
BUT ONE CAN TURN THE TIDE.

One who stands in the shadow of kings. Such has been seen by the doomed. The weight of ten thousand lives and all the realm besides now sits on Joran’s shoulders. So much has already been sacrificed to bring him to the ancient doors of Drakanan, where he might take on the mantle of Dragon Rider and usher in a new age of heroes.
But a time of dragons is not all that has been seen…

The days are shadowed by approaching night. The war to devour all wars has come again. He who lies entombed in the dark will rise and the fires with him. Death cannot hold him.
The Skaramangians hold to this, their fingers pulling the strings of war to hide their dark deeds. In past and present they work towards a future that will reset the world. Evil will be made manifest in that world, and there remains no power in all of Verda capable of preventing it.
And so the few, those who would be heroes, must take the road to madness if they are to prepare for the inevitable war. It is not a road they can all survive…