Year of the Black Rainbow (The Amory Wars Book 1)

The origin (prequel) story of Coheed and Cambria's epic series, known widely as "The Amory Wars."
Welcome to the worlds of Heaven's Fence, where a lattice of mysterious energy known as 'the Keywork' binds and sustains life on a triangular network of planets--from the bleak and hellish Howling Earth to the spare beauty of Bendelesh. Beneath the Keywork's glow, under the governance of the twelve grey-skinned Mages and the watchful gaze of the winged Prise, humanity goes about it's daily life unaffected by the goings-on of the higher powers at work in the universe. Until the day when the ambitious Wilhelm Ryan, newest member to the brotherhood of Mages, acts on his growing discontent at being branded another ordinary Mage, ruling over one lowly Sector. Shrewd and silver-tongued, Ryan launches the Mage Wars: a devastating campaign to win control of the entire Fence and take on the legendary mantle of Supreme Tri-Mage, a position likened to God himself.
Dr Leonard Hohenberger, the Fence's top scientist is summoned by the Prise to stop Ryan. His creations, Coheed and Cambria, are thus born and lead the battle to save Heaven's Fence.