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Web of Blades - Chapter 24: Armor

Web of Blades - Chapter 23: The Hole in the Sea

Web of Blades - Chapter 22: Apex

Web of Blades - Chapter 21: Hunting

New Ending for WoB 17: Visitors

Web of Blades - Chapter 20: Spreading the Truth

Kalden wiped the water from his eyes as he processed this new development. He knew Tori had forgotten their time together in Kenzo’s fortress, but this was a better result than he could have hoped for. And while he intended to share the truth, he had to address the mammoth in the room. 

“You first,” Kalden said. “You hunted me down and tried to kill me out of nowhere. I want to know why.” More importantly, would she change her mind and come back for a second round? Had he...

Web of Blades - Chapter 19: Missing Pages

Kalden flooded the canyon with his mana and cycled the Cloak of a Thousand Blades. 

As always, this told him every detail of his surroundings. He saw the path of his opponent’s techniques as they soared through the darkness. He saw her stance, her expression, and the angle of her boots on the stone floor. Everything but the why.

But that didn’t matter now. Tori Raizen was a Corded Master—the first true threat he’d faced in the Shadow Garden. Hesitation meant ...

Web of Blades - Chapter 18: The Path of Shadow

A gloomfang lunged from the darkness, and Kalden let it come.

He shifted his weight at the last second, feeling the whisper of claws against his throat. Two crimson blades broke from orbit and took off the creature’s legs at the knees. Its shriek echoed off the canyon walls as it crumbled to the stone floor.

Two more gloomfangs rushed Zukan from behind. Kalden's blades found them before they could strike—one through the stomach, one through the ankle.

No lethal blows, of...

Web of Blades - Chapter 17: Visitors

Web of Blades - Chapter 16: Vision

“That’s one problem solved,” Akari said to Glim. “Now let’s fix these stupid eyes.”

She turned around and stepped back toward the entrance of her cave. As she walked, her stomach growled for the first time in weeks. The hunger pains had always been there, but they’d been overshadowed by everything else. The memories, the cold . . . 

It was still cold as hell in the Storm Garden, even with her Aeon soul feasting on the mana. But she could deal with...

Web of Blades - Chapter 15: Stronger Than Before

Akari spent hours crawling through the storm, scrambling for handholds on the island’s rocky ground. Without her glasses, the world dissolved into smears of gray and blue—shapes without edges, movement without meaning.

Why the hell had she trusted her cousins? How could she be so stupid?

Trust had paid off with her teammates, but plenty of others had stabbed her in the back. What about Rosintar, who’d led Moonfire’s Honor Guard straight back to the Solidor’s safe house? ...

Web of Blades - Chapter 14: Evacuation

Relia burst into motion, kicking off the courtyard’s stone floor toward the temple. A Cloaked Master could sprint faster than a helicopter, and her body was far stronger than most. Life mana raced through her channels, enforcing every muscle, tendon, and bone. 

Still, a quarter mile separated her from the ancient ziggurat. Could she make it in time?

Her boots slapped against the wet concrete. Her surroundings passed in a blur as she dodged the thicker pillars and vines.

Web of Blades - Chapter 13 Part 2: Power Source

Arturo hid in the jungle while Relia and Glim fought the jade artists in the northern courtyard.

“Can you help them?” Lena shouted over the storm.

“No,” Arturo said with a quick shake of his head. He’d been prepared to fight mana spawn, not Shokenese Masters. “We show ourselves now, they’ll make us hostages.”

Static crackled in his ear, followed by his mother’s voice. “Arturo?”

Finally. Arturo pressed a hand to his transceiver. “Mom? Yo...

Web of Blades - Chapter 13: Jade Artists

A/N: Sorry about the longer wait between chapters. Had a few bad nights of sleep this week, and that really slowed me down.

“Are these guys Corded?’ Relia asked Glim as the three figures stepped forward in their black and jade armor.

‘I can’t tell,’ Glim replied. ‘Corded Masters don’t cover their arms. But it could be a trap.’

‘What if it is?’ Relia’s teammates were obsessed with Veilcords now, but sh...

Web of Blades - Chapter 12: The Cult of Trelian

“What?” Relia rounded on Glim. “You’re sure?”

“Positive,” Glim said. “I know another mana spirit when I see one.”

“We need to warn them.” Relia leapt off the ridge and fell three stories into the courtyard below. The stone cracked when she landed, but she barely felt the impact with her Master body.

Four years ago, these ruins had hummed with purpose and possibility. The workers had begun clearing out the vines, building mana conduits and shield Constru...

Web of Secrets Audiobook Pre-Order + Sample

Hi everyone,

Just letting you know that the Web of Secrets audiobook is now available for pre-order on Audible, and you can listen to a sample of the first five minutes on the Podium website:

https://podiumentertainment.com/titles/129831/web-of-secrets

I got early access to...

Web of Blades - Chapter 11: Moving Forward

Relia stepped down the airship’s metal ramp into the jungles of Gravago. This was a smaller nation on Cadria’s eastern coast. South of Creta and Vaslana, but north of Crocan. The same place where she’d gotten her aspect five years before.

Her father was still hunting her, so they’d kept their distance from the Espirian mainland. Instead, they’d flown around the continent’s western coast, refueling at smaller islands along the way. These islands were still part of the Espiria...

Web of Blades - Chapter 10: Trust

A/N: Quick housekeeping note: I changed the name of Akari’s cousin (Formally, Zell Korin) to Zell Kaito. 

Korin sounded way too close to “kyrin” which was a problem, since he’s always riding a kyrin. It also sounded a lot like “Kalden.” Figured it was better to change it sooner rather than later.

The fighting started on the third day of the Storm Garden.

Akari had been traveling alone until then, using her portals to hop bet...

Web of Blades - Chapter 9: One With the Storm

After her talk with the Storm Queen, Akari left the camp and opened a portal back to Yutakai. Oshira’s capital was more than five hundred miles from Corel City, but that was no problem for a Master spacetime artist. Now that she’d been to Yutakai once, she could get back with a single portal. The same was true for Clan Zell’s camp, and anywhere else in the Oshira Province.

The portal snapped shut with a whoosh of air, and Akari found herself standing on a crowded sidewalk near the...

Web of Blades - Chapter 8: Into The Darkness

Kalden spent the next few days training in the courtyard with Kenzo’s disciples. Unfortunately, these were all Corded Masters with years more experience, so it felt more like a thrashing than anything else. His body didn’t bruise easily these days, but his ribs still ached with every breath. He’d also become intimately familiar with the courtyard’s stone floor.

Things were truly different here in North Shoken. His opponents moved with a grace he’d never seen back before. They ...

Web of Blades - Chapter 7: Unfinished Business

So many memories in this place, Arturo thought as he strode down the corridors of his family’s airship. Wires ran along the walls on either side, conduits pulsed with mana, and sigil grids formed intricate patterns overhead. 

Arturo had always preferred this look to the newer models with their sleek white walls and polished floors. This was an airship, not a luxury hotel. Why was everyone so obsessed with covering the best parts?

Specifically, this was a 8...

Web of Blades - Chapter 6: The Inner Sea

Web of Blades - Chapter 5: Clan Zell

“Home?” her grandmother echoed. “This was never your home, Akari Zell-er.”

By now, a small crowd had gathered on the beach around the wooden throne. Akari spotted dozens of Corded Grandmasters in their ranks, along with a handful of younger Masters, closer to her own age. The music had stopped, and the waves crashed like thunder against the nearby mana wall.

She faced her grandmother again. “Do you remember Zell Emeri?” 

Zell Kira’s eyes widened in a mix o...

Web of Blades - Chapter 4: The Storm Queen

“I’ll have the pork,” Akari said to the girl behind the counter. 

She stood in a ramen shop in downtown Yutakai, with dim lights casting pools of amber over mismatched tables and chairs. It wasn’t much, but at least the workers here spoke Espirian. That was more than she could say for the currency exchange or the bathhouse.

“Great.” The girl swiped a finger over her tablet screen. “Can I get a name for the order?”

“Akari Zeller.”

The girl's fin...

Web of Blades - Chapter 3: Back to Cadria

Two hours later, Relia stood on the landing pad outside Kenzo’s fortress. The cool mountain air struck her like a rush of icy water, chasing the fog from her head. She’d also braided her hair and found clothes that actually matched. Good enough to fool anyone who wasn't looking too closely.

The landing pad sat carved into the mountainside, a flat expanse of stone kept clear with a grid of heating sigils. Beyond the pad, the ground dropped away into a steep valley filled with snow an...

Web of Blades - Chapter 2: The Heart of the Team

Arturo stepped across the hall and knocked on the door to Relia’s private suite.

“Come in!” a cheerful voice hollered from the other side. It sounded like Relia, but it couldn’t be. When was the last time she sounded that happy?

He grabbed the door’s wooden handle and slid it open on its track. The sitting room beyond matched his own—polished wooden floors, exposed beams across the ceiling, and a low table surrounded by cushions. An overpowering scent of perfume stung ...

Web of Blades - Chapter 1: A Worthy Match

Eavesdropping was a deplorable habit. Or so Akari’s mother used to say. And it didn’t help when her target was a dangerous Mystic who could kill her with a flick of his wrist.

Still, Akari couldn’t help herself. He was talking about her, after all.

She crept barefoot through the halls of Kenzo Trengsen’s fortress, passing dark wooden pillars that stretched from floor to ceiling. Iron brackets jutted from the walls between them with paper lanterns on their hooks. And yes, t...

Web of Blades - Prologue: The Great Concord

ONE YEAR AGO

Ashur Moonfire strode through a portal into the heart of North Shoken. His wife, Clara, stepped out beside him, and they continued down a stone path toward the Helmspire. This tower predated the Concord by several centuries. Standing almost a mile high, it loomed over the city like a silver blade, dwarfing the tallest skyscrapers back home.

Clara’s gaze swept over the tower, tracking its impossible height until her neck craned back. “Compensating for something, yo...

November 2025 Update

Hi everyone! It’s been a while, so I thought I’d check in with a quick update. These last few months have been extremely productive and filled with good news.

First of all, I signed a contract with Podium, and they’ve agreed to do the first three books of the Mana Arts Saga in audio format! Suzy Jackson will be the narrator (she also did my Aeonica series, along with Brandon Sanderson’s Skyward series). Whether Podium continues with the rest of the series will depend on the sale...

The Rest of 2025

Hi everyone,

Thanks for finishing Web of Chaos with me! Overall, I was happy with how this book turned out. It might even be tied with Book 1 for my favorite in the series. It definitely had some of my all-time favorite training and power-up scenes.

As is tradition, I’ll be taking a break from posting new chapters to edit old books and plan new ones. My biggest goal right now is to get Book 3 (Web of Knowledge) rewritten and published on Amazon. But I also wanted to plan Bo...