The Training Grounds

When Darius receives an invitation to attend the Training Grounds, he wonders why an insignificant farm boy would be asked to join the most elite training academy in Merchant Valley. The only thing special about him is that he has unsettling visions he can’t understand. Despite the unknown, he accepts this privilege, and with his best friend, they set out on this new adventure. While there, they quickly form alliances with a skilled archer, a talented blacksmith, and a powerful wielder of the elements.

As the three students search for a way to bring Darius back—or decide to finally let him go, Dean Anders joins forces with Bao and Bixia to prepare the Training Grounds for an imminent attack. Not only must Anders juggle the external threats of Belladonna and the Unified Republic, but a new foe emerges, threatening to destroy the school from within. The stakes are higher as cataclysmic battles bring Merchant Valley to the precipice of annihilation. Can they possibly withstand the inevitable onslaught destined for the school? This time everyone must fight to stay alive—or die trying.

The battle of the Training Grounds is over, but the war for Merchant Valley has just begun. As Bao tries to rebuild the school and attract new students, Millicent and her friends must reintegrate Darius into a drastically different world than the one he knew. After Lincoln and Anwir receive shocking information from the Forgotten Son, events are set in motion that could prove to be more catastrophic than the creation of the reaper. While Lincoln and Anwir tear through villages in the pursuit of anarchy, Darius and his friends train for war on a scale beyond anything they’ve seen before.