Arcane Ascension

Five years ago, Corin Cadence's brother entered the Serpent Spire — a colossal tower with ever-shifting rooms, traps, and monsters. Those who survive the spire's trials return home with an attunement: a mark granting the bearer magical powers. According to legend, those who reach the top will be granted a boon by the spire's goddess. He never returned. Now it's Corin's turn. He's headed to the top floor on a mission to find his brother. If he can survive the trials, Corin will earn an attunement — but that won't be sufficient to survive the dangers on the upper levels. For that, he's going to need training, allies, and a lot of ingenuity.

Corin Cadence finally has a firm reason to believe his brother Tristan is still alive — unfortunately, finding more information won't be easy. Tristan appears entangled with a clandestine organization called the Whispers, and Corin's last brush with them didn't end well. As much as he wants to follow that lead, Corin has more pressing problems: Sera is suffering from a mysterious malady that has stolen her voice and her magic; his mother may be involved in a conspiracy to overthrow the visages; he's been branded with an unrecognized magical mark; and he still hasn't finished his first year at Lorian Heights. Fail his final exams, and he'll be sent off to the military.

After concluding their first year at Lorian Heights, Corin and his friends catch a train from Valia to the distant country of Caelford. For most, this would be a simple vacation. Corin has other plans: meet an eccentric inventor to learn about artificial attunements, seek out a previous Arbiter for training, and find the visage Ferras herself to cure Sera's condition. Of course, Corin is Corin — and when his plans intersect with those of the Blackstone Bandit, a mysterious book entity, and the mirror of a figure from Keras' past, it's going to be a long vacation.

Upon returning to Valia, Corin Cadence is confronted with a familiar foe — his own father. While his strength has vastly increased, he'll need every trick at his disposal to survive a duel with Magnus Cadence intact. While Corin struggles with his family, his friends face a second year at Lorian Heights with new classes and deadly new enemies on and off campus. As the year progresses, a mysterious faction targeting attuned commoners and foreigners is leaving mounting casualties — and when Corin's allies seek to unmask the leadership of this deadly order, they discover a threat none of them can face unscathed.

Corin Cadence has been summoned to meet with the Emerald Council, a political summit of the most powerful attuned and their allies. His summons came with a dire warning — war is coming to Valia. Valia's visage remains missing, many of the nation's leaders were slain or injured in recent attacks, and a critical power vacuum has formed. Surrounded by old enemies, tenuous allies, and strangers with their own agendas, Corin will need to leverage every skill he's learned to help salvage his nation's fate.

Corin Cadence is on the run. After meeting with the Emerald Council, he has made himself new enemies — most notably the Dalenos Six, among the most powerful representatives of the nation of Dalenos. He has also made a dangerous deal: a place of safety where he can finally find the one resource he needs most — time. But while that strange place may hold the key to his long-awaited rescue mission, it also holds hidden dangers, and one final secret tied to the Cadence household that could shake the very foundations of everything Corin has been raised to believe.