Darkthorn Academy

When Jack Vance's grandfather is murdered, his dying words extract a promise: attend Darkthorn Academy. Jack doesn't like it, but he'll honor the man who raised him. Surviving won't be easy. He must make alliances, learn to harness magic, and face dangerous enemies—both alive and dead. If he's lucky, he might just make it to second year.

After finishing his first year at Darkthorn Academy, Jack returns to Sunder with his new friend Stannerios, only to deal with street thugs and assassins even on summer break. When they return for second year, a new headmaster has changed the rules for questers drastically. Can they survive another year at the Academy—or will they need to find a new path entirely?

The Misfits have foiled a plot to use dragons to start a war, but Quarnon now controls the entire Westdrift Empire, making the team enemy number one. Needing a place to hide and hoping to rebuild Darkthorn Academy into the school it was meant to be, Jack and the Misfits travel to the remote gnomish regions of the Ancient Lands. The Valley of Eagles is deadly, but survival there could forge them into something truly special.

After foiling the Quarnon's plans, Jack is now being hunted. To keep his friends safe, he heads to the mysterious Isle of Maga—filled with poisonous mana, deadly beasts, and an army of undead minotaurs. With his companion dragon Willmarth at his side, Jack must discover the Isle's secrets to survive the waves of Ogron warriors sent to hunt him.

Still hunted after foiling the Quarnon's plans, Jack shelters on the mysterious Isle of Maga—filled with poisonous mana, deadly beasts, and an army of undead minotaurs. With Willmarth at his side, he must discover the Isle's secrets to survive the Ogron hunters tracking him, while the rest of the Misfits work to grow Darkthorn Academy into a powerful institution.

The Misfits have defeated the Quarnon, but in the final battle Stann goes missing. When an ancient portal is discovered, Stann's pet bear senses he is on the other side. Entering this new land, Jack and the team discover lost truths, face harsh environments, and uncover a hidden empire built on stolen slaves—while Stann himself fights to survive as a captive.

Knowing they didn't save all the slaves when they rescued Stann, Jack and the Misfits return to the strange new continent to finish the job. Facing a society of power-hungry mages will require the team to keep growing stronger and uncovering the secrets of mana—all while building Darkthorn Academy into the most powerful academy in the world.

Jack has soul damage, and the only one who can help him is Willmarth's darga—a dragon's soul mate. The Misfits have saved Darkthorn Academy and brought it to new heights, but there is more to life than money and adventure. Even as they begin dreaming of their futures, powerful enemies are already plotting to bring them down.

Jack Vance returns from the brink of death having unlocked depths of power no student at Darkthorn Academy was ever meant to wield. But his newfound strength is immediately tested when a simple investigation accidentally activates a dormant Sky Raider command center, hurling Jack, Lana, and Stann across the cosmos to Vortha—humanity's hostile ancestral home planet. Trapped in a graveyard of monsters, they must race to the lost city of Anapoly—the only known location of an operational gate home—while back in their own world, an enemy has dispatched assassins to kidnap Stann's newborn son.