Hopes. Dreams. And literal nightmares out to kill a young boy. Gray Lexly, son of a candlemaker, wants to escape his life of old-world technologies and study at the prestigious Astra Academy, a school for arcanists—those who can wield magic. But Gray has a major problem. Every night, as he sleeps, he’s visited by monsters. When they injure Gray in his dreams, he wakes with the same wounds in real life… On the night Gray might finally die in his nightmares, he is saved by the kind and mysterious Professor Helmith, a powerful arcanist. She offers to protect Gray and invites him to attend Astra Academy. Before that can happen, Gray must bond with a mystical creature to become an arcanist himself. Will he bond with a unicorn? A pegasus? A kitsune? Whatever he bonds with will determine his magical abilities, so he must choose wisely. And when trouble finds Professor Helmith, Gray must become powerful enough to help her and fend off the terrible nightmares, before it’s too late…

School life. Camping. And a mysterious graveyard beneath the sea. Gray and Sorin Lexly started Astra Academy with a bang. During their first few weeks, a professor tried to kill them, and even opened a portal to the abyssal hells—where the dead dwell. But that’s all behind them! The portal was destroyed. Time to focus on classes and studies. Or so Gray hopes. During an Academy camping trip, Gray finds a fragment of the portal… and a few abyssal monsters that somehow crept their way into the world of the living. Determined to set things right, Gray informs Professor Helmith of what he found. Unfortunately, there may be more fragments of the portal than just the one, which means more trouble lurks around every corner… including the possibility of a Death Lord arriving in the mortal world.

Death Lords. Celebrations. And arcanists plotting to destroy Astra Academy from within. Gray Lexly thought he had defeated the fragment of Death Lord Deimos, but Gray’s dreams are now haunted by a sinister ruler of the abyssal hells. Luckily for everyone in Astra Academy, it seems Deimos won’t be escaping the dreamscape anytime soon. Unfortunately for Gray, this means he’s stuck with the Death Lord. So, when Deimos’s followers—and enemies—come looking for him, it’s Gray who stands in their way. And with cultists planning something sinister, Gray must find a way to rid himself of Deimos’s presence—while he still can.

The abyssal hells. Obsessive followers. And a plan to reopen the Twilight Gate… Gray Lexly is trapped in the abyssal hells. His once enemy, Death Lord Deimos, is injured, and together with Ashlyn, Nini, and Knovak, Gray must find his way home before they all perish. But even if they manage to escape, that won’t stop the chaos raging out of control in the abyssal hells. Death Lord Naiad is out to kill the other Death Lords, Kallikore is creating monstrous elder creatures, and Umbriel seems intent on using the Oblivion Gate, the heinous counterpart to the Twilight Gate… Unfortunately, everyone in the realm of the living is oblivious to their schemes. So Gray has to get back and warn everyone—or perhaps team up with Deimos and just fix it himself.