The Death Edge is the third book in the The Metalwood Saga.
Shifting perspectives between the surface of Earth and the floating sky city of Newfris, the novel expands the lore of the universe by bringing the human Citizens of the sky down to the elven village of Sylrantheas. The story primarily follows Trey, a mild-mannered human bookseller who discovers he possesses unimaginable magical abilities, and Arra, an elven archer struggling to find her place in a society of mages.
Synopsis
Selections and Secrets
In the sky city of Newfris, a human bookseller named Trey watches his quiet life unravel. The Department of Civil Service (DCS) aggressively ramps up its random "Selections," first abducting his best friend Callan's sister, Deirdre, and then taking Trey's own wife, Lora. Devastated and seeking answers, Trey is approached by a mysterious Utilities worker named Marcus (who is secretly the Planner Scientist General, Orym). Orym invites Trey and Callan to a secret resistance meeting in the Under.
Meanwhile, the underkid Rylan desperately tries to rejoin Shock Crew. The crew's leader, Dill, forces Rylan to participate in a dangerous power siphon heist. During the mission, Rylan and his companion Small stumble upon a secret darkprime forest hidden in the Under. When the platform he's standing on breaks, Rylan miraculously survives a deadly fall by instinctively tapping into darkprime fallfoiler magic to hover in mid-air. Impressed, Dill officially welcomes Rylan into Shock Crew and reveals that many of them are darkprime mages.
The Fall
Trey and Callan attend the massive Shock Crew meeting led by Dill, who preaches an uprising against the Planners. The meeting is suddenly ambushed by heavily armed DCS agents wielding "mergeguns" powered by dark oak, which allow bullets to rip through solid cement and metal. The agents systematically destroy the support pillars and the floor of the room, causing the bottom of the sky city to break apart.
Dozens of people, including Trey, Callan, and Rylan, plunge out of the sky city and fall three thousand feet toward the Earth. As they plummet, Rylan grabs the wooden stage falling next to them and channels all his darkprime Will into it, creating a magical shockwave that halts their descent just above the forest canopy. They drift safely to the ground, but Callan is gravely wounded by a gunshot during the fall.
Ambush in the Ruins
On the surface, the Eldrim hunters Arra, Imra, Fenian, and Elanil are scouting the ruins of Old San Francisco when they are ambushed by Remnant scavengers. Caught in a trap, Elanil abandons the group to save herself using her leafrunner magic. Fenian falls from a great height and is severely wounded; despite being healed later by the soulsoother Mentor Eloen, his leg is permanently crippled.
Wracked with guilt over abandoning Fenian, Elanil recklessly leafruns through the forest until she exhausts her primewood supply. She accidentally discovers a hidden, high-tech Cothellon installation in a valley—Receiver Site Alpha (Fennas Elenathon)—featuring a massive, terrifying claw machine pointing at the sky. She barely escapes the Cothellon guards and returns to warn Sylrantheas.
The Half Prime Mage
In the forest, Trey instinctively uses the wooden cover of an ancient Planner Operating Manual to soulsoothe Callan's fatal gunshot wound, proving that humans are capable of wielding lightprime magic. Arra and the elven Hunters discover the surviving humans and take them back to Sylrantheas.
During a test with the ancient Tree of Alignment, Trey and Arra touch the artifact simultaneously, sharing a bizarre vision of two massive, glowing Trees (the Twins) and fragmented memories of a past life on Valaralda. The Prophet Kythaela proclaims Trey to be a Half Prime Mage, an impossibly rare being Aligned with all magical Ways, but possessing a mental Block that requires great effort to overcome.
The Siege of Sylrantheas
Driven by the Cothellon, Warlord Relzeb leads thousands of Remnant humans to attack Sylrantheas. As the Remnant set fire to the village's wooden defensive walls, chaos breaks out. Elanil and Rylan attempt to use their combined magic to douse the Remnant torches, but their minds slip out of sync, inadvertently setting fire to the village's Primestore and destroying their supply of primewood.
With Sylrantheas burning and the Remnant breaching the perimeter, Silanar gives Trey the Book of Amplification, an ancient artifact designed to boost a mage's Will. Overcoming his lifelong mental blocks and trauma, Trey taps into his Prime Mage abilities. He burns ash wood to summon a massive thunderstorm that instantly extinguishes the fires.
Warlord Relzeb confronts Trey on a rooftop, shooting him in the chest and beating him mercilessly. Using the Book of Amplification, Trey soulsoothes his own fatal wounds, utilizes leafrunning magic to launch himself at Relzeb, and strikes the Warlord with the Book. Trey then summons lightning from his storm to execute Relzeb and blasts the invading Remnant forces out of the village with kinetic magic, saving the elves. Exhausted by the immense magical output, Trey collapses, realizing he has survived but is now stranded on Earth, far from his abducted wife.
Key Characters
- Trey: A human bookseller from the sky city who suffers from severe, trauma-induced headaches inflicted by his abusive father, Simon. He discovers he is a Half Prime Mage and uses his newfound power to save Sylrantheas.
- Arra: An untalented (Mundane) elven archer who feels inadequate in her magical family. She forms a strange, immediate connection with Trey.
- Rylan: The orphaned underkid son of Phoenix. He discovers he is a darkprime fallfoiler and saves Trey and Callan from falling to their deaths.
- Elanil: Arra's impulsive younger sister and a gifted leafrunner. She discovers the hidden Cothellon machine, Fennas Elenathon, in the forest.
- Fenian: An elven Hunter and Arra's boyfriend. His leg is permanently crippled in a Remnant trap, forcing him to rely on crutches and bladedancing magic to shoot his bow.
- Orym (Marcus): The Scientist General of the Planners. He poses as a Utilities worker to guide Trey and Callan, revealing that he originally invented the doomsday device the Cothellon are now building.
- Callan: Trey's best friend. He joins the rebellion after his sister, Deirdre, is taken by the DCS, and survives a fatal gunshot wound thanks to Trey.
- Relzeb: The towering, fearsome Warlord of the Remnant city of Gulthurub. He leads the siege on Sylrantheas before being killed by Trey.
Magic and Lore Introduced
- Darkprime Magic: Magic that can be wielded by humans (and Cothellon elves). It operates similarly to lightprime magic but is highly addictive.
- Mergeguns: Specialized Cothellon/Planner weapons powered by dark oak (metaloak). Wielded by "mergemelders," the guns fire bullets capable of tearing through any physical barrier, including solid concrete and metal.
- Book of Amplification: An ancient elven artifact with gilded gold leaf. When held by a mage, it massively amplifies their Will, allowing them to perform feats of magic far beyond their normal capacity.
- Fennas Elenathon: A massive Cothellon machine (Receiver Site Alpha) hidden in a valley near Sylrantheas. It is part of a larger network designed to link with the sky cities for a devastating, apocalyptic purpose.
- The Tale of Usunaar: Recited by Kythaela, this ancient history reveals that the legendary Prime Mage Usunaar did not Manifest his magic until he was 200 years old. He unlocked his power during a fit of rage against his sister, Koranaar, in the ancient city of Caral.