The Drowned Below

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$17.99 USD ~~$19.99 USD~~

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The Metalwood Adventures are standalone novels that expand the world of The Metalwood Saga. They can be read in any order, but should only be read after you've finished Seasons One and Two.

The water is gone. The city is desperate. Something ancient is waiting below.

Four years after the events of The Metal Wood, Phoenix has traded blood and magic for a quieter life in the Under, raising her three-year-old son beneath the floating city of New San Francisco. But when the water tanks run dry and panic spreads through the crumbling depths, she’s forced to descend into places no Citizen was ever meant to see.

Guided by a grizzled old man haunted by missing memories, Phoenix and her son journey into the Below—a drowned city buried beneath the world, lit by a poisoned underground lake and ruled by those who worship the water itself. There, among dripping concrete towers and rusted machines, they uncover a secret so monstrous it could shatter the city above forever.

As ancient magic awakens and old betrayals resurface, Phoenix must decide how far she’s willing to go to save the people she loves… before vengeance drowns an entire world.

**Contains spoilers for The Metal Wood.**

Book details

Print length: 219 pages
Language: English
Age group: Adult
Publisher: Starmist Entertainment
Publication date: July 7, 2026

Content warnings

The Metalwood Saga is an intense, high-energy story that takes place in a brutal, post-apocalyptic world. Different factions in this world have different levels of intensity, and different books in the series contain different triggers. Going into this world, you can expect to encounter:

- Intense violence
- Sexual situations
- Strong language

While the tone and writing style tend to feel "young adult," the content level is likely inappropriate for all but the oldest of teenagers. Please read first before giving to your child.

Series synopsis

The Metalwood Saga is a sweeping YA dystopian science-fantasy epic set in a fractured future where metal, magic, and memory collide.

High above a ruined Earth, the floating city of Newfris shines with power—but beneath it, in the dark chaos of the Under, former assassin Phoenix is on the run. Branded a traitor and hunted for her forbidden magic, she joins the Gearheads: rebel outlaws who race through the mechanical underworld to survive. But her journey uncovers a truth more dangerous than any gang war—Newfris is a prison, hiding secrets that could shatter not just the city, but the world.

Magic is awakening. Ancient elven powers—the Eldrim and their twisted kin, the Cothellon—manipulate humanity from the shadows. And at the heart of it all lies the Metalwood, a force so powerful it has shaped galaxies... and it’s stirring once more.

As war ignites across planets, Phoenix, her son Rylan, reluctant rebel Trey, and elven archer Arra are swept into a battle spanning realms, legacies, and destinies. Each must choose: survive the storm—or stop it.

The Metalwood Saga is a 10-book thrill ride of found family, forgotten history, and a last chance to save a collapsing universe.

Frequently asked questions

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Book preview Read an excerpt

The Under was full of what it always was tonight: garbage and sewage and steel. It was oppressive, but not in a Queen sort of way. It was dangerous, but not because of mindmasters and pinblades and flames.

The kids down here still did the best they could with what they had, even though they didn’t have very much.

And Phoenix was no longer a kid, no longer the impetuous girl with the panic-driven bubbles. She was no longer the world’s savior, no longer fighting in the sky. She had harder things to do now. Tougher than a slog through sewer pipes, sharper than a pinblade to the back. This was an adventure she had never expected, and one that every day surprised and challenged her in ways the Under never could.

Phoenix had a three year old son.

“Hey, you,” she said as the boy clambered up onto the concrete pad to sit beside her, too-long brown hair sticking out in every direction, too-bright brown eyes excitedly searching out every detail in the room. Her son. Rylan. She really had a son.

Sometimes it all seemed like a dream.

“I want more water,” he said, thrusting a tiny metal cup in her face with a pair of grubby hands.

“Mama, can I have more water please?” Phoenix said, trying to keep the smile off her face. Teaching manners to a three year old was a whole adventure unto itself. Not that there were many manners down here in the Under.

Might as well start somewhere.

“Mama, can I have more water please?” Rylan said, rushing through the words as fast as he could, mimicking her tone.

“Of course,” Phoenix said, smiling as she took the cup and filled it from the canteen at her side. The whole Crew had been issued the containers a few weeks ago, for reasons Dill had been reluctant to explain. Something about being careful with the few resources they had.

Phoenix had been too busy to ask more.

Rylan took the cup, lifting it carefully to his lips with both hands. She watched as he focused on the level of the water, waiting for it to touch his lips before tilting it further, doing his best to avoid spilling. Dill had probably given him the same conservation speech he’d given her.

Rylan was a good kid.

“What do we say?” Phoenix asked.

“’Sank you,” Rylan said, before going back to drinking. He leaned against her absently as he did, the feather-light weight of his little body somehow calming her. He could be a terror, when something didn’t go his way. He could be a monster when he was having one of his tantrums. But when he was like this, just still, just connected to her, just needing her in a way no one ever had before, everything in Phoenix’s head just shifted, tilted, calmed.

She hadn’t had a panic attack since he’d been born.

He was so cute, in moments like these. He was growing up so fast. She wanted to protect him, to shield him from a place as bad as this. No child should grow up in the Under.

No child should grow up under Planner rule.

“Nice day for it,” a male voice said, interrupting her thoughts, and Phoenix turned to see Dill ambling in from somewhere behind. He sat down on the low platform next to her, pausing as he looked out at the rest of the room.

They were in Water Processing Forty-Seven, way out to the west under New Merced. It was Shock Crew’s home, for now. They tended to move every few months, keeping out of sight from the Planners and out of the way of everyone else. This Water Processing center was larger than the others, the cavernous room stretching out further than she could see. It was easily fifty feet high or more and dark, with giant, glass-edged tanks lining both sides of the room, glowing faintly blue. Orange sodium-vapor lights hung far overhead, and a kind of mist or steam seeped in all around the edges of the wet floor. Hoses wound their way carelessly from place to place, leftovers from whatever the Planners had been doing.

But now?

Now the place had been abandoned.

There was no water in the tanks. No roaring of machinery. No Planners, no guards. Water Processing Forty-Seven was totally empty.

Which made it the perfect place to stay.

Underkids made their way through the space as Phoenix watched, climbing up the maintenance ladders that ran up along the tanks, crawling along the metal-grated catwalks that stretched along the ceiling, putting up gray canvas tents or unloading carts full of canned goods. Someone opened a crate of metalwood, inspecting its contents. Another kid placed gallon jugs of water neatly in a row along one wall. Someone else was fiddling with the electronics at the base of one of the empty tanks.

It was strangely quiet, strangely organized, strangely subdued.

Not at all the Under she had known.

“Where’s Mama?” Rylan asked, startling her from her thoughts.

She turned to him. “I’m right here, sweetie.”

“No, Mama,” he said. “Where is she?”

“He means Beam,” Dill said.

Phoenix gritted her teeth. “I know he means Beam, Planners take her.”

Dill raised an eyebrow. “Some new curse you’re working on?”

“Gotta watch my language in front of the kid.”

Dill chuckled. “Not sure that one works. Beam still up north?”

Phoenix turned back to Rylan. “Your other mama is up in North Beach visiting a friend,” she said. “She’ll be back soon.” Maybe.

In truth, Beam hadn’t given much reason why she’d left, packing up all of a sudden and marching through the tunnels. It had sounded urgent, whatever it was.

Phoenix still wasn’t sure whether she could fully trust the woman.

“But I want her!” Rylan said, eyes already watering around the edges.

Phoenix wrapped an arm around him, drawing him closer. “Shh. I know, honey. I know. I want her too. She’ll be back. And in the meantime, you have me.”

“Mama,” Rylan said quietly, staring down into his cup.

Phoenix felt tears coming, but she held them back. Rylan sometimes played favorites like this, and it was never an easy thing to hear. She knew he loved her. She knew it. Still, sometimes the way he showed it was…not the best.

She had to remember that he was only three.

“It’s coming together nicely,” Dill said, gesturing out at the room.

The subject change was welcome.

“Everyone’s working together better than I ever expected,” Phoenix said.

Dill grunted. “They have their instructions. And they have as little interest in tangling with Fang Crew again as I do.”

“We ran away from a fight.”

Dill glared at her for a moment before his expression softened. “No more killing,” he said. “I thought you and I agreed.”

Phoenix sighed. Sometimes the old ways kept coming back to her. The fighting. The flying. The killing. The pain.

She was glad all that was over.

But running from her problems had never been the solution.

She wondered if it was now.

“We agree,” she said. “And anyway, screw Fang Crew. Bunch of weirdos.”

“Hey,” Dill said. “We’re not exactly the sanest bunch here either.”

As if to prove his words, a new man stepped into view as Phoenix watched, limping as he came out from behind one of the abandoned water tanks. It was an old man, hunched and gray and grizzled, with long, wavy hair and a thick, unkempt beard. His clothing was in tatters like the rest of theirs, but his was somehow longer, draping over his bony frame in layers like a long-lost, ancient robe. He walked with the aid of a metal pole he’d torn from somewhere, using it as a walking staff. The clank, clank, clank of it set Phoenix’s teeth on edge as he slowly set across the room.

When the man turned to glance at her, his eyes glimmered blue.

“Where’d you even find that guy?” Phoenix asked as the man turned away, continuing on his slow and clanking way.

“Who, Glint?” Dill asked. “He’s harmless.”

“He’s old.”

Dill raised one eyebrow. “You’re not exactly a spring chicken yourself.”

“I’m twenty-three.”

“That’s old for the Under.”

“Hmph. Speak for yourself.”

“And anyway, Glint is useful, even if his head is a bit…off. He knows where to find things down here better than anyone else in the Under.”

“Because he’s old.”

“Probably. You have a problem with Glint?” Dill’s eyes narrowed.

“Of course not,” Phoenix said. “Just thought it was strange. Probably good we didn’t get into a dust-up with Fang Crew after all. He wouldn’t be much good in a fight.”

Dill’s chuckle echoed off the walls. “Why do you think he chose a metal bar for his walking stick?”

“More,” Rylan said suddenly, jabbing her hard with the cup. “More water.”

“Sure, sweetie,” Phoenix said, too distracted to even correct his manners. She reached for the canteen, untwisting the top and upending it over his cup.

But it was empty.

“Hang on,” she said. “Dill? Is our water up and running yet?”

“Uh…” Dill started, before trailing off. That was entirely unlike him.

Fear stabbed into her. “What is it, Dill?” she asked. “Some problem with the water?”

“Uh, it’s just that…”

“I want more water!” Rylan shouted. “I’m thirsty, Mama!”

“Shush,” Phoenix said. “I’ll get you some water. Just give me one minute.” She turned to Dill. “Tell me. Now.”

“We’re running low.”

“How low?”

“Critically. As in…that canteen was all you had. For the day.”

“For the day? Dill, I have a kid!”

“I know, Phoenix. I’m sorry. I should have told you sooner.”

“Damn right, you should have.”

“I thought you were watching your language.”

“So what is it?” Phoenix asked. “What’s the problem? Why now?”

Then she looked ahead of her, out at the massive, abandoned Water Processing chamber.

Tank after tank lined the floor, cylindrical shapes looming in the orange and blue dark. Empty. All of them.

Realization hit her like a knife.

“The Under is running out of water,” she whispered.

“I’m afraid so.”

When Phoenix looked back at him, she felt panic entering her soul. No. Not again. Not after all this time. She couldn’t feel the old fears now. “Has this ever happened before?”

“Have we run out of water before? No. It just…flows. We’re always able to tap into the same supplies the Planners use. The same water the topsiders drink, day in and day out.”

“But what happened? Why now?”

“This happened,” Dill said. “Entire rooms like this, just gathering dust.” His mouth twisted as if the words tasted bitter. “No one knows why.”

“But where does the water come from?” Phoenix asked. “It has to come from somewhere.”

“No one knows,” Dill said.

“I do,” a low voice said, and Phoenix couldn’t help the shriek that flew out of her mouth.

She turned, almost knocking Rylan off the platform in her haste. Her guard was up, her hackles raised. If she’d had metalwood…but no. No more magic. She’d sworn it off.

Glint was standing right behind her.

He stood at an angle, as if it was taking all his effort to avoid toppling right on top of her, weight leaning perilously against the metal pipe he held. His beard was long enough to almost touch her hair, and when he smiled, his lips revealed rows of jagged, brown teeth.

“I know where the water comes from,” he said, his voice the gravel of a grave.