Ashes

by Travis Simmons

It had been five years since Dravos had stopped the plot to destroy Helmscrest and plunge all of Zanir into a war. While that should have been the end of it, nothing could be further from the truth. With the continent under marshal law and tensions with the elves growing ever high at the southern border, Dravos does what he does best. He disappears. The question is, for how long?

When a raider attack disrupts his plans, Dravos is once again thrown in the midst of a conflict he wants nothing to do with. His only option is to face his past and become the hero he never wanted to be.

352 pages, Kindle Edition

Published June 4, 2025

About the author

Travis Simmons was kicked out of magic school because he enjoyed mundane habits like canning and cooking instead of using spells. Forced to travel the world selling his sword and (often defunct) sorcery, he stumbled upon a pack of normal dogs that he mistook for magical animals and imagined he could communicate with them. Still, they enjoyed the pizza he would toss their way, and they adopted him as one of their own. When a roving horde of zombies attacked his new family, Travis used all of his abilities to call upon aid from some witch friends who helped him fight the undead horde. But, always the introvert, the witches realized Travis was rather boring, so after the excitement of battle was over, they went back to their magical ponderings elsewhere. But alas, Travis Simmons was bitten by a zombie, and in order to save himself from turning, he became an apprentice to a necromancer who promised to teach him necromancy and cure his impending undead affliction for a hefty sum. Deciding the life of adventure wasn’t for him, and worried that winter was coming, Travis settled down with his dark master and started writing weird tales of fantasy and science fiction. While his master much preferred Travis spend his time learning the esoteric ways of the occult, Travis dreamed of things like aliens, and life on other planets. His master didn’t like when Travis started pondering steampunk, and instead made his life a horror with magical studies. Now he spends his time chasing his dreams, while trying to save himself from the demon virus in his blood.