Sometimes people vanish without a trace. Sometimes those people arrive… elsewhere.

As a teen, Aiden Holt studied stories of unexplained disappearances throughout history. He never dreamed he would become one of those disappearances.

Now trapped in an alien world, hunted for his non-functional “special abilities,” Aiden fights to survive against horrific creatures and determined enemies.

Somewhere between certain death and servitude, Aiden seeks an escape—if he can find other “vanished” who beat the odds and survived in this harsh magical world.

Danger surrounds them on all sides, but a more sinister threat may lurk below.

Hunted by the nation they were once forced to serve, Aiden and his companions are driven deep into the Frontier, an ancient land filled with vicious monsters and deadly secrets. With supplies dwindling and enemy patrols drawing near, Aiden leads an expedition through the heart of the Frontier to find a safety for his people. And, he hopes, a place that he might finally call home in this strange world so different from Earth.

What he finds may become his tomb.

A shadow from the past emerges in the city of war.
Aiden and his companions find themselves in the city of Kalnath in a search for Paula Jean Welden and aid for their growing colony of exiles. Instead, they find a mystery from Earth's past, and are soon entangled within a web of subterfuge, lies, and death.

Love, War, and Politics in the Land of Monsters

As their enemies circle ever closer to their hidden refuge of Alcort, Aiden and Lyselia must embark on a desperate secret mission to contact members of Lyselia’s noble family. The plots of ambitious nobles and military officers may prove more dangerous than the monsters lurking within the Frontier. Completely out of his depth, Aiden must rely upon Lyselia’s loyalty and skill in navigating political intrigue if either of them are to return to Alcort alive—let alone hold back the oncoming tide of an inevitable war.

Enemies march on Alcort!

Aiden Holt and his allies built the impossible: a free community in the heart of the Frontier, the most monster-haunted wilderness in the known world. Sheltering in an ancient Vault, a fortress full of forgotten magic, the Sparks of Earth have carved a bastion of freedom, hope, and peace in a magical world that would destroy them or put them in chains.

They knew the peace couldn't last. Now the great powers have found them, and are hungry for the secrets the Vault holds. Wars exact a price. Before this one ends, Aiden will have to decide what—and who—he is willing to sacrifice.

Armies of the Forgotten Lands is Book 5 of The Vanished, a portal fantasy series where Earth's missing persons didn't just disappear—they were taken!