All Will Blackwood ever wanted was a little adventure. A fantasy addict and apprentice builder in New Orleans, struggling to make ends meet, he has long wished for an escape from the real world.

Late one night, Will and his brothers receive a surprise inheritance: a staff with a mysterious stone on top, a pair of rogue's bracers, and a sword that Will can barely lift. They are even more shocked when a man wearing strange clothing-and who can stop bullets with a glance-shows up to take the sword.

Running for their lives, desperate for an explanation, it is not until a magical key whisks Will and his brothers across time and space, into a terrifying version of Earth ruled by wizards, that they discover a family secret more incredible than they could ever have imagined. To survive, Will and his brothers are forced to hire a deadly adventuress to navigate a new world that is the source of the myths and legends of their own.

It seems Will Blackwood has found his adventure. But this isn't one of his fantasy novels, or a gaming campaign with friends. In his father's world, magic and monsters are real. Choices are life and death. And Will and his brothers have no idea how to get home . . .