By using the energy of the land, some humans have found they can develop extraordinary abilities. At the age of 17, these warriors, magicians, chemists, and psychics are allowed the opportunity to train at the Academy, increasing their opportunity for a well-paying career. But there's a catch. They must fight beside the Army if requested by their king. Most aren't concerned by this, as the current treaty has prevented battle for nearly 70 years...but that's about to change.

On the anniversary of his father’s passing, Jon leaves home in search of answers. The land is full of mystery and intrigue, and Jon wants to explore it all with the dream of one day becoming a sorcerer. But when Jon receives an invite to the castle for training, he starts to believe there has to be a catch. A long time ago, Jon’s father was once a guard near the capital city. Now Jon finds himself back where his father used to work, and he’s beginning to learn why his father had wanted to raise him away from here.

Desil has spent his life training, but a promise to his mother has kept him from using his abilities for anything worthwhile. Now all he does is help his mother manage her tavern as his father rests in a grave. Desil knows there's at least one other mage somewhere in this territory who can do what he can; they share a connection through their magic, although they've never met. He stays up nights wondering what they might be able to accomplish together.

It was a day like any other when suddenly the world changed. The universe reached a threshold humanity didn’t even know existed, and it was time to finally be integrated into the vast multiverse. A place where power is the only thing anyone can truly rely on.

After his parents died, Alex Roth had one desire: become a wizard. Through hard work, he was accepted into the University of Generasi, the world’s greatest academy of wizardry.... Fate, however, had another plan. On his 18th birthday, he is Marked by prophecy as one of his kingdom’s five Heroes, chosen to fight the Ravener, his land’s great enemy. But his brand is "The Fool". Worst of the marks.

Zac was alone in the middle of the forest when the world changed... The whole planet was introduced to the multiverse by an unfeeling System... or God. A universe where an endless number of races and civilizations fought for power and dominion. Zac finds himself stuck in the wilderness surrounded by deadly beasts, demons, and worse. Alone, lost and without answers, he must find the means to survive and get stronger in this new cut-throat reality.

Ahren's life consists of being beaten up by his drunkard father or bullied by the village lads. But at the annual suitability tests for apprenticeships, the young boy finds himself selected by Falk, the guardian of the forest, to be his apprentice and his world is turned upside down.

Raised and trained in seclusion at a secret fortress on the edge of the northern wilds of the Kingdom of Ashai, a young warrior called Rezkin is unexpectedly thrust into the outworld when a terrible battle destroys all that he knows. With no understanding of his life’s purpose and armed with masterful weapons mysteriously bestowed upon him by a dead king, Rezkin must travel across Ashai to find the one man who may hold the clues to his very existence.

Lusam grew up in the relative safety of the Elveen mountains with his grandmother. She taught him the basics of magic and discovered, quite by accident, that he possessed a unique skill never seen before: the ability to hide his magical aura from the mage-sight of others. Dark secrets surround Lusam's origins, and the dark agents of the Empire will stop at nothing to kill Lusam.

Gram lives in the long shadow cast by his father, the late hero Dorian Thornbear. Struggling to find his place in a world where politics and wizardry appear to have replaced the need for men of might and main, he must make his own mark. Trapped within the seemingly safe confines of Castle Cameron, Gram faces both love and tragedy. His choices will not only define himself but serve to remind others of his family's legacy and the reason only a fool threatens those a Thornbear protects.

A kingdom in danger, a great betrayal, a boy seeking to redeem his father's honor. Will he succeed in exonerating him and saving the realm from an enemy in the shadows before it’s too late?

Cinder Shade’s life begins on a fateful afternoon at the bottom of a well where he awakens, bruised, battered, and bereft of all memory. His only understanding is a driving imperative to protect those who can’t defend themselves and become a warrior worthy of the name. He discovers within himself a peculiar gift, one in which the codes of combat are made evident and the language of steel is made clear.

Mordecai’s simple life as the son of a blacksmith is transformed by the discovery of his magical birthright. As he journeys to understand the power within him he is drawn into a dangerous plot to destroy the Duke of Lancaster and undermine the Kingdom of Lothion. Love and treachery combine to embroil him in events he was never prepared to face. What he uncovers will change his understanding of the past, and alter the future of those around him.

Legend. Myth. Nightfall has long been rumored to be nothing more than whispers on the breeze. If only it were so. In those halls of darkness, where children are taken from the world and given to shadow and dust, Asher is destined for that same fate. He will become the myth. He will become the legend. He will become the whisper of Death itself.

The ancient magic of wizards was anything but dark. It was the enlightenment that lifted humanity from the squalor of superstition, and the worship of fell spirits and capricious gods, but those days are gone. The shining glory of the sorcerers burned away the subtlety of wisdom, replacing it with easy power, held only in the hands of the elite - a new age built upon the elemental supremacy of aristocrats and the ignorance of the masses.

Desil has spent his life training, but a promise to his mother has kept him from using his abilities for anything worthwhile. Now all he does is help his mother manage her tavern as his father rests in a grave. Desil knows there's at least one other mage somewhere in this territory who can do what he can; they share a connection through their magic, although they've never met. He stays up nights wondering what they might be able to accomplish together.

On the anniversary of his father’s passing, Jon leaves home in search of answers. The land is full of mystery and intrigue, and Jon wants to explore it all with the dream of one day becoming a sorcerer. But when Jon receives an invite to the castle for training, he starts to believe there has to be a catch. A long time ago, Jon’s father was once a guard near the capital city. Now Jon finds himself back where his father used to work, and he’s beginning to learn why his father had wanted to raise him away from here.

Strong-willed and full of hope, Leo strives to learn more of the magic he has read so much about. He's heard of invisible links in his world, and hidden rifts to other realms filled with creatures and stones of power. But Leo's family is stuck in an impoverished city. He performs backbreaking farm work beside his older brother, a rebellious and cunning thief, but nonetheless a brother whom Leo would trust with his life. Leo believes everything will change for the better when he begins work as a bookbinder and finally leaves the dreadful farm.

By using the energy of the land, some humans have found they can develop extraordinary abilities. At the age of 17, these warriors, magicians, chemists, and psychics are allowed the opportunity to train at the Academy, increasing their opportunity for a well-paying career. But there's a catch. They must fight beside the Army if requested by their king. Most aren't concerned by this, as the current treaty has prevented battle for nearly 70 years...but that's about to change.

Tarak is thrown into a strange city with just a few coppers in his pocket and the tainted shadow of his family following him. At least the ale is better, but famine and poverty make it a little hard to enjoy that. With no one to call his friend and almost no knowledge of sorcery, Tarak will have to compete with the best sorcerers if he wishes to remain free.

The Turine army is on the brink of victory against the Geneshans. Sergeant Tyrus and his unit are tasked to steal an artifact from the enemy that some believe has the power to destroy the world. Taking such power from the Geneshans would end the decade long war. Upon their success, Tyrus' unit is among the first wave of soldiers discharged from the army. War has robbed him of time with his wife and children, but now the life he has dreamed of every day for the last 10 years is just a long journey away.

In a land where magic has been forgotten but peace has reigned for centuries, a deadly unrest is simmering. Three kingdoms grapple for power - brutally transforming their subjects' lives in the process. Amidst betrayals, bargains, and battles, four young people find their fates forever intertwined.

Torn by internal strife, Wendar faces deadly raids from the north by an inhuman race, the Eika. And now terrifying portents are being seen; old ruins restored to life under the light of the full moon and peopled by the long-vanished Lost Ones; dark spirits walking the land in broad daylight. And suddenly two innocents are about to be thrust into the middle of the conflict.

Finn Harris should have been the one to die. But he wasn't - his wife took his place. What was worse, he only had himself and his company to blame. They let their passion outpace their prudence, determined to revolutionize the world. While all innovation comes with a price, he never imagined it would cost him Rachael. Nearly a decade later, Finn is content to hole himself up and wait out the rest of his life. That is, until his daughter intervenes, forcing him out of his grief and into a new virtual reality game developed by his old employer. They're calling it Awaken Online.

Despite his youth, Declan Idrys knows of the evils of the world. He knows of the bastards and brigands who plague the King's lands, of the monsters skulking in the wooded depths of the realm. Together with his companion, Ryn - a beast of rather peculiar talent - he has spent the last decade of his life beneath the bloody banners of a half-dozen mercenary guilds, hunting precisely such festering wickedness within the borders of Viridian.

Life is simple in Ben's small town until an attack brings the arrival of exciting strangers straight out of a story. Before Ben understands what is happening, he embarks on a dangerous journey to help his friends. A mage, demons, thieves, and assassins are just a few of the perils he will face while trying to make it to safety. But things aren't always what they seem, and safety is a fragile concept when the destructive behaviors of the powerful are exercised unchecked.

Wesson is still years from becoming a man when an immense darkness stirs within his core. The sinister power bursts free during a confrontation with an old enemy, and Wesson’s tranquil life is left in tatters. Forced to flee a murderous mob, Wesson stumbles onto a tumultuous path where he must confront the destructive power he has awakened. He must learn control over the power he wields or risk being consumed by it. As he wrestles with his training, an assassin stalks his every move.

While celebrating his latest victory, Exarch Niramyn carelessly lets his guard down. Seeing his chance, the mighty Myzalik—Nym's rival of a thousand years—casts a spell that sends him back to adolescence, with no idea who he really is or how he came to be washed up on the beach of Bloodfin Cove. Fortunately, the kindly Ciana comes along and saves him. But she quickly realizes he's no ordinary child. For one thing, he has magical abilities she's never seen in someone so young. And for another, he can fly.

The emperor of Annur is dead, slain by enemies unknown. His daughter and two sons, scattered across the world, do what they must to stay alive and unmask the assassins. But each of them also has a life-path on which their father set them, destinies entangled with both ancient enemies and inscrutable gods.

The When Swords Fall Silent anthology showcases the imaginations and talents of more than a dozen of the best modern science-fiction and fantasy authors, with each tale centered around one or more characters burdened with a bloody task they will see to completion no matter the cost. Every story takes you for a vicious ride through a world of shadow and death, each as unique in perspective and execution as the contracts carried out within.