I had big goals and hopes for the end of 2025 after discovering the voices of the many characters in the Journey of an Arbais Mage (honestly, there are a lot) had not gone silent for good. I returned to the draft of book six and dove in happily in the hopes of getting that book finished, edited, formatted, and published by the end of the year.
Well, obviously that didn’t happen. A new horse, illnesses in the family, having two jobs that required me to work all seven days of the week, and a couple of other things got in the way. The book was, in theory, finished in November of 2025, but formatting issues delayed it until December, the holidays delayed it until January, and I ended up acquiring a new skillset in order to finally get things back on track.
I have a few more details to address, but I can now say without a doubt that there is a sixth novel in the series, and I have several things to share about the book. Starting with the title, Empires Arising, the blurb, and the full paperback cover. I’m hoping to be able to release it in March, but it may end up being an April release if my newly acquired skill proves to still require some fine-tuning.
To prevent anyone from having to squint while staring at the book’s beautiful cover, the blurb is:
Solve one crisis, inherit a dozen more.
The war that decimated seventy-five percent of the world’s population is over—but peace is a fragile illusion. The survivors are rebuilding, but the world that rose from the ashes is not the one they almost lost.
The Alliance that once stood united against a common enemy is fracturing. Z now rules a handful of kingdoms she never wanted, and her reluctant leadership is shifting the loyalties of old allies. Worse, the ancient being she unleashed after the war is no longer content to remain distant, and his interference could unravel what little stability remains.
When an ally breaks away to forge a new, unaligned kingdom, Z learns of a threat hiding deep in the ruins they’ve chosen to claim. A power untouched for millenniums. A danger she cannot face alone. And the aid she needs to confront it comes at a steep cost—one that won’t be hers alone to pay.
The war may be over, but the future is always made from double-sided blades.
Meagan Hurst 