A war-weary hero heading for college must discover who he is beyond the legend he can't escape.
Three years after the Ranker War shattered the boundary between dreams and reality, Jonathan “Rankerbane” He’klarr—Griffin King and savior of the dreamworld—faces a far quieter challenge: moving on. With college looming and his legendary deeds still casting a long shadow, Jonathan struggles to discover who he is beyond the hero the world expects him to be.
But peace is fragile. When a secretive brotherhood known as the Mind Breakers breaches the Land of Dreams and steals a memory, they tear open a dangerous Rift—one that destabilizes the dreamworld and draws dark forces toward it, including the legendary kraken, and a notorious band of pirates. Disguised, Jonathan ventures far from the Winged Throne into uncharted waters to mend what was broken and uncover the true purpose of this ancient cult.
Separated from his throne and stripped of the power and title that once defined him, Jonathan can no longer rely on the full strength of the Griffin King. As the Rift widens, threats build in both the dreamworld and the waking world—including a sinister fraternity determined to claim him and endangering those he loves—proving that his adventures are far from over. Forced to act in secret and caught between the life he is expected to lead and the hero he can no longer openly be, Jonathan must confront the most dangerous question of all: if he cannot be the Griffin King, who is he meant to become?
