The Fall Gauntlet

Benji and Soren have defeated the last Fall Gauntlet fighter thrown at them, but their nightmare has just begun . . . Benji and Soren narrowly escape the sewer rat clan, but their getaway comes at a terrible price: Soren's mask has been tampered with, and he grows weaker with every step. Benji must find someone who can help his brother or risk losing him forever.

Without a true gauntlet champion, the world is falling out of balance, and new challengers vie to take down the brothers who shattered the age-old tournament. Benji puts on his lynx mask, seeking truth, only to hear an unfamiliar voice calling for help. As Soren slips further into a place of no return, and Benji's options for help dwindle, the brothers take refuge at a spa run by sisters, Lyaza and Miki, hoping they can help heal Soren, but not all is as it seems. Both sisters carry dark secrets, and Miki harbors even grander plans of her own: to make contact with a goddess directly.

When Benji discovers that the voice has been calling Miki closer, he knows he has to stop her before she offers herself as a human vessel to carry out her own vision of what the Fall Gauntlet should be-one where the Dei punish those who attempt to destroy it. In the mountains beyond the desert, a harrowing secret about the totem animals is revealed, one that exposes the very foundations of the gauntlet itself. If Benji doesn't figure out how to stop a mysterious and ancient force before it strikes, he'll forfeit any chance he has of saving his mother, once and for all.

The Fall Gauntlet continues . . .

J. A. Merkel's CHRYSIX is part of The Fall Gauntlet, a dystopian sci-fi novella collection about Benji and Soren's misadventures to outsmart the Crown and save a family lost to them, all while learning how to be brothers again.