Keys: The Shadow's Crown

By J.W.R. Barnhill

All the stories were true. Every myth about doorways to other worlds was a warning.

For weeks, Eddie Luke has been haunted by nightmares of purple skies and grinding war machines. Then, reality begins to fray. People on campus move in eerie synchronization. The air tastes of ozone and copper. And in the middle of the university arboretum, a rift tears open to a world that shouldn't exist.

While others might see a miracle, Mya sees a pattern. Her research into global folklore confirms a chilling truth: every culture tells the same story of doorways, impossible powers, and the people who vanish through them. The consistency isn't a coincidence, it's a record of those who failed to return.

When the rift opens a second time, driven by a terrifying familiarity he can't explain, Eddie plunges in. This time, Mya and Liam follow. The doorway seals behind them.

Stranded on Haytar, they find a realm of bioluminescent forests and the crumbling ruins of the Keys-the ancient civilization that once united alien species across dimensions. With the help of Loath, a native scout, and PIP, a glitching robot holding the data fragments of a dead world, they must navigate a landscape where physics is a suggestion and survival is not guaranteed.

But Eddie's nightmares weren't dreams. They were memories of the war that buried the Keys three thousand years ago. And the entity that won that war is finally waking up to finish what it started.

Earth's myths were just the beginning. On Haytar, the monsters are finally home.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: B0GLF8BDXT
• ISBN13: 9798245917412
• Release Date: March 2026
• Publisher: Independently Published
• Length: 584 Pages
• Weight: 1.47 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.3" x 5.5" x 8.5"