Meet the exiles, survivors, believers, and ancient powers awaiting the final chapter of the Through the Fire trilogy.
AFTER THE FIRE · FIVE YEARS LATER · SPOILER-FREE
AFTER THE FIRE
Five years have passed since Maricel disappeared from Earth.
On Mars, she has built a quiet existence beyond the reach of the people and ancient powers that once consumed her life. She works as a medical assistant, keeps mostly to herself, and still looks toward the stars wondering what became of the world she left behind.
But Earth has continued without her.
So have the people she once knew.
Old alliances have shifted. The Lemurian Order is no longer content to remain hidden. And somewhere beneath waters no one is watching closely enough, something ancient has begun to stir.
Maricel has survived the fire.
Now she must return to what remains.
These are some of the faces of Ashes.
MARICEL
The woman who disappeared from Earth.
EXILE · SURVIVOR · RELUCTANT RETURNER
Five years on Mars have changed Maricel.
Once a young actress pursued by forces she barely understood, she now lives beyond Earth’s reach, working as a medical assistant and trying to remain invisible.
She is thirty, quieter, more self-reliant, and far less certain that home still exists.
But Maricel has never been able to outrun the impossible forever.
And something on Earth is still calling her back.
DR. SAL
The physician willing to help her find a way home.
DOCTOR · MENTOR · UNLIKELY ALLY
Dr. Sal has lived on Mars far longer than Maricel.
Brilliant, severe, and accustomed to solitude, he provides her with shelter and work—but very little companionship.
Their life together is mostly silent.
Until Maricel admits that she still dreams of returning to Earth.
Dr. Sal may be the first person in years to take that dream seriously.
LEO
The man she left behind.
MAN OF FAITH · PROTECTOR · UNFINISHED HISTORY
Five years have passed since Leo last saw Maricel.
Time has continued, even if every question surrounding her disappearance has not.
His world has been reshaped by loss, survival, and a supernatural reality he can no longer dismiss.
Whether Maricel is alive remains uncertain.
What Leo would do if she returned may be even harder to answer.
BELIAL
The angel who has always preferred the long game.
ANCIENT · CALCULATING · MOCHA-EYED
Belial rarely reveals more than he intends.
Patient, observant, and unnervingly composed, he has spent centuries studying what people desire—and what those desires can make them do.
His interest in Maricel began long before she understood his place in her life.
Five years have not made that interest disappear.
And Belial has never been a creature who leaves his plans unfinished.
AZAZEL
The angel who has never accepted losing her.
FALLEN · VOLATILE · RELENTLESS
Azazel’s connection to Maricel has always existed somewhere between devotion and possession.
He can be charming, tender, terrifying—and sometimes all three within the same breath.
Ancient, powerful, and driven by emotions he cannot always control, Azazel has already changed the course of Maricel’s life more than once.
But Ashes begins after five years of silence.
What remains after that silence is something the novel must reveal.
GADREEL
The angel watching an empire take shape.
ANCIENT · COMMANDING · UNMOVED
Gadreel stands near the center of a world Maricel has never fully seen.
Reserved, powerful, and accustomed to being obeyed, he rarely explains his intentions to those around him.
While other angels are driven by desire, anger, or devotion, Gadreel appears governed by something colder:
Purpose.
And in Ashes, that purpose is drawing closer to fulfillment.
RAFAEL
The believer who fears what survival is turning them into.
FAITH · CONSCIENCE · RESISTANCE
Rafael arrives with convictions that have survived almost as much as the people around him.
Where others have begun to accept violence as the price of staying alive, Rafael is troubled by how easily necessity can become justification. He believes there must still be a line between surviving evil and becoming shaped by it.
That increasingly places him at odds with Maricel.
She sees a world in which hesitation can get people killed. Rafael sees something more dangerous in her certainty: the possibility that fear has begun deciding what is permissible.
And unlike many of the people around her, he is willing to say so.
Rafael believes in God.
He isn’t always certain he believes in Maricel.
When the world becomes violent, how much of yourself can you surrender to survival before survival stops being the point?
JADE
The woman who understands the design.
OBSERVANT · STRATEGIC · GUARDED
Jade has spent years watching powerful beings mistake confidence for control.
She knows their histories, recognizes their weaknesses, and understands that the most consequential decisions are often made long before anyone realizes a choice was offered.
Jade rarely reveals everything she knows.
In Ashes, what she chooses to conceal may matter as much as what she says.
VENUS
The woman who knows desire is not the same as devotion.
BEAUTIFUL · WATCHFUL · RESTRAINED
Venus understands what it means to be desired.
She also understands that desire does not guarantee devotion.
Elegant, perceptive, and far more complicated than she initially appears, Venus occupies a precarious place among beings whose affections can become dangerous.
She rarely asks for anything.
That does not mean she wants nothing.
ENVER
The man who jokes when everyone else grows serious.
HUMAN · IRREVERENT · UNPREDICTABLE
Enver has a talent for appearing comfortable in places where most people would know to be afraid.
Funny, reckless, and almost impossible to embarrass, he treats danger as though it were merely another opportunity to entertain himself.
But beneath the sunglasses, alcohol, and easy humor is a man more observant than he initially appears.
Enver may be entirely human.
That does not keep the supernatural world from noticing him.
LESLIE
The friend who once believed none of this was possible.
LOYAL · PRACTICAL · RESILIENT
Leslie knew Maricel before angels, secret orders, and apocalyptic prophecies became part of their lives.
She has questioned Maricel, protected her, argued with her, and remained connected to her through circumstances neither of them could have imagined.
Five years later, Leslie is still living with the consequences of everything they discovered.
Some friendships survive distance.
Others must survive the impossible.
ERICH
The man whose family history opened the first door.
SCHOLAR · SKEPTIC · SEEKER
Erich’s fascination with Enochian magic and ancient mysteries helped draw Maricel into a world hidden beneath her own.
What began as intellectual curiosity became something far more personal—and far more dangerous.
He knows better than most that the past does not remain buried simply because people stop looking for it.
By Ashes, the questions surrounding his family’s history have become part of something much larger.
CAROLINE
The friend holding on to what remains human.
COMPASSIONATE · GROUNDED · STEADFAST
Caroline was never searching for ancient beings or secret societies.
Her connection to this story is human: friendship, loyalty, and concern for the people she loves.
In a world increasingly shaped by supernatural forces, Caroline offers something rare—warmth without an agenda.
But remaining ordinary does not mean remaining untouched.
KEVIN
The man learning how strange the world truly is.
HUSBAND · FRIEND · SKEPTIC
Kevin stands closer to the impossible than he ever expected.
Through Caroline and the people surrounding her, he has encountered questions that cannot always be answered with ordinary explanations.
Practical and distinctly human, Kevin provides a perspective the ancient beings around Maricel often lack.
Sometimes disbelief is not a weakness.
Sometimes it is the last defense against fear
WARREN
The friend who became a shepherd.
PASTOR · CONFIDANT · MAN OF FAITH
Five years have changed Warren’s life.
Once part of the ordinary human circle surrounding Maricel, he now serves as a pastor in a world where faith is becoming increasingly difficult to separate from what people can see with their own eyes.
Warren offers guidance, friendship, and a distinctly human understanding of the events unfolding around him.
But as ancient prophecy draws nearer, recognizing the truth may carry responsibilities of its own.
FIVE YEARS HAVE PASSED.
The story never stopped.
Maricel has survived exile on Mars.
Earth has survived without her.
Now the final novel in the Through the Fire trilogy brings her back toward the people she left behind, the ancient beings who still remember her, and the Lemurian Order’s approaching endgame.
The heavens are moving.
The waters are no longer still.
And the powers that have spent generations preparing for what comes next are running out of time.
Some faces will be familiar.
Others belong to a world Maricel has never truly seen.
And not everyone waiting for her return wants the same thing.
Welcome to the faces of Ashes.