Cold Creek built Michael Stewart across three books, and then the story stopped mid-stride. I wrote about that silence in my first post here, and I am not going to relitigate the grief. This post is about what I did with it, and where Michael goes next.
Defenceman: Parallel Ice exists for one purpose: to give Michael's collegiate story a proper close. Not to replace what Cold Creek made, but to carry the character to a finish line the original story never reached, so the next saga could start honestly. It is my own work and it is not canon, and I have been clear about that from the first chapter.
Here is what I can tell you about the handoff. The Vallis Defense: Cold Human picks Michael up within weeks of where Parallel Ice's final season ends. Same city, clan, and circle of people you have spent the past year getting to know. Everything he earned in this book, he carries into the next one. If you have read this far, you do not need the Companion Guide for his chapters. You are the Companion Guide.
And one promise about where his story goes. Early in the new book, AEGIS surfaces something in its own data that even Michael cannot explain. His part of this novel starts with that question, and I am not going to answer it here.
The Vallis Defense: Cold Human launches after Defenceman: Parallel Ice concludes, in July 2026.
CCTW