{First Tale of Astandra} = BOOK #1
Aryus Navale was a former street rat with a gift for tinkering. He was thrust into a world of invention and ambition when his older brother enrolled him in Greyfield's Academy of Stone and Fire. As he rises from the shadows, earning the admiration of his peers, he prompted to restore the legendary Green Titan-a dormant machine with a dark past. But when the project goes awry, Aryus is forced to confront betrayal, newfound powers, and a conspiracy that threatens the balance of the region.
Torn between survival and redemption, Aryus must decide if he can stop the chaos he helped unleash before it consumes everything he knows.
Ray is low on time, luck, and hope; his only chance is an artifact that may not even exist. But upon meeting Landon, Ray is beginning to believe he might find all four.
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Cambions are doomed to tragedy. They are weak, sickly creatures that rarely live to see their twentieth year. Ray refuses to resign himself to that fate. Upon learning of the Crimson Sheath-an artifact capable of preserving his life-Ray is prepared to fight, steal, and kill to get his hands on it. He is not prepared for Landon. Landon is an orphan with no memories of his parents, the only inheritance left to him a dagger, sleeping in a crimson sheath. Though he has no love of bloodshed and no use for a dagger, Landon isn't about to let Ray take his only link to his forgotten history, even if that means following the cambion past the edge of the world and into the shadow beyond.
Content Warnings: Violence, semi-graphic gore, character deaths, profanity, mild drug and alcohol usage, abuse discussed but not shown, and morally-questionable people doing morally-questionable things.