Good Morning:
I uploaded both book trailers for the final books in my short story series, Heart of The Current and Endsong of Dragons. I will change my book promotion strategies in the future when I publish new work. There's room for me to play around with it and try new stuff.
Excerpt: Heart of the Current:
Chapter 1: Moving
Day
The skyline of Avalon
glittered against the soft pink hues of early evening, the Ivory Spire’s
towering buildings reflecting the last gold rays of the sun. Lyra wiped sweat
from her brow, rolling her shoulders as she leaned against the open trunk of
her car. Her sons’ new apartments loomed ahead, modern, sleek, untouched by
time—unlike her.
She watched as her
twin boys—Kai and Ren—lugged boxes up the stone steps, their laughter threading
through the air like the last remnants of childhood slipping away. The moment
was supposed to feel triumphant. Instead, a dull ache curled in her chest. They
were leaving her world, stepping into their own.
“I told you that
couch wouldn’t fit through the door,” she called up to them, smirking as Kai
grunted, his fingers barely gripping the fabric. “You should have listened to
your mother.”
“Mom, I swear if you
jinx this—” Kai lost his balance for a moment, nearly sending the couch
toppling onto Ren.
Ren just sighed, ever
the patient one. “This is why we hired movers, Kai.”
As if on cue, the
last of the hired crew strode toward them, black-gloved hands shoving a dolly
ahead. His presence immediately unsettled Lyra. He was tall, lean, his head
shaven close. A thick scar curved along his jaw like a lightning strike.
Something about the way he moved made her stomach twist—too smooth, too
measured. She had spent enough time in the Labyrinth to recognize someone who
wasn’t just another worker.
His eyes locked onto
hers as he set down the dolly. And then, barely audible beneath the sounds of
the city, he murmured something.
Yuki no Ko.
The words sent a
shiver down her spine. Child of the Snow.
Lyra took a slow step
back, her pulse thrumming in her ears. He knew something—something she didn’t.
Then, just as quickly
as he had spoken, he turned and disappeared into the street.
💓💓💓
Chapter 2: The
Mark
The apartment was
still cluttered with half-unpacked boxes when Lyra found it.
She had been sorting
through one of Kai’s shipments when a flicker of something caught her eye—a
mark, burned into the cardboard.
Not printed.
Not drawn.
Branded.
It was circular,
intricate, an ancient symbol she couldn’t place. But she had seen enough in the
hidden corners of Avalon to recognize intent. This was a message.
Varesa needed to see
this.
Grabbing her coat,
she barely muttered an excuse to the boys before slipping into the neon-lit
streets of Lower Avalon. The Duskbound Labyrinth stretched before her, winding
alleys and shifting shadows that never sat still. Her instincts led her down a
familiar path, toward the scent of perfume and fire.
When she pushed open
the door to Ember & Essence, Varesa’s shop, the bell barely finished
ringing before the woman herself stepped forward.
Varesa Nordstorm had
always commanded a room without trying. Tonight, she was clad in a silk robe,
her auburn hair pulled into a loose braid, sharp amber eyes scanning Lyra with
something between curiosity and concern.
“You look like you’ve
seen a ghost.”
Lyra didn’t
hesitate—she held up the box.
Varesa frowned,
tracing the mark with a careful finger. Then her expression darkened.
“This is a sigil of
the Draco Venatores,” she murmured. “But it’s… different.”
“How different?”
“It’s not just a
hunter’s mark. It’s a summoning.”
Lyra’s breath
hitched. “Summoning what?”
Varesa exhaled.
“You.”
🐲🐲
Chapter 3: The
Dream Beneath the Ice
Sleep did not come
easily. When it did, it came drenched in cold.
Lyra found herself
standing on an endless frozen sea, the ice stretching into oblivion. The sky
was an abyss, void of stars, void of time. Something was breathing beneath her
feet.
A mist curled in the
air, thick and silver, whispering with voices that weren’t hers.
Find us.
She turned, but there
was nothing. Only the sound of the ice groaning beneath her weight, something
ancient shifting below.
Then, in the
distance, she saw them.
Dragons.
Not fully formed,
their bodies flickering between mist and shadow, but their presence was
unmistakable. They watched her. Waited for her.
And then, from the
depths below, something rose.
A shape began to
break through the ice, slowly, agonizingly slow—a massive, serpentine form,
gleaming with frost and liquid darkness. Water and ice, intertwined.
Find us.
The words weren’t a
command. They were a plea.
The ice cracked
beneath her feet.
Lyra gasped, jerking
awake in her bed, her body slick with sweat. Her breath curled in the air like
fog.
Her fingers trembled
as she reached for the bedside lamp, and that was when she saw it—
The frost creeping up
her arms.
🌊🌊🌊
Chapter Four:
Fractured Reflections
Lyra woke to a
strange sensation. Cold. Not the kind that seeped through blankets on a winter
night, but something deeper—rooted in her bones. She shivered despite the heavy
duvet, blinking at the ceiling as dawn’s first light slanted through the
blinds.
Something felt...
off.
She sat up and
stretched, but the moment her hand emerged from the covers, she froze. Ice-blue
scales shimmered across her fingers, catching the light with an ethereal glow.
They ran along the back of her hand, creeping toward her wrist, delicate but
undeniable. Her nails—no, her claws—had sharpened overnight, translucent but
unmistakably talon-like.
Her heart thundered.
No, no, no. Not now.
Not like this.
Panic coiled in her
stomach. She yanked her sleeve over her hand, then nearly leaped out of bed,
rushing toward the bathroom mirror. The reflection that met her was still hers,
but wrong in a way that sent a chill down her spine. Her irises, normally warm
brown, flickered with an unnatural silver hue, like light reflecting off a
frozen lake.
"Oh, hell
no," she whispered.
This couldn’t be
happening. Not when her life was supposed to be stable. She had two teenage
sons who needed her to be normal, a job that required professionalism, and
absolutely zero experience with turning into some kind of dragon.
Then, from the living
room, her phone buzzed. A reminder. Meet the boys for lunch at noon.
Shit.
📚📚📚📚
“I don’t want this
power,” she whispered, the words thick with a mix of terror and longing. “But
it won’t let me go.”
Suddenly, the
courtyard around her began to distort. The ice that had once been solid cracked
and shattered. The fire that had burned so brightly now flickered out, leaving
only the silent, suffocating weight of the air. Mira closed her eyes as the
stillness pressed in, her breath shallow as she tried to regain control.
“You can’t walk away
from this,” the voice said, its tone almost kind now. You are the balance.
You are the end and the beginning.
She clenched her jaw,
her fists trembling as the energy inside her hummed louder, more insistent. No.
The word was a vow—a promise that Mira would not give in to the darkness, no
matter how much the power called to her. She would control it. She would be
it, not the other way around.
Chapter 20: The
Breaking Dawn
The first light of
dawn crept across the horizon, casting pale orange hues over the Spire. Mira
had not left the courtyard, even as the first rays of sunlight began to soften
the cold, crisp air. She was still, her chair pushed aside as she sat in the middle
of the shattered earth, her hands resting in her lap.
The battle had ended.
The man was gone, but the power inside her remained. It felt like an endless
storm, a force that pulsed beneath her skin, pressing against her, trying to
break free.
But Mira had learned
something in that battle. Something important. She could survive this.
Her heart thundered
in her chest as the realization hit her: she didn’t need to run from
this power anymore. She needed to embrace it.
The winds picked up,
swirling around her, lifting the strands of hair that had fallen loose from her
ponytail. It was a new dawn, a new chapter for her. And as she stood, taking
her first steps away from the wreckage of the battle, Mira knew one thing for
certain.
The storm within her
was far from over. But it would be her storm.
Chapter 21:
Shifting Shadows
Mira’s fingers
trembled as they brushed against the cracked stone beneath her. The remnants of
the battle were still scattered across the courtyard, shards of ice and burnt
earth that had once been part of the sprawling garden. She could feel the
warmth of the rising sun on her skin, but the air still held a bite of cold—an
unyielding reminder of what she had unleashed.
She stood still for a
moment, letting the wind blow through her, the familiar rustle of the city
outside the gates barely audible. It wasn’t a peaceful wind. It was like the
world itself was waiting, holding its breath. She could feel the weight of
something more—something beyond the wind, beyond the empty space where the man
had fallen. It had been a brief but intense battle, and yet, Mira knew deep
down, it was far from over.
Her gaze shifted to
the horizon, where the sun’s pale light illuminated the silhouette of the Ivory
Spire. It felt impossibly far, like a dream she might wake from at any moment.
The place she had called home now seemed so fragile. It was hard to believe her
life had once felt like something as simple as routine. Now, every step felt
like it echoed through the stillness of a world that no longer knew her.
“Mira,” a voice
interrupted her thoughts. Lyra’s familiar silhouette appeared at the edge of
the courtyard, her expression unreadable. The older woman’s eyes flicked
between the remnants of the destroyed garden and Mira’s tense form.
“What happened here?”
Lyra asked, stepping cautiously toward her.
“I—” Mira’s throat
tightened. She hadn’t fully processed what had occurred. The fight. The
explosion of energy. “I don’t know how to explain it. It wasn’t just me.” She
felt a strange mix of anger and fear welling inside her. “I couldn’t stop it,
and I don’t think I can stop it again.”
Lyra’s brows
furrowed, but she said nothing at first. She only moved to stand beside Mira,
her gaze settling on the remnants of their confrontation. “You’re not alone in
this, Mira. You never have been. Whatever happens next, we face it together.”
Mira looked at her,
her chest tightening. Lyra’s voice had been steady, confident, but there was
something hidden in the older woman’s eyes—a flicker of fear, or perhaps a
quiet understanding of something Mira couldn’t yet see.
Before Mira could
respond, a sharp gust of wind swept through the courtyard, scattering the
remains of the shattered ice and sending them spinning into the air. Mira’s
breath hitched, her heart racing as the power within her flared once again, a
violent, fiery pulse that surged through her veins.
“Mira...” Lyra’s
voice was a soft murmur as she turned to her. “You need to control it.”
Mira’s heart pounded.
Control. Could she? Should she?
Chapter 22:
Awakening the Void
The quiet of the
following days settled over Mira like a weight she could barely carry. The
streets of Avalon seemed quieter now—more oppressive, as though the city itself
knew something was changing. Mira found herself in the quiet, darkened corners
of the Spire more often than not, hiding away from the questions that buzzed in
her mind like angry bees.
She couldn’t ignore
the changes. Her reflection was different now—her eyes, darker than they had
been before, seemed to glimmer with an unsettling intensity whenever she passed
a mirror. Her fingertips felt sharper, more alive, as though they could slice
through the air itself. The sensation of fire and ice ran like blood
through her veins. She’d never felt more aware of herself—every movement
was amplified, every flicker of power deep within her like the pulse of a drum.
But the power came at
a cost.
Her wheelchair, which
had once been a trusted companion, now felt like an anchor pulling her down
into a pit of self-doubt. There was no denying that her legs could still feel
the same. They were no longer bound by the chair, and yet the idea of walking—really
walking—was so alien. How could she just walk away from everything she’d
known?
She hadn’t ventured
far from her apartment in days, until Lyra showed up again, her expression even
graver than before. Mira had been staring out of the window at the city below,
lost in her thoughts, when Lyra’s soft knock brought her back to reality.
“You’ve been avoiding
me,” Lyra observed, standing in the doorway.
“I’ve been avoiding
myself,” Mira said flatly, turning her eyes back to the window. “It’s not easy,
you know? This power... It’s like a wave, like it’s going to pull me under.”
Lyra stepped inside,
her movements deliberate. “It’s not just the power you’re avoiding, Mira. It’s
the truth. You can’t pretend you’re not changing. You can’t hide from it.”
“I don’t want to
change.” The words slipped out before she could stop them. “I don’t want this
to be me.”
“You don’t have a
choice,” Lyra said gently, her voice steady but kind. “But you have a choice in
how you embrace it.”
Mira’s eyes flashed
with frustration. “What does that mean? How am I supposed to control this? I
feel like it could explode out of me at any moment.”
Lyra’s gaze softened,
and she took a slow breath. “I can’t answer that for you. But I can tell you
this: when you fight it, it only gets stronger. Let go of the fear. Learn to
flow with it. Become what you’re meant to be.”
The words hung in the
air between them, thick with a sense of finality that Mira couldn’t ignore. The
storm inside her had only been gathering force.
“I’m not ready,” Mira
whispered.
Lyra reached out,
placing a firm hand on her shoulder. “I’ll help you. But you must make the
choice to step into the storm. You’re the only one who can.”
Chapter 23: The
Gathering Clouds
It wasn’t long before
Mira knew what Lyra meant. The power inside her had become a constant hum
beneath her skin, a restless, violent force. It was more than her magic—it was
her essence now, tangled in the roots of the earth and the very breath of the sky.
She could feel it everywhere, creeping along the walls of her thoughts like a
vine that refused to stop growing.
She’d tried to escape
it. She’d locked herself away, buried her thoughts in books and old memories,
anything to drown out the pounding that echoed in her chest. But then, one
evening, when the wind had picked up and the clouds had darkened the sky, it all
came crashing down.
She was in the
courtyard again, standing on the edge where the shattered ground met the
remnants of her earlier battle. Her hands trembled as they rested at her sides,
and her heartbeat in rhythm with the thrum of power that pulsed through her,
down into the earth.
And then it happened.
The first crack in
the ground was barely perceptible. A faint vibration underfoot. But the second
was unmistakable—the ground shuddered beneath her feet, like the earth itself
was waking up.
Her breath caught.
Mira closed her eyes, and for the first time, she let the power run wild inside
her, without holding it back.
Fire and ice twisted
together in a vicious swirl, wrapping around her legs, her arms, flowing
through the earth beneath her. Her mind screamed in protest, but she didn’t
stop it. She couldn’t. She let the storm surge, let the power spill out of her.
She opened her eyes,
and the courtyard was gone. The air was thick with swirling light and shadow,
and the world itself felt as though it was on the verge of splitting open.
Then, with one final,
heart-pounding moment, the earth cracked wide open, sending the courtyard into
chaos.
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