Book excerpt: Mages are born. Mages die. Dust on the wind, their light extinguished. Eili Morgan is a mage with the power to change reality at will. He just doesn’t know it yet. At least, that's what a poster told him late one night after a few drinks. It’s only when building-sized murals start warning him he must discover his power or risk being drained by the shadows following him that he realises the world is very different from the Port he grew up in. If he is a mage, he can’t be the only one, but friends are hard to find. In fact, they’re no better than the ghosts, who think he must pay for the sins of history. If only he had time to figure out who to trust, and whether any of it is real. A Mage Alone is the first book of The Birth of Gods series.