Book excerpt: Slane Croennes would seem to anyone like your average run-of-the-mill orphan. He was never looked at twice when families came calling to find the perfect fit for their sublime little world of joy. He is thrown into the world on his eighteenth birthday with only his knowledge of violence and the darkness of the human soul. He has no idea that he is special or that a whole new world of danger and adventure awaits him. It is not humanity that he must fear anymore. This evil is an all-too-real part of his destiny, and he can’t hope to face it alone. With new friends and allies at his side, he will fight for the light that he knows can exist even in the darkest of hearts. Leadership will be thrust upon his shoulders as he becomes what only prophecies spoke of, the legendary Phoenix.