Book excerpt: When her peaceful town is razed by the ethereal flames of a heavenly bird, Haevynne decides to follow in her sister’s footsteps to join the Aleksarian Guard. Driven by the madness of loss, and committed to preventing such an atrocity from ever happening again, Hae is forced to leverage every tool at her arsenal to continue barreling forward, three steps at a time, toward her goals. But what are the consequences of her burning ambitions, and where will they lead her? When the smoke clears, who will Hae reveal herself to be? Osea is a fantasy novel about identity, sacrifice, dreams, and love. It explores the price of power, the impossibility of a wish fulfilled, and the haunting decisions that we make in order to protect the ones we cherish. It challenges what it means to be a "hero", and embraces what it means to be a friend. GPT Free: No AI is used in the writing or art of this novel.