Book excerpt: When Sylas was gifted with the power to siphon other people’s pain from them and take it on himself, he never could have imagined that he was the latest in a line stretching back to the dawn of civilization or that his dark mentor Antonio has been killing those with the power for millennia. Trapped by Antonio, Sylas must go on a trippy mental journey to save himself from a fate worse than death and show that it’s possible to live a hopeful life no matter how dark the world gets.