enemy minds. From shadows, Impians creep. Even Shadow Unicorns—rare, spectral, deadly—answer the call. War comes. And Inferneth will burn his way through it. 

mossy soil—his heart torn between wonder and dread. Xylos, his dying world, has sent a strike team to scout for survival. Above, the Eidolon of Xylos, a living bioluminescent starship, hovers cloaked in orbit, its consciousness echoing in his mind. But Zylen isn’t a warrior. Shy and empathic, he was brought to Earth in secret by his father, Commander Xyree Zydun, in a desperate act of protection. Now, everything has unraveled. An energy surge shattered their stealth field. A drone crash sparked a wildfire. The team is scattered. Alone in the wilds of West Virginia, surrounded by Earth’s alien sounds and smells, Zylen is terrified—until he meets Lilly, a teenage hiker. She doesn’t run. She sees not a monster, but fear. Loneliness. A connection forms. As government agents close in and his people debate evacuation or conquest, Zylen faces an impossible choice: obey orders and erase all trace of contact… or trust Lilly, and risk everything to forge a new future—for both their worlds. Can empathy survive first contact? Or will fear destroy them all?