Hello, unreleased chapter just for fun, and book two cover

Hello everyone, posting today, I received the cover for book two and wanted to share it. The book one of World Affinity, The Radiant Traveler Series is available now on paperback and ebook on August 22nd. Book two available at the end of September! And here's a sneak peek at a cut scene from book 1. It's just for you guys. Thanks again. Happy Reading.

The Pond Stalker – Missing Scene

The pond had gone too still. Even the water bugs, normally restless, had vanished beneath the twin moons. Their light shimmered across the surface like a false mirage, broken only by the soft drip of dew from the trees.

Behind me, Auggie crouched low, running a hand down the leg of his favorite horse, Steam.

“That’s odd, right? Way too quiet, don’t you think?” I whispered.

“No,” he muttered with a shrug. “Maybe a fat fish in there. Better than those empty streams yesterday.” He sighed, already annoyed with himself. “Which means something’s about to ruin our night, doesn’t it?”

The pond gleamed like black glass, ringed in reeds that whipped under the heavy winds of the Central Plains. Our clan horses, smarter than they had any right to be, stood untethered behind us. They had been still all evening, but now their ears twitched forward in unison. Hercules let out a deep, guttural growl of a neigh.

They shifted their weight, not nervous, but ready.

A ripple rolled across the left shore. Another broke the surface on the right.

“Two?” I muttered. “Should we get the poles?”

“Or one that cheats,” Auggie said, already drawing an arrow. “And I hate cheaters.”

I had no idea what he meant, but the animals here. In this world, are just a different breed of weird, so I shrugged it off.

The water bulged. First whiskers. Then tusks, slick as granite. Cat’s ears twitched above a boar’s snout, dripping pond sludge. And then the eyes—a glowing blue. Like stolen moonlight glaring out of the dark.

It sank again without a sound.

“…That’s wrong, yeah?” I said carefully.

“Yeah,” Auggie replied, fading into the tall grass. His Assassin Affinity blurred him like a ghost. “You take shore. I’ll cover the water.”

The pond exploded.

A beast the size of a small horse erupted in a spray of muck, charging the bank in utter silence.

I slammed a void shield into place, a black-blue shimmer that opened like a buckler into the abyss. The creature dodged, unnaturally fast, sidestepping my defense in a blur of motion.

My spear answered my call from the storage ring on my finger. A maplewood shaft fitting into my grip. Its sandstone flint head, knapped by Auggie’s hand, gleamed with carved runes: Sharp. Harden. Strengthen. Bleed.

A weapon of war. Tonight, under the cloud-choked moons, we would test its limit.

I poured mana into it. Too much. The runes blazed, sparking as golden-white light raced down the shaft, the spear drinking power like a starving plant.

The creature lunged again. And finally I saw it. A whiskered boar’s face, feline body slick with black muck, tusks curving like hooked blades. Long pointed tail and something akin to armor scaling dotted it's terrifying body.

I struck, the spear whistling through the dark. The runes seared, and the right tusk snapped free, clattering to the mud.

The beast didn’t falter. It barreled forward, faster, angrier, its screech a grunting roar that tore through the reeds and hammered straight into my skull.