Neoma

The world of Zenora is dying. Or perhaps, Neoma thinks, it is finally healing. Entire peoples vanished beneath the march of human kingdoms. Every conquest was justified. Every atrocity was explained away. Now humanity stands on the edge of extinction. The Kingdom of Man has fallen, driven from nearly every corner of Zenora. Only Astonia remains—a fortress kingdom hidden within the mountains where twenty-five thousand humans cling to survival behind stone walls and dragonfire. Once rulers of the world, they are now little more than a desperate remnant. They call themselves survivors. The beast races call them the last invaders. Beyond Astonia lie the wild lands, territories humanity still claims as its own. Wolves, felines, scaled folk, horned tribes, and countless others know the truth. These lands belonged to them long before the first human king drew borders across a map. Each race follows its own leader and its own vision for the future. Neoma leads the Lupines. Dark-skinned and dark-furred, she rules a people caught between beast and man. Werewolves. Shapeshifters. Cousins of humanity who remember every broken promise and every betrayal. To her people she is a protector. To humans she is a monster lurking beyond the mountains. Neoma has seen too much to care what humans think. She remembers villages burned in the name of order. Treaties broken the moment they became inconvenient. Humanity speaks of peace now, but only because it is losing. Others believe mankind deserves mercy. The dragons have chosen to stand beside them. Some rulers speak of coexistence and reconciliation. Neoma speaks of consequences. She does not seek glory or conquest. She seeks an end to the cycle that has scarred Zenora for generations. In her eyes, humanity waiting for the chance to rise again. And she intends to make certain that chance never comes.