Beastbound: The Gryphon Tamer

Benjamin was never meant to be a hero. He was just a bookstore clerk, a quiet dreamer who spent his life surrounded by fantasy novels, imagining worlds grander than his own. Then, one night, reality split open. A violent shift tears him from Earth and throws him into Khial, a world of ancient beasts, living forests, fallen empires, and powers shaped not by magic, but by Laws—fundamental patterns of existence that only the gifted can touch. In Khial, the Sages are not merely scholars. They are walking disasters, healers, warriors, and rulers of nature itself. They bend fire, life, energy, and resonance to their will, standing at the center of a hidden war that has shaped history for centuries. But Benjamin does not belong here. His soul does not resonate with Khial. The world should reject him. To its Laws, he is an anomaly. A ghost. An outsider wearing flesh. And yet, he has one impossible gift. He can absorb knowledge. Languages, histories, combat techniques, ancient theories, forgotten secrets—everything he touches becomes part of him. It should have made him powerful. Instead, it makes him dangerous. To others. And to himself. Seeking answers, Benjamin enters the Academy of Sages, hoping to survive long enough to understand why he was brought to this world. But power in Khial is never simple. Every secret has a cost. Every bond can become a weakness. And when Benjamin forms a connection with a young gryphon named Atty, he discovers that some ties are stronger than any Law. Then one mistake sends everything crashing down. Dragged into the depths of the Black Flame, a shadow empire that rules from beneath the surface, Benjamin is enslaved, broken, and stripped of everything but his will to live. Forgotten by the world above, he is forced to claw his way out of darkness one breath at a time. He will not rise as a chosen one. He will not rise as a noble hero. He will rise as something Khial never prepared for. His journey will carry him across brutal empires, ancient ruins, hidden battlefields, and truths buried before history began. At the end of it all waits Malachros, an entity that should not exist—the first Itharim to break free from the Maker’s will. But before Benjamin can face false gods, monsters, or the truth of his arrival, he must do the impossible. Escape. Survive. Protect the bond that saved him. And become more than what this world allows.