ARMORBOUND

What if the armor didn't make you powerful, unless you earned it? Seventeen-year-old Kredric Rickerd never asked to be a hero. But when a dying stranger hands him a whistle, a satchel, and a mysterious black breastplate, he's thrust into a path he never imagined. Hunted by a monstrous beast and haunted by whispers of another world, Kredric soon discovers the truth: the breastplate is not just armor it's a key. Pulled through a portal and transformed into a centaur, Kredric becomes Orenthil, a reluctant warrior in Arcadia, a realm where six fractured centaur clans stand on the edge of destruction. Corrupted creatures known as the Succumbed are spreading like wildfire, driven by a cruel tyrant's will. Arcadia doesn't need a chosen one, it needs someone who will fight, fail, rise again, and choose what's right over what's easy. Guided by Phulax, a towering beast of wisdom and fang, and joined by a fierce warrior named Chári and a sharp-tongued fox-hummingbird hybrid, Orenthil must master divine weapons, earn the trust of divided clans, and forge a final stand against the darkness. But unity demands sacrifice. And leadership means becoming more than what you were born to be.