Vhantalya (The Immortal Elements, #1)

Without Death, there is no Life...
Running is all Vhantalya has ever known. She is an aleeph, an avatar of the element of Life, and the last of her kind. In order to bring an end to the evil that has plagued the mortal Upperworld of Kaloran, she must reach the Great Tree Y'Edenel and reawaken a god.
Milla is a creature of the Otherworld, a predator that feeds on Life. Yet she has sworn to protect Vhantalya in order to destroy the Fool King and end his plans for good. Mysterious glowing clocks on her palms count down the short time she has left. She must get Vhan to the Tree, the only place where prophecy can be fulfilled. If she succeeds, it will cost her everything. If she fails, it will cost the Tree...and every world caught in its branches.

Melara Dark is a multi-genre writer of speculative fiction, with an eye toward diversity, inclusion, and the LGBT+ community. She lives in the Pacific Northwest with her wife, who is both her rock, and her eternal reminder that heroes truly can come from anywhere. They can be anyone. Our strength is in our resolve to be true to ourselves, and to the world around us. To exist without apology, to thrive without shame, and to love without condition. Love can overcome even the deepest of horrors or the most trying of circumstances, and, like hope and like heroes, it can come from the most unexpected places.