Seed of Despair - Guardians of the Seeds, #1

Whoever controls the seeds, controls the people.While the privileged sleep soundly in their beds, the pain in the outskirts birthed its own monsters.  The Mahres, creators of nightmares and immortal guardians of the heirloom seeds, are sworn to free the destitute from hunger and destroy the hold the genetically engineered plants have over humanity's food source. Alistair, the most gifted of the Mahres, is wasting his powers away.
He can control people's minds, but to take his place in the fight, he needs to control himself first and prove his wisdom as a mentor. Abandoned by his family on the steps of the Eram when he changed into a Mahre, Godfrey is a brave and kind six-year-old. Trouble finds him as he struggles to embrace his new gift and let go of the family that gave him away. When the child is forced into his care, Alistair must find out if he can save him from the terrible world that poverty created and how far he would go to protect him. What the readers are saying:"Maybe it's because I'm a dad, but I found myself with tears in my eyes more than once.""...
the world felt so big and interesting and I'm dying to discover more of it."