Stellar

You could maybe consider it cute when it was a newborn, but that's a pretty heavy maybe as it will get considerably less so the larger it grows. As mentioned above in the end notes to this chapter and in the text itself by Torsten, the dragon has some resemblance (in face only, not in full bodily form) to Alduin from the Elder Scrolls: Skyrim game. To give you an idea, check out this image and this one also. The primary differences are the one in Spirit of Fire is red, not black, and it's currently only a fraction of Alduin's size, so the proportions of the face would be scaled down to reflect its youth and immaturity. Also, the dragons from Skyrim, and even the ones from the Game of Thrones TV series and Smaug from The Hobbit; all of these have only four limbs -- two back legs and wings that double as front limbs. This, in the technical parlance of fantasy, actually makes them wyverns and not dragons, and is something that always made the geeky side of my brain rather annoyed. A true dragon should have four legs AND two wings -- six limbs in total -- and this is exactly how Torsten's new charge is portrayed.

Seems a few people only got notified when the third chapter appeared. Not quite sure what the reason for that is!

Yes, indeed -- who is good and bad? You can certainly make some educated guesses That shed has a lot of flammable items in it though. It burning down is a very real possibility. Yikes.

Thank you! What Theo said isn't as important as the way she was being influenced by his suggestion. I'm not going to tell you the exact words but you can surmise that it was to the effect of: go back where you came from and forget about everyone sitting at this table. Along these lines, Darren is a bit surprised because it is quite rare for him to meet anyone capable of resisting his compulsion, but ... this is Lucy. Her mental fortitude is right up there with her irreverent attitude. The car Agent Crawley owns is a black Cadillac. The 61 is not in reference to the year, but the series it comes from, which was produced during the time of the Second World War. His would have to be a restored and refurbished model, and it is in fitting with his love of nostalgia and throwbacks to American culture from the era of film noir.

Thank you! I'm sure there will be a few disappointed people wanting to know what happens to Earth on the brink of invasion, but that cliff is one that those folks will simply have to hang off for a while longer. There will be no third book until after Spirit of Fire is finished.

It isn't a spoiler to say that what Nero was doing in the second chapter is slightly different than what's been observed in the third. You are correct in the belief that physical contact is required for Nero to make somebody sleep. This is not the case for Darren's attempted compulsion of Lucy, and it is indeed due to the nature of the magic being employed. Both are innate talents, but one is 'common' for these folk and the other is much more personalised. You can expect chapters at a somewhat steady rate compared with my other work. See the Spirit of Fire thread for more detail on this.

Lucy is definitely a fan of the scifi genre and also of yaoi, so a 'Secret Moonlight' movie would be her thing. Of course what really counts in such ventures is getting the details accurate -- the science itself, the action set pieces and most notably: the exact squishiness and squeezeability of Shay's ass. This is of supreme importance and cannot be misrepresented. In terms of writing, the style will be much the same that you're used to. The subject matter, however, will be a bit of a departure -- fantasy has fewer barriers than scifi, so I have infinite possibility to work with. I know where I am headed with this one, however, so I hope you'll enjoy the ride.

More Spirit of Fire is available. Read Chapter 3 here.

The phone was ringing. It wouldn't stop. Tone after tone after tone, it kept on. Again. Again. AGAIN. Incessant. In a stupor, irritable, tired, cranky, half-baked and half-awake; he reached out a hand and plucked the receiver from the cradle. There was a pause, pregnant with expectation and the officiality of those who want an answer, and finally, he spoke. "What," he growled, "do you fuckin' want?" "Mr Crawley." The voice on the other end was bureauc

Thanks for your response -- all opinions are relevant, even more so here because I get so few offered. If you want to get updates for anything related to this and not simply rely on happy accident, you can follow the forum itself and/or the individual forum thread, just as you can follow a person's profile or a story they've written. It's a great way to keep informed about your favourite authors and their writing. It's true that I don't do any sort of storytelling by halves, and the scope of Veil of Shadow was ambitious. There were times where writing that second book was extremely frustrating and it did feel somewhat like a burden and an obligation, often for precious little feedback. However, I knew what I was getting myself into when I began the sequel, and abandoning anything when I have invested so much of my energy into it, in spite of difficulties involved, is not in my nature. What I start, I will finish. It is likely the final book of the trilogy will be stressful to produce too, at least in places, but when the time comes I will deal with that as I must -- because I cannot leave that loose end flying in the wind. However, the decision on what to continue with was actually settled in my head months ago (in April, approximately). I am currently writing a fantasy novel called Spirit of Fire and will not return to the Aspects of Dawn series until after is completed. As of this post, there are two chapters available through that link, and the discussion thread for the story is right here on my forum.

When this tale is finished and fully told, it will be shorter than the Aspects of Dawn series, of this you can be assured. This will be true for not just raw word count, but also total number of chapters and average chapter length, unless something very strange happens and the story evolves and twists unexpectedly and dramatically into something much larger than intended. Though the plan I have for Spirit of Fire is more contained than the blueprint that existed prior to the beginning of the aforementioned science-fiction, it isn't impossible that I could be inspired to expand the new book due to inspiration during the writing phase. To summarise the above, it's very unlikely to be close to either Hidden Sunlight or Veil of Shadow length-wise, though it may be longer than I initially have planned and definitely not 'short' by any stretch of the imagination. In terms of how ambitious the plot itself is, the scale of events will be 'epic' and 'grand' in a way that befits a modern fantasy taking place on contemporary Earth. It may not be clear or immediately obvious just how that will come about -- at least, not yet -- but just you wait.

Like my other series on GA, this will have a lot of seemingly unrelated or insignificant stuff going on, sometimes in the background, but the vast majority of those pointed details will be at least relevant and some of it quite important. I do love Chekov's Gun -- maybe a little too much Torsten has had to live with a rather busy working mother for a number of years. He's very capable of taking care of himself and is fairly independent for his age. With regard to the gender of his new charge -- this will stay unrevealed for the time being. Torsten cannot tell and is hardly about to risk a hand in order to find out, therefore the audience won't find out until he does too

Hmm, you never got a notification? That's odd, I'm sure you're following everything you'd need to in order to receive that. At any rate, welcome to the fun!

I'm not sure Torsten would consider it 'cute' so much as 'small and potentially lethal' but that would be mostly because of their first encounter and the mess it made of his front Nonetheless, some form of communication will eventually happen, and as for a name? Well ... you'll just have to see. Thanks for reading and commenting!

Thank you Nero is not a 'good guy' in any clear-cut sense, but he is also not the main antagonist. Without saying too much, he is a sort of subordinate, to others.

Chapter 2 is posted! Go check it out.

Oh, Game of Thrones definitely has some passing relevance here, though I hesitate to get too heavily into dropping pop-culture references because it's mostly just a distraction (and it isn't original!) At any rate, that Voice is rather important, though you shall have to wait a little on the question of identity and motive before it makes more sense. I hope you will stick around for more!

Second chapter is under production Thanks for taking an interest.

Thanks for commenting. I hope you will enjoy it!

I'm glad! I hope you enjoy. I trust you won't be disappointed in how it continues!

Aww! I'm sorry to disappoint, but Book 3 is going to be a while. Spirit of Fire will have to fill that void until I can start on the conclusion to the Aspects of Dawn trilogy. I'd encourage you, and anyone else who is so inclined, so read and review it! I promise it will be a tale worth your time.

Um, sure? Is this a good or bad reaction, or did you just accidentally face-desk onto your keyboard?

Here lies the discussion thread for Spirit of Fire. Any thoughts and questions are completely welcome. Make yourself at home!

A new story is up! Go here to find out about Spirit of Fire and read the first chapter!

Hey Charlie, thanks for commenting! Unfortunately, there is far too much left to fit into the end part of Veil of Shadow. It was intended as a trilogy from quite some time ago, so the story conclusion will by necessity be in the third part, as you've now surmised. However, it may be a while before I revisit this to write Book Three, as I am taking a break from this particular series, but in the meanwhile I hope you'll join me for my interim project, a fantasy novel that will begin posting to GA in the near future. Thanks for reading, and I'm glad you liked my books!