Cynus

Your first paragraph is exactly what I was hoping people would get out of this chapter. I wanted to show the contrast of Fedain words versus Fedain actions, and at least, for you, it seems I was successful. This is indeed the nanotechnology which aided Prism. There will be more to come with that, of course, but I certainly wasn't trying to hide that fact. The heat rifles were created on a whim. The Gor master is someone I can't wait to introduce you to. Déjà vu is certainly one way of looking at it. Might say I've been inspired a bit by current events. Master Jan was drawn mainly from the Buddhist monks who would light themselves on fire for political protest. Those images always stayed with me, and so I suppose I view them as effective, though I hope no one takes that as me endorsing suicide... Veil has had a very complicated road, and it is definitely heartbreaking at points. We'll be getting into that later, though. Lots of ground still to cover! I agree. There's a reason why things must exist in balance. You need an even counterweight in order to achieve a proper equal playing field. The world gets screwed when one group decides they want to be lifted above all others. I promise it won't be all sad. There are some great moments to come as well, a lot of happiness, despite the overall tone. But thank you for the compliment. Indeed. She is connected to the soul of the world, as she has felt this building for some time. Were going to see a lot more of that as the story continues. Precisely. Good eye on that. It did do a lot of good for him, as we saw in Shadow Honor, but not quite enough. At least it got to the point where it held a small dose of the poison at bay, allowing him to escape The Shade with Styx. Thank you for the comments!

Nightmares plagued every moment of Ghayle's existence as she lay splayed across the stone. She'd lost track of time, but still experienced every second of her children's lives. Darkness encroached upon the world with each passing second, the slow degradation of society corrupting the lifeforce of every being. Over the course of her reign as the avatar of the world, this corruption began time and time again, but each time her children had fought against it, coming together in times of crisi

His ancestor, yes. He's happy to have you with him.

Have a drink in her memory sometime.

Thankfully for Prism, he's only mentally traveling back a few decades rather than centuries, due to the time he spent in stasis. 🙂 This is one of the other scenes that I had planned since the very beginning of this story, back when I first finished writing Shadow Honor. I always enjoyed the thought of Kaeral Elrhanadan meeting Prism. I haven't thought of that analogy for Ghayle before, but I can definitely see where you're getting it. I'm sure you'll find over the course of the story that Prism's not entirely certain how to feel about it either. I didn't realize until a while after I wrote it that I had included some similarities between the two couples, but once I did I wondered if I should keep it. I ended up deciding to leave it, obviously. I decided the similarities would add a little weight of fate to them. I love this observation. World building in fantasy is one of my favorite things to do, and I had a lot of fun with the Fedain. I had always intended them to be somewhat like this, but the story did take a slightly different route than I intended. Hopefully you will find the surprises as pleasant as I did. I'm a little surprised that no one recognized the name Elrhanadan..

"Quick, turn on the newscast," Veil said, bursting into Grim's room without knocking. Grim quickly pulled the covers over his naked body. He wasn't ashamed of his nakedness, but he didn't want her to see the results of the fantasies he'd pursued for the past hour. He'd done the same a dozen times at least since meeting Prism a week before, but some things were inappropriate for even twins to share. "What? Why?" Grim asked, making no move to access the broadcast screen on the opposite

The vision shifted in subtle ways, drawing Prism back into his own memories. He allowed Ghayle to pull him there, comforted by the vision of Grim and his family. Longing for simpler times filled his heart, and as much as he wanted to resist the pain ahead, he also ached to relive the bright moments along the path. Giving himself fully over to Ghayle, the city streets of Kobinaru reformed in his mind. Grandmaster Valkean walked behind him, holding one end of the rope binding Prism's hands.

My heart goes out to the Duke a lot over the course of the story. Obviously I can't say much more without it being a spoiler, but I ended up putting a lot more of myself into him that I thought I would. I had originally planned to make him a complete asshole, but as soon as I wrote the scene, he took a completely different path. Veil and the Grim were always supposed to be close, however, and we'll have plenty of time to cover what happened between them. The Fedain morality is an interesting study, to be sure. Grim is a cute little firecracker, isn't he? It will be a bit more complex than that, but that had a lot to do with it. I suppose part of the other for writing the story for me was asking the question "if the world was sentient, what would it do to save itself?" Grim is and always will be my favorite character in this series. He is modeled after someone who is very important to me, and I remember our shared youth quite fondly. Writing him as a teenager was a lot of fun. It's a whole political mess, that's for sure. I really enjoyed writing this family scene. It was fun to show these characters in a different light they'd seen before, and to give some background on who they were before they became who they are. Relationships in the story have a huge impact on the path it takes, so I hope you enjoy watching them develop. We're going to see a lot of changes in relationships along the course of the story. Each of these characters will have prominent roles to play, family dynamics have a way of creating drama, after all. Fedain are very good when it comes to love. Very open-minded indeed.

He learned from the best! I have had this scene burning in my mind for well over a year, though the naming portion of it came to me only a short time before I wrote it. I'm glad you like it.

Prism stepped back from Ghayle's touch, momentarily reeling from the weight of memory. After he recovered and reassessed his condition, he turned a narrow-eyed stare on Ghayle and asked, "What was that supposed to tell me, Ghayle? My life was hardly a good example of the state of the world. I was a poor boy who didn't understand how the world worked, not then, and not when it collapsed." "So that you understand your place in the world," Ghayle replied, nodding in approval. Her hand remaine

Hopefully you'll enjoy the journey. Those are marvelous questions my friend, and many answers await you in the pages ahead. I think you're right where I want you, reader-wise, and I hope you'll enjoy finding the answers as they arise.

Yes, I believe Prism even mentioned he was a lot like Styx once. You're going to see a different side of both our boys here, but hopefully they'll still feel like themselves, and you'll be able to see the future them inside the children they once were. Two thieves in a pod. That was indeed a description of guns. Not necessarily the same type of firearms as we have today, but a similar type of weapon, for sure. We will eventually get into why/how the technology differs between the periods. I'm glad. Prism has a tendency to immediately assess a person/situation. He saw his younger self reflected in Styx. This was inspired by Holi, for sure. Interestingly enough, i'd never been to the festival before writing this, but shortly after finishing this chapter I attended for the first time. I think I might enjoy such a period of structured enlightenment, myself, heh.

Nameless grunted in pain as a bump in the road sent his head slamming against the reinforced wall of the vehicle. He growled and glanced at the barred grate separating him from the driver, wishing he could take a shot at Ol' Boggi, the village constable to remind him how to drive. Boggi took the growl as an invitation to comment on Nameless's situation, which only served to aggravate him further. "You know, boy . . . it'll only be for a few years, then you can come back out, if'n that's wh

I look forward to your future thoughts. I honestly hadn't thought of the Great Flood metaphor before, but that's a great analogy, indeed. Lots of questions in store, even if many questions have just been answered. Hope you'll enjoy the ride! I love that you're already delving into their psyches. Ah... those are good questions indeed. We'll find out a lot more in the chapters to come. Many questions will be answered, many more will arise. We've a long road to travel with many sights to see. I like you picking up on Prism's innate wariness, good job! Indeed. While not trying to draw any direct comparisons per se, I was trying to establish a world in a similar position to ours, but we'll see if I accomplished that as we move along.

Thank you for posting this. I kept meaning to get around to it, but I've been sort of out of commission for the last few days.

Eight centuries before Salidar thulu-Khant's reign, the world was much different. Technology, not magic, defined the world, though political machinations and civil unrest had pushed the world to the edge of destruction. Two young men, embark on a journey of self-discovery while dealing with the consequences of a broken society. Meanwhile, an ancient force seeks to unleash a Trial of Destruction on the world.

Chapter 1 The world felt white. Prism had never felt a color before, but he could think of it in no other terms. He floated through a sea of pure light, an intense wind whipping around him from everywhere and nowhere, pulling him toward the great unknown. Death. He'd died. He knew it, could remember speaking to Styx in Pentalus, after facing Fasha in a burning building. He'd failed to protect anyone—not Styx, nor the people of Pentalus, nor Grim . . . Grim. Prism ached for the

Spawnling! I can't wait to see what you think of it!

Awesome! The little I know about the Maori has always intrigued me. When I lived in South Korea, I had a good friend and roommate for a few months who was a Kiwi, and that's probably the most I've learned about Maori culture, though that was still from a non-Maori.

I thought this would serve more like a teaser at the end of the movie, kind of like what Marvel movies do these days. I wanted it to have a punch of interesting things, but create just as much hype as it answers. We now know who worked with Fasha to screw up things with the Knights, but we still don't know why, and we still don't know what's going to happen with that. I promise that the answer to your second question will be answered very quickly in book 2. Awesome! As you already know (thank you again) Book 2, "Clouded Purity", has already begun posting at Patreon. It will be posted in full here, but will finish quicker there. It's just a teaser, something to get you hyped up for the sequels. Hopefully won't take too long for you. Oh, when this web finally untangles, you'll have all the answers. If you don't, I will make sure to do a Q&A, heh. Awesome! Thank you for joining us. It's been a fun ride. These are all excellent observations. Now, why did Grim although that information inside is simply because he didn't trust anyone? Or is there something else that Grim has revealed to anyone yet? I like the way pick up on the undertones. Oh, don't feel so bad. I didn't want you to think it would be Veil, though I am glad that some people suspected her. Ever since I first started writing fantasy, way back in middle school, I have had this idea for a character who is an Oracle, who dresses all in white, acts very serene and cool, but who is actually an antagonist. Veil gave me the opportunity to finally do that. As to how she developed that way, I promise you we will eventually get to it. As for what Neredos is, too, will also cover that. Veil's story will be really big in book 3. Thank you for coming along on the ride. Awesome! I look forward to having you! Thank you, I appreciate the support. The whole idea was to write this as a teaser, something that would linger, and make you eager to see more. Judging by your reaction, I really hope I succeeded.

Thank you for that. The next adventure will be again very soon, this week to be precise. Unfortunately, we will not be immediately picking up where we've just left our heroes. We will be going into the past, with Prism and Grim, to explore the beginning of the demons eight hundred years in the past. Hopefully this detour will keep you invested until we resume Styx and company in book 3. Madame Godani is amazing. She's definitely one of my favorites. As for the other...? Honestly, my perspective on Maxthane's easy willingness to accept a threesome came mostly from two different things. One, The Shade is pretty sexually liberated. They enjoy high individual expression, which extends sexuality as well. Secondly, Maxthane is simply not a jealous person. Nor does he consider people to be property, something that he shows when he frees the gladiators. When it comes down to it for him, he loves Styx on a level he doesn't even fully understand, and it compels him to accept whatever comes with that. When you add all that together, throw in some innate Fedain qualities, then Maxthane's easy acceptance of Kirra shouldn't be too hard to see. It is good to trust Kirra and his Gor instincts in pretty much every sense. Trust that his instincts have noticed something, don't necessarily trust that he has interpreted them correctly, though. All of those questions will eventually be answered, of course. We will be dealing with some of them in book 2, and some of them in book 3. If I try to fit everything into one book, it would've ended up very long. Oh, don't you worry, we will have plenty of answers for you on all of these to come. Dogo, Madame Godani, the Shade... Many changes in store for everyone. So, when I invite all my readers to go hang gliding with me, you'll be staying behind? Would you least be willing to come pick us up at the bottom of wherever we land? Next thing definitely has it in him, the question is do the people believe in him? Yes, our Warriors of Dark(plus one Warrior of Light) are going to be very cool. A lot of fun in store for the crew. What does "Kia Ora" mean?

Oh, we're going to learn quite a bit about Ghayle in the next book. Indeed! Way to take notes! Two things kept Prism from facing Fasha until one of them died the last time he had a chance. One, he had to protect Styx. Two, he believed he had to get necessary information to Neredos. At this point, however, he believes that the best course of action is to give everything he can to try to kill Fasha. I had actually considered that option with Fasha/Salidar, but ended up choosing this instead. I still have a ways to go, so there's plenty of opportunity for me to mess around with the Fasha/Salidar/Maxthane problem, and many different routes I could take to get there. Maxthane and The Shade will have a lot to do with book 3. Hopefully you guys will last through the prequel. I appreciate all the speculation. One question is, does Styx even know that Grim is inside of that pillar? The only people we know for sure witnessed it were Prism and Neredos. Anyone else might've just assumed that Grim made it out safely. I really like your thought process on how things will happen with The Shade. I absolutely agree with you that the lack of Prism makes the heroes' job all that much harder. If he had managed to stay alive to help them, they would be in a much better position. But on the other hand, as you have alluded to, it has impacted Styx in a way that has charged him with responsibility and duty, allowing him to lead the charge. I think you will find Grim as complex as ever. This. Indeed! And we may learn more about what he believed in book 2! Oh, I think Fasha would have the good sense to stay as far away from Johnny Storm is possible. Of course, you might be able to catch him. :-) I'm glad you like the badness of the antagonist. Makes me think I'm doing something right. I was too much help just yet. There is magic in this world, after all.

Book 2 will begin posting sometime next week! Either Wednesday or Saturday. Thanks for joining me!

"The plan shouldn't have failed. Everything was in its proper place! How could it fall apart like that?" Fasha glared at the woman on the other side of the fluidic barrier. Veil was some distance away, but through the devices that each of them had, they could communicate as if they stood face to face. "What?" She replied, keeping her expression composed as she looked back at him. "Are you angry with me? I don't see how you could be. I did everything you asked of me." "You're not angr

Chapter 26 (the epilogue) will post either late today or early tomorrow. I'll be out all day, so I'll hopefully get to comments, soon.