Cynus

@drpaladin, @Geoffrey257, - Thank you both for the discussion. I love the way you guys are dissecting this, and I appreciate all of your observations and the ways that you have brought different perspectives. In many ways, different perspectives are at the heart of this story, and I love seeing it in action. The questions you ask are also great, and there will be answers forthcoming to many of them (And by the time I commented, some of those answers may even already be there). I look forward to seeing more of your thoughts as the story progresses, and you get more information. Thank you for your contributions to this endeavor, because it's really the highlight of my experience as an author to see how invested my readers become. I'm sorry it took so long to get to these replies, but I'll try to do better at it in the future. :-) @flyboi - Just you wait. There's even more intensity to come. Thank you for the comments.

Grim walked through the streets of Pentalus with as much ease as he had ever walked the streets of Ultaka. Despite having never lived in the former, for more than a few months at a time, he had visited it often enough over the past eight centuries to know it just as well as the city of his birth. Now his mind raced back through conversations held over the past few years with an unusually well-mannered bounty hunter, to find a specific building. He hadn't expected he would ever have a need to

Every time a demon died, Neredos felt a tiny bit more mortal. Even though he was still in the process of killing the minor ones, each one fed him to a small extent. The lesser demons were nothing compared to the demon generals, of course, but they all had a connection to life force. They were all magic incarnate. Over the centuries, his mind had often wandered down inquisitive paths. He had been at the demon gate, had helped close it to prevent more of the horrible creatures from spilling ou

Lord Hount stood at the top of Pentalus' southern garrison, a spyglass to his eye as he surveyed as much of the city as he could from this vantage point. He considered flying up with one of the eagles to get a better look at the battlefield ahead, but the eagles were all needed for the assault on the Everbright City. He would have to make do with his observations from here and whatever General Jurin's scouts brought back to him. He'd received serval reports from the armies to the north and e

Styx had never seen such a strange place. The chamber Neredos led him to was lined with an unfamiliar, light-blue metal. Etched runes covered nearly every inch of the paneling, and they glowed in a soft yellow light. In the center of the room was a large black sphere, its surface polished and reflective. It hovered in the air, suspended over a pedestal. Glowing veins of blue ran off from the pedestal in six directions toward the wall. "Don't touch anything," Neredos warned as he approached t

For the first time in eight hundred years, Neredos was dying. It was slow, like the erosion of a mountain, but he could feel the difference. The moment Ibrix died, his life force leaving this plane entirely, Neredos fully embraced the inevitable. He had been right to order the evacuation of the Everbright City. But he still could not tell the people of his plans—not the Knights, and surely not the nobles. Not one of them would understand, and surely none of them would obey his orders if he t

@shyboy85 - You're very welcome! Thank you for the comments and analysis, and I really appreciate the way you're thinking about the actions of the story and how they might resolve. The person in the sword is Marhys Elrhanadan, who was first introduced in Clouded Purity. She is half Gor half human, and was Kaeral Elrhanadan's wife. Her soul was forged into the sword by Ibrix at Ghayle's command prior to the release of the demons. She was told that she would be allowed to protect her bloodline until the end of The Trial. @dktc - That is an excellent question. Who do you hope reaches him first? And thank you for answering the question about the sword. :-) @drpaladin - Thank you for providing additional information about the sword. I also appreciate your analysis of the situation with Grim and Bradeth, and I think you'll enjoy the resolution. There's a lot going on right now, and I'm amazed you've been able to keep track of it all. :-) @Geoffrey257 - Thank you as well for providing additional information about the sword :). Excellent observation about the situation with Bradeth and Grim, and I'm excited to see your perspective on what happens there.I love the discussion on Grim and Veil's healing ability as well.

The intricate levels of the situation between Styx and Max and their parentage was one of my favorite things to work on in the story. Hopefully it results in a way that you will continue to find interesting. Those are excellent questions, and I look forward to you getting answers. Trust me, there's plenty more to come on Styx and Max. :-) Your questions about Neredos are particularly intriguing to me, and I think it just shows that I didn't think it through any more than Veil did. Maybe we were both desperate? I really like your analysis right here. Styx is definitely a smart boy. But sometimes we are blind to simple truths if they affect those near us. I love your analysis. I look forward to your reaction to what happens.

Maxthane is definitely not a killer, that's for sure. But he is smart, and he's learning how to make tough choices. How many more will he face? I suppose we'll see. :-) I do admit that part of the reason why Madame Godani showed up in this scene is just because I wanted to show her off. She hasn't really had a chance to show her fighting side, and why she has earned the right to be at the height of her guild. I'm eager to see the reaction to what happens with Krythe in the future. I think it will be a good one. Oh no! Don't do that. If you disintegrate, you won't be able to finish the story!

Prism paced around the small circle of stones at the edge of the forest clearing. Telzath eyed him curiously, but Prism tried to ignore him. It was as if the Elrok was completely at peace with all this business of being 'Chosen'. Of course, he wasn't the same as Prism. Telzath wasn't 'the First' as Ghayle called him. He didn't want such a responsibility, but, as usual, he also knew it was his to accept. in his past few decades of life, whenever a new task had come his way, he hadn't tried to

The Shadow King's palatial complex spread out beneath Bradeth as she clung to the cavern wall. The climb had been simple, though she would have preferred a different approach. Usually teleportation could get her anywhere she wished, but not this time. Parril had arrived from Port Salmus shortly before she embarked on this mission, bringing the leather teleportation mat as well, but that wasn't the problem. No matter how she scouted the complex, there was no good place to set up the mat that

Styx heard Drake approach but didn't look up. He kept staring across the chamber to where he'd arranged sixteen bodies in a row. Sixteen, including Rega and Dogo, Rega's twelve men, and the twins. It had taken him all day to get the bodies all in one spot, but he had felt it necessary. Eventually he would make it back, and then send any who wanted to claim those bodies into this bright chamber of death. Eventually—if he lived long enough. His body ached in ways he didn't understand, and some

Excellent questions as always, and I love seeing you thinking. We are ramping up now toward the end of everything, or are we? Either way, it's time to bring it all together. What is really in store for the pages ahead? That is an interesting observation about all of the female protectors. I honestly hadn't thought of it that way, but it happened on accident. I wonder what subconscious drive urged me to do that? Oh, and the games will hopefully be a sight to behold as well.

Kirra and Bradeth materialized over the buried piece of leather near the entrance to The Shade. As soon as the teleportation was complete, Kirra backed away from the Elrok, growling in annoyance and clutching at his bleeding ear. "Really?" He spat in annoyance. "Did you have to bite me there?" Before Bradeth could answer, a deeper voice than hers rumbled across the rocks in the Elrok tongue. "Bradeth, who is that?" Bradeth and Kirra spun together to face Gobrak, who stood with his bo

None of these poor fellows except for Styx had ever faced a demon before, and they were unprepared for the viciousness, that's for sure. Veil is a complicated character, so it's wise to wonder what her motives will be. I'm glad you liked it! There's definitely a lot of different ways this could still go. Good points all around. Also some great points.

Ghayle released the vision of the present and turned to Prism, her eyes inquisitive. "Shall I bring him here?" she asked calmly. Prism started, turning to Telzath in confusion before returning his gaze to Ghayle. "What?" "Dogo," Ghayle replied. Prism raised a questioning eyebrow and she continued. "He gave his life fighting a demon and went out of his way to do it. What say the both of you?" "We have the ability to determine who the Chosen will be?" Prism asked skeptically. Inst

And I finally posted it. I'm sorry about the delay; I was so exhausted when I got up this morning that I forgot to post it. All my boys are growing up though. I'm so proud of them! To have left it as one chapter would've meant posting a monstrously huge chapter. Hope the wait wasn't too awful. Thank you! I'm always glad when the prose itself has an impact. I often feel like my writing is rather weak in that regard, so this made me smile.

Dogo couldn't help but grin when he saw his son careening toward the demon. He trusted Styx not to get himself killed, though a small pang of worry still attached itself to Dogo's outward calm. The joy at seeing Styx fly, however, overcame any apprehension. Shortly after Dogo's release from Salidar, after earning his freedom as a gladiator, he had visited the Inkblade Guildhall only to find that Styx had already left the guild. Fau Shae Godani hadn't been eager to tell him why, as the memory

@drpaladin - Normally I do prefer to jump around, but this time around I was having a few too many cliffhangers, I think. Just like with the demon fight involving Kirra and Bradeth, I didn't want to leave it for so long that you forgot what happened in the previous chapter. I'm trying to resolve every short arc along the process of getting to the end. Hopefully that will make for an even more interesting experience. I love the questions about Maxthane's ability to use the pillars the same way as Neredos. I'm excited to see your reaction to some of the future things in the story. Veil's a little mad herself, in a very different way. Their world is falling apart around them, so what will it take to push it over the edge? @Sweetlion - That is a very wonderful observation. I absolutely love it. I think you're going to like the way that things turn out, though of course I can't tell you if you are close to the mark or not. @Geoffrey257 - I definitely wanted to resolve the cliffhangers a little bit more frequently in this. I know I have a habit of torturing my readers that way, heh. A funny thing about this segment of the story, actually, is that I had no idea Maxthane was going to do this (the whole sealing Fasha in a pillar thing). I just ran with it as soon as the idea came, and I think the story ended up better as a result. I definitely can't say I disagree about Veil. Not the best move. Thank you all for commenting!

@Sweetlion - I'm so happy to see you here, my friend! And yes, this is potentially world-changing. The real question is, how will it change the outcome? Will Kirra and Maxthane have a chance to give that information to each other before it all falls apart? Thank you so much for commenting! I'm glad to have you here!

The ascent proved more taxing than Styx had expected. Dogo had not exaggerated about the inconvenience of the passage, and at times it became so narrow that each movement upward required as much flexibility as strength. He didn't know how some of the soldiers managed it with their thick leathers and broader shoulders, but eventually they all reached the top of the chute. What awaited them was a sight Styx could not have prepared himself for. The chamber was covered in Tygali, a form of bio-l

He had done it. Maxthane had imprisoned Fasha, and now he could . . . "Now what?" he thought, staring at the pillar of grey fog in the center of his room. He could feel Fasha's presence inside. Since he'd been the one to perform the ritual, Fasha was connected to him. With a thought, he could kill Fasha if he wanted, but did he want to? Having Fasha as his hostage wouldn't earn him any loyalty with the soldiers. They didn't even know Fasha's real identity. They all thought . . . They thought

Due to the bounty of comments, I'm just going to tag you all as I respond instead of quoting each one because I think that will look a little neater in the end. Thank you guys so much for the discussion, by the way! That was extremely fun to read through! @drpaladin - I love that you mentioned Neredos and his dreams. Writing Neredos and his existential hell was one of the places where I felt most connected to the story as I was writing it, so I hope as we revisit him throughout the story that it'll continue to be interesting. @jt15136 - Thank you for reading and loving the story! I try to have frequent updates with all the stories I write, which is why I prefer to finish my novels before I post them. There's a lot less headache that way. @flyboi - Oh yes, there is plenty in store, don't you worry. And Max has become sort of a badass, hasn't he? Remember when he used to be all timid about challenging authority? It seems he has arrived. @drpaladin, @Geoffrey257, @shyboy85, @flyboi - I absolutely love this discussion that you guys had. This totally just made my day, and you guys are welcome to do this on any chapters you'd like. I'm not going to say too much about the mechanics at this point, other than to confirm that there is definitely a bit of complexity to the situation. Once we return to Max and you know where he goes from here, I think I could discuss the finer points a little bit better then. I appreciate all the observations that you all made. I love that you're questioning the particulars of the magic, almost like you're thinking like a mage in the story world trying to decide if you can use a certain spell to accomplish something. It's awesome. I love all the observations about the potential social/political ramifications of this action. I love how you're all reading deeply into this. I love the question of Rega's potential reaction, and what that will mean. I love the attention you've all given to the details! Thank you!

I think the Bradeth and Kirra dynamic worked better than I thought it would. I've noticed that I tend to have Kirra gravitate toward strong female characters. Without Alsha to lead him, he bonded naturally to Bradeth as soon as she was in his life. This scene in particular was one of my favorites to write, since I was able to play multiple angles of that connection. I appreciate all of your comments, so thank you for giving me them. We're going to get into Ghayle a lot more in book 4, so I'm going to try to avoid giving too many spoilers. but yes, as a Fletcher, Bradeth is near the top of Elrok society. Since they are a very spiritual people, they do have a greater connection to the land and the forces that shape it than most people do. Like I said, I appreciate all of your comments. That's what I like to hear! Sweet!!!

Neredos paced his chambers in a fitful rage. He wanted to sleep, oh how he wanted to sleep! Never in the eight centuries since he had last rested had he wanted it more than now. He had thought all his friends dead—long dead, except for Veil, of course. And now his actions had led to Prism's death and Grim's imprisonment. Somewhere in the back of his mind he'd known that Grim was still alive, but he'd all but forgotten. And yet, he hadn't given a second thought as Grim battled Ibrix. Neredos