Thank you once again for walking this long, strange road with me. I owe you all an apology for the delay in posting the next chapter. Truthfully, I’ve been struggling to guide Asil’s journey the way it deserves. I know the destinations, Point A, B, C, and D, but connecting those points in a way that honors her growth, her heart, and her grit has proven more difficult than expected.
In complete transparency, I may have rushed the last chapter in an effort to keep up with release expectations. But as I re-read her scenes, I realize Asil deserves more. Her journey is just as vital to the fabric of this story as Jack’s. She’s not a side arc. She’s not filler. She’s a force and deserves to be a force on the page.
So I’m taking a few extra days to realign her story with the quality and nuance I expect of myself, and that you deserve as readers. I aim to release the next chapter this Thursday, and I truly believe it’ll be worth the wait.
In the meantime, I thought I’d share a short excerpt from an old in-world tome, Whispers Before the Silence: A Chronicle of the Lost Halls, a surviving record from Aerothane’s golden age, prior to the Great Disconnect. It’s a passage that feels relevant to Asil’s moment, and perhaps, to mine as well:
A case of literary theft: this tale is not rightfully on Amazon; if you see it, report the violation.
From Whispers Before the Silence, Vol. II
"They say the Seer Khael wandered the blackened valley for six nights, blindfolded and burdened, his staff broken and his Sight dimmed. The winds mocked him with voices not his own, and every path led back to where he began. On the seventh night, kneeling in despair beside the Ashpool, he carved these words into the bark of the Pale Tree:
‘When you do not know the road, become the road. When you cannot hear the stars, hum your own song. The world will answer in time.’
It was said that, after that, he stood, not guided by vision, nor prophecy, but by stubborn fire alone. He walked forward, and the forest parted. Not because he had found the way, but because he decided to walk it anyway."
I feel a bit like Khael right now, squinting through fog, waiting for the road to respond. But make no mistake: I’m still walking.
Thanks again for your patience, your support, and your readership. If you're reading this, know that you’re part of something bigger than just a story. You’re part of the long game.
Yours in story and storm,
Jason the Magnificent