Hello again! Toshinori here. It’s been quite a while since I last appeared in a chapter in my own right. This intermission chapter contains quite a lot of valuable information, so I would appreciate it if you could read it in full.
With the momentous conclusion of Elwin’s first year at Aeternitas, and the decision of the kismets to continue the legacy of the Encarnacion, Book 1 of Aeternitas finally draws to a close. With the completion of Book 1, I wanted to take the time to thank you sincerely for your readership. It’s been a truly great and exciting journey, and one which I was proud to partake with such admirable and excellent readers.
It's a bit hard not to shed some tears to say the least, looking back at how far we’ve come together. Since December 9th, 2023, we have collectively contributed to 195,000 views together on Aeternitas; 92 of you rated the book, 10 have published glowing reviews, and 249 of you favorited Aeternitas on Royalroad, for which I am enormously grateful. We now have a community of 1,395 people to call our own: together, we could fill 7 whole cinema auditoriums, or pack an entire opera house. And since December 9th, I serialized over 285,000 words spanning some 130 individual chapters, numbering nearly 1,030 pages, putting into motion the origin of Elwin’s saga; none of this would have been possible without your inspiration and motivations. Thank you once again for sticking by Elwin, the kismets, and the professors of Aeternitas. They appreciate your witness too.
Now, I know you may be asking: is this a farewell?
And the answer is: No, not at all. Because if you thought this is the end, you’d be delighted to hear that Aeternitas will continue serializing for years to come!
With this, I wanted to announce that Book 2 of Aeternitas will begin serializing here in the same spot – on this same fiction page – on April 21st 2024 (2 months from now). Join Elwin in his second year and beyond as he seizes his mantle and future as the new successor to the Encarnacion, savior of all worlds, and makes headway with his kismets and new allies as a Viatira at Aeternitas and chooses his own House. Trace his steps and his sojourns across the Republics and the shining world over the oceans of kings and the mountains of man, discovering the secrets behind the Epitomic Forms of a promised neverland, and reforge them to wrest the very quills that write their cosmos.
Witness and bask in action, mystery, intrigue, and adventure, following the battles between the allies of Aeternitas against other schools, their unity with and against forces human, eldritch, and Aeteriite, waging a new crusade against Mahanai and his divine servants to stop them from plunging the world into absolute tenebris. Through triumph and tribulation an Epic of glory and eternity shall take shape; tested like gold in fire, Elwin shall manifest the meaning of his name to become a colossus never before seen, the Epitomic Forms a herald to a new luminous eon.
Join him. Join his journey spanning years towards the visage of a new mankind and a world full of the dauntless brave. Bookmark this chapter, this very page; be the first to know when Book 2 releases 2 months from now.
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Yet of course, unfolding the gravity of this Epic is not an endeavor that spans mere months. It deserves many years. After a substantial deliberation involving research and calculation from December 2023 to the present, I have decided to unfold the World of Aeternitas across multiple seasons, much like one would do for a TV show. This means that the series will unfold over many years, and there will be scheduled pauses between one book and the next. These pauses are meant to ensure sufficient time for me to research, organize, write, and edit, thus preserving a sustained level of quality and exciting content, as well as illustrate eye-popping art and produce multimedia works for Aeternitas that you can also enjoy online.
Why did I opt for this? One factor is that I’ve personally observed many series on webnovel platforms fall prey to aimless wandering over time due to the need to fulfill the ‘must publish everyday forever’ adage, giving the author little or no time to plan ahead with the big picture in mind. Not only does this reduce the quality of the content as time goes by, it is also merciless to the health of the author if they are unable to write as their full and only career; they also have families who they should care and love for. Burnout is a tale too common, and I intend to avoid that.
This story is posted elsewhere by the author. Help them out by reading the authentic version.
Ensuring a quality story require time like fine wine, and I intend to share it with you here into the future. Aeternitas was envisioned as a traditional fantasy from its beginnings in 2018, and I will be happy to have you witness the quality story, great characters, fantastic battles, and expansive worldbuilding that will continue to get better. Think of Aeternitas as a series that you can always return to, thanks to its long-run nature; I would be happy if you would regard it as a comfy home on the internet, making progress steadily over the months and years.
On that note, you may have observed that the story and plot of Book 1 unfolded over a multitude of arcs. Future books will feature multiple arcs as well, with each arc unfolding over a multitude of chapters.
Regarding some of the very early feedback in Elwin's arc, I would like to express my perspective on it now that Book 1 is finished. I know that some of my day-one readers pointed out it was heartbreaking and challenging to read Elwin’s situation getting worse with each chapter during the serialization of Elwin’s initial tribulations at Aeternitas. But it all resolved in the end, with his rise so meteoric and radiant that everyone was almost blinded by it; it also gave him the physical, mental, and moral foundations to claim the rightful position of the new successor to the Encarnacion. Would Elwin be worthy to take on a mantle greater than anything in the world, had he been gifted everything on a silver platter from the get-go, and faced challenges that were so easy to overcome? Likely not, you would agree. Great triumphs need great challenges, and the greatest growth is achieved when the soul hits its lowest point. And seeing the characters rise out of it, to grasp the ultimate light of their own making, is cathartic to the point that it strikes the primal soul within each of us; for through their light and overcoming, we see a glimpse of the impossible that was denied to us in our waking lives, to all human lives: the achievement of meaning, and the conquest of death and oblivion.
There is no fire without shadow, and no light without dark. For Elwin, it’s the same, and it’s been the same for every epic hero of history and fiction. From Gilgamesh, the King of Heroes, whose best friend was struck down by the gods and the elixir of immortality which he obtained at great cost stolen by a snake, to Aang of the Last Airbender, haunted by survivor’s guilt and past relinquishment of responsibilities as the Avatar that punished him by taking away everyone he once loved, no hero exists without sorrow. And yet, they transcend. For that, they become worthy of their name, and become spoken for millenniums after their time. My mission as an author is to distill this idea of eternity, and embody it in the characters I write; and with their rise, herald the Myth of Forever.
So if in the future you feel disheartened by the tribulations of our heroes in Aeternitas, do not fear the dark or that it seems without end; for the dawn blooms a new tomorrow.
With the above, my message to you draws to a close. If you have enjoyed Aeternitas, shared in the joys and triumphs of its characters, but have not rated or reviewed up to this point: may I ask you to do it now? I will be very grateful.
And as we await the release of Book 2, I’d like to extend a warm welcome to our Discord channel as well. It’s the best place to hang out with other readers of Aeternitas, and get fresh news and sneak peeks of upcoming chapters in Book 2. I also post my illustrations and art there as well. I sincerely hope you will join us!
MAIOR FORTIOR!
And the ziggurat must grow,
Toshinori Heiichi
CLOSING
Book I
The Shores of Destiny
“IGNITE THE COURAGE OF THOSE ELEVEN MILLENNIA PAST,
MUSTER IN YOUR HEART THE LOVE OF ALL WHO WISH FREE,
FREE FROM THE TYRANNY OF THE WILD AND OF NIGHT!
UNLEASH, UNCHAIN, THE DANCE OF YOUR HEART,
ABLAZE, ENKINDLE, THE BLOOD OF YOUR VEINS,
RESOUND OUR VISION UPON THE TAPESTRY OF TIME,
SAY TO THOSE THAT WATCH: WE ARE FOREVER!
CHAMPION THUS HEWN FROM THE RAY OF THAT FLAME,
MAY YOUR RISE BE A DAYBREAK TO US ALL,
A DAYBREAK OF A SUN THAT NEVER SETS.”
—The Chant of House Sunna
image [https://i.imgur.com/a6mx9Dp.png]