Wow. It has been a journey to get here.
I started this tale in May 2023. Over the months that followed, it seems like everything that could have happened did happen. I broke two (wisdom) teeth (don’t ask me how), I got two ear infections that rendered me deaf for a week (it was as terrifying as you might imagine), and I was hit by my fair share of writer’s block. But it wasn’t all bad, either. I attended the wedding of a close friend, made great strides in my 9-5 job, and oh would you look at that, the follower count of this story jumped from 10ish to nearly 50. Wait, what?
Yeah, I’m talkin’ `bout you lot out there. Where the heck did y’all come from? Not that I’m complaining, but seriously, that number just seemed to spike one day and I don’t know how it happened. Similarly, those of you that have graced me with the favoriting of this story increased in population from 2 to 10. You’re gonna make me blush, thank you. I’d love to hear what some of you have to say about this tale so far; what you like, what you don’t like, etc. Where you think (or hope) it’s going. What you want more or less of. And as an arbitrary quantification of these metrics, the ranking of this story jumped from the lower 22,000s all the way up (down?) to the low 7,000s. Wow! I was hoping to break 10k by the end of the story, but we utterly smashed through that goal. I suppose now we can shoot to be among the top 5k stories on Royal Road, howsoever that ranking might be defined?
***
Apocrypha, as a word, refers to text and scripture whose authenticity cannot be trusted. And for the many things I struggled with in writing this Volume, I must admit to myself, this theme of truth and lies works brilliantly for the story. The lies of the Inquisition and of Callant Blackgar’s background are revealed to us for what they are. Valeran Mortoc’s truths are shown, and whether they are veritable or not depends on who you ask. Truth and fact in Warhammer 40,000 are not objectively defined, and so many of our cast of characters rely on faith to steer them right. This makes true truths, when they are known as such, all the more impactful.
In any event, as we near what is the halfway point for my original intent for this tale, we find ourselves already well beyond all the other 40k fanfics on this site in terms of size; Cronos has reached a higher page/word/chapter count than its peers sitewide. And we look ahead to more than double these stats in the future, so here’s to you, those of you in the here and now. Thanks for being here. I hope to see you at the inevitable end, that we might all enjoy the journey together.
This content has been misappropriated from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.
Speaking of the inevitable end, the fourth volume of this story fast approaches. While I do want to stay tight-lipped about most of it, I can promise you some things that should at least be obvious. Tragedy. Anguish. Loss. Grim Darkness that tries the wills of men. More specifically, those of you who are familiar with the 40k setting no doubt know what happens to the galaxy in 999.M41, as Mirena and Callant conclude their vacation together. The Noctis Aeterna looms ahead, with the Era Indomitus some distance beyond. A great Darkness lies in wait of Callant Blackgar’s 9th and Final.
Such is the story I intend to tell in Volume Four: Annihilation.
Accompanying Annihilation is a new cover image for this story. Part of the stipulations for creating fan content for a Games Workshop product, particularly fan literature, involves including the word ‘unofficial’ on the cover of such literature. Well, I have not done that for some months now. I hope no one will tell GeeDubs. Unfortunately, I am not the most artistically gifted, so making something that works with what I intend for Cronos is not so easy for me. AI helps some, but most AI works are character-driven, and I put my foot down on showing my characters on the covers of my works. (Because I prefer readers to create their own imagery of those characters, that they might associate and relate with them more intimately.) So, if you’ll have some patience with me, allow me to present the following for your judgment:
[https://www.dropbox.com/scl/fi/d8un85c2gyrg68m6dp5ei/Cronos-Cover-New.png?rlkey=6gvqr65jdgauzlkrfb6yi0no4&dl=0][https://www.dropbox.com/scl/fi/d8un85c2gyrg68m6dp5ei/Cronos-Cover-New.png?rlkey=6gvqr65jdgauzlkrfb6yi0no4&dl=1]
It's no Mona Lisa, I think we can agree on that.
But for this Inquisitorial story that I mean to tell, such as it involves a certain minor Chaos-deity that has been well-hinted at in Apocrypha, and such as it involves the machinations of the Red, Blue, Green, and Purple, I think this cover does pretty well. It’s subject to change, as well. I would be remiss, however, if I did not mention that my cover was a point of contention among the occasional review swap I have done. (Though, I’ll note, I never did wind up with any reviews landing on my fiction page. Harumph. I hope I’m not becoming too jaded, here.) But of the review ‘swaps’ I’ve done, all have recommended I get something that catches a reader’s…or, rather, a ‘browser’s’ eye better. Here’s hoping this’ll do the trick.
In any event, onward to Annihilation. Onward to Darkness. Onward to the inevitable end.
* Ceno