Well, that's a wrap.

Road of Chaos was exhausting to write and even more exhausting to edit. Ironically, the story was initially envisioned as a short, breather episode. The original plan was for William to travel to the Tournament of Kings. He'd have some side adventures and fight some bandits. The character of Jehair was introduced as a guide with no special plan for her. I began to write the Kata and Sokar arc in Ascon.

Instead, what I got was a continent-spanning conspiracy by organized crime. That combined with a corrupt church. See, the problem was that the villains had to stay relevant somehow. And William's journey was taking him across half a continent, from Artarq to Gel Carn. Over such a distance, the criminal groups mentioned in Dark Dreamer had to be very powerful. Arkan Lantan, Tavish, and Lamech were then introduced as antagonists.

This book's true home is on another platform. Check it out there for the real experience.

However, as I wrote, I realized that Jehair knew everyone and was well-liked by everyone. And since she is not stupid, I realized she had to have a hand in everything. This led to the elven conspiracy in Blackfear and also the introduction of Saphra.

All in all, this is one of the longest books I have ever written. It has also been fairly popular, thankfully. Tomorrow, we'll begin the next book in Relma's story. The Tournament of Kings. We'll finally see the tournament William spent all this time trying to get to. It should be much lighter-hearted.