As the note on the first chapter said, I'm not planning to continue this series as is, though it's possible I'll do a reboot at some point. I actually rewrote quite a lot of the ending in order to tie off more loose ends than the original version did and make it feel more satisfying as a standalone book, but I couldn't include everything. So here are some notes on what I was planning for the rest of the series, for anyone who's curious.

THE REST OF THE STORY...

I only had a loose outline for the rest of the series, but I had in mind that there would be a total of four books.

BOOK TWO

This was going to be centered around Erin's experiences attending Zeiryn after she graduates from high school. So basically a magic academy story.

The main storyline was going to be Erin and friends discovering and foiling some kind of plot by Noquana, but it was also going to deal with a lot of the interracial tensions present in Silmarith society.

Erin faces some prejudice from her classmates just because she's human, but it gets much worse when they find out that she's friends with a Relian. Kirchel doesn't have it quite as bad, but she has a lot of issues to deal with as a half human/half Nirayl empress. And almost everyone hates Jechrin, but he doesn't care that much (getting bullied by magic students doesn't seem like a big deal after centuries of getting eaten by Dark Plane magic...), so the anti-Relian prejudice affects the people around him more than it does him.

BOOK THREE

We learn than Noquana is actually being supported by the government of Myrikar as a way to infiltrate and destabilize Silmar, so the fight against them starts heading toward an all-out war.

Erin has graduated from Zeiryn and has gone on to do more advanced magic studies at another school (the marks that a few people—Legan, Kimoja, the Queen of Zerahar—have on their faces in chapter 23 is a sign that they're graduates of this advanced school). While she's there, Jechrin is cooperating with Arturyn on investigating Noquana and Myrikar and is seemingly killed by a group of Noquana agents.

The adopted Silver clan members (Erin, Arturyn, Seiyan) know that it was just his puppet body, but their connection to him seems to break off at the same time, which makes them worry that he really is dead. But Erin refuses to believe it and is determined to find and help him.

She eventually finds a way to access the Dark Plane and discovers that Jechrin is still alive, but only barely. As a result of using the Dark Plane's magic to extend his lifespan, his original body was gradually eaten away, and he's currently existing as a spirit-type thing. But his defenses against the magic are still being gradually worn down, and he's actually been close to dying for quite a while. The puppet body was a sort of last-ditch attempt to find a way to escape.

Erin and Jechrin work together and eventually get Jechrin free. Kimoja is able to heal the puppet body, and Jechrin is able to fuse with it. So he finally gets to be a real, physical person again, which also allows him to regain his original magic abilities.

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(And if you've been reading my other story and think the spirit-thing using a puppet body sounds an awful lot like a certain little dragon skeleton...yes. It is. Jechrin was the inspiration for revenants. He's not really into puns, though....)

BOOK FOUR

This was basically going to be the final battle between Jechrin and Lanien. We get to learn about all the horrible things Lanien has been doing, like sacrificing people in bloody rituals to generate enough magic power to keep himself alive.

We also find out that the Mataith were originally a vassal state of Myrikar, but when Lanien took over, they refused to acknowledge him as king, so he put a curse on the entire species. That's why they can't touch water. They actually used to be an amphibious, sea-faring people, and he deliberately took away the thing that was most important to them.

Now they have to drink blood to survive because they can't drink water, which is why they started keeping slaves. Being in a state of perpetual dehydration also changed their physique and made them much more aggressive (inspired by the tigers of the Sundarbans, in case anyone cares...).

Jechrin knows all this, of course, which is why he acted sympathetic toward the Mataith back in chapter 25. And, being the real king, he's able to undo the curse and recruit the Mataith to help out in the war against Myrikar.

So, the whole thing ends in some kind of big, dramatic battle where Lanien is killed and Jechrin is able to reclaim his throne. (Probably.... I was toying with the idea of Jechrin also getting killed or retiring and passing the throne on to someone else. But most likely he was going to get to be king again, at least until Myrikar and Matathar are stable again.)

AND THE QUESTION I'M SURE EVERYONE REALLY WANTS TO ASK...

Do Erin and Jechrin get together by the end of the story?

Honestly....

...I don't know.

Originally, no. I was planning for him to be more of an older brother/uncle/mentor figure to her. More like Arturyn is.

But when I started writing the scenes where they interact with each other, they developed more of a 'potential romance' vibe. So I started considering the possibility and tentatively planning for their relationship to take a more romantic turn in book three, after Erin is a full adult and Jechrin has a real body again.

But...it's still a little weird that when they first meet, he's over a thousand years old, and she's only fourteen....

Ultimately, this was one of the main reasons I gave up on finishing the series. I decided that if I wanted a romance, I really ought to rewrite things so that Erin is older when she meets Jechrin. And if I'm going to change that, I really ought to change some of the other things that were bothering me about the story. Such as the fact that there's really no reason for it to be a portal fantasy, since Erin spends most of the story in Isil-Gal anyway, and her being from Earth never has a major impact on anything.

So...yeah. I eventually gave up and decided the whole thing really needed a reboot if I wanted it to reach its full potential. And before I could do that....

...I developed ME/CFS and completely stopped writing for...like...fifteen years....

Now that I've finally started again, I've sort of moved on to other things (like cute little dragons!). But it was nagging at me that my poor, abandoned first story had never quite gotten finished enough to see the light of day.

So now it has.