Why The Long Face

Firstly, I appologise if the chapter ping got anyones hopes up but I felt it was worthwhile to disclose the status of the novel.

Reasons

As you may have guessed, I have stopped writing this novel, my main concern with the novel was that I was getting increasingly demotivated with writing each chapter. There are several reasons for this:

1. The direction that events were heading in was progressing further toward traditional fantasy novels and a direction that I didn't desire. This was mostly due to the lack of planning, (which doesn't have to be a bad thing) but I found that without enough planning I would lose control over where things in the story head as I wanted to keep things realistic.

2. I learnt plenty as I wrote and found that the quality changes meant each prior chapter needed further editing to the point that it would be easier to rewrite the chapter. Rewritting meant justifying changes and ensuring everything synced up properly and was just more work than it was worth - not to mention that rewriting (when to a large degree) meant readers would have to go back and re-read chapters which would just get confusing.

3. Other small things best left unnamed like character reactions, thoughts and backstories insufficiently developed.

Appologies (With a Catch)

I would also like to apologise for the hiatus to everyone who was invested in the story. I understand the time commitment means I've effectively wasted hundreds of peoples hours of time spent reading to end like this which is pretty shitty - but these things do happen and hopefully the reading has been entertaining enough to make it worthwhile. Plus if it makes you feel better, each chapter would take me plenty of hours too.

The Catch (...and maybe some good news)

I do plan to come back to royal road. This was really my first committed time trying my hand at writing and at ~40,000 words I think I did pretty decent. But back to the part you care about. Sometime in the future, I plan on coming back to royalroad, within two months to a year you'll see me back at it writing another novel. This new novel will be much more planned out (but not completely - that's boring), and will likely involve many of the elements you have been familiar with while reading this story. All that is to say, if you enjoy my writing and look forward to my next novel you can follow me as an author (on the author page here) to be notified when that new novel is released. New ideas, suggestions and criticism are always welcome in the comments below to ensure that my new novel is the vast improvement I want it to be.

Finally...

Thank you to the ~400 followers, the many unfollowed readers, the ~60 favourites, the ~140 comments, the 54 ratings, the 16 reviews, and ~32000 views. Each of which has contributed to making my first real foray into writing a very rewarding experience. A very big thank you to each one of you. As a parting present, I've added the insofar progress of chapter 19 below (1800 words).

Chapter 19 - (Unfinished Version)

Tal sat behind a small wooden table, facing toward a standing, stern-faced Vangrec. The two looked at each other briefly, neither wishing to encroach on the heavy silence smothering the room.

Finally, it had gotten too much. “Look, what is this about? I promise you, whatever it is you think I’ve done…I-” Tal began.

“You were eager, excited even, and efficient at that,” Vangrec spoke softly. “It was a slaughter.” he finished in a whisper, his brows narrowing accusingly.

Tal remained silent. There was nothing he could say that wouldn’t give away the secret of his condition. His brain raced, trying and failing to think of a way he could talk himself out of the situation.

Vangrec went on, taking confidence in Tal’s silence. He stood up, looming over the boy, “If you want to keep travelling in dwarven company, boy, you better find some words to explain yourself. I won’t be sharing my dinner with a murderer.”

“Of course, I’m not!” Tal shot back indignantly, “It’s just,” he paused for a long second, hanging his head, “I’ve…I’ve got a condition.”

He looked up when no response was forthcoming and then, upon Vangrec's insistent stare, proceeded to give him a shortened version of the story. He skipped over all the details of The Tower - he didn’t know how commonplace such a location was, but he felt the less he revealed about himself, the safer he would be. Instead, he simplified the story, claiming that on his long journey here, he had encountered the creature that had invaded his body.

Vangrec was silent after he finished - and for a moment, Tal thought he might have been in the clear - then his voice erupted, “Bloody hell, boy, you better tell me right now it’s not contagious. You don’t want to know what happened the last time a plague was loose.”

“No! God, it’s not like that. At least, I don’t think so.” he finished lamely. “It’s kind of a new thing. I’m honestly just trying to deal with it as best as I can.”

The dwarf let out a loud humph, “It’s not the first time I’ve heard of something so bizarre. You can start by telling me what you do know. And then, I’ll judge if you’re still fit to stay with us.”

“You can’t send me out alone! There’s no way I’d survive that. Last night was a massacre.” Tal exclaimed.

This text was taken from Royal Road. Help the author by reading the original version there.

“So I should take the chance of allowing whatever sort of sanguine infection you carry to spread to the children? Or result in any further bloodshed within the camp?” Vangrec rebutted, “I don't think so. Now, talk.”

“Okay. Okay. Fine. The damn thing is always there, curled away in the background. I don’t know what it wants, but it’s content for now. Though when it's not… it's like fighting for control of my own body.” Tal finished with a shiver.

“You can’t control it?”

“I black out completely. And when I come back, I can’t remember a thing.”

At that, Vangrec retold what he had seen of Tal from the previous night. Tal couldn’t help feeling relieved. Somehow not knowing all the details had only made his imagination run rampant with what could have happened.

“That’s the first time it has been able to take over. I can stop it, but it’s challenging, like flexing a mental muscle for the first time.”

Vangrec perked up at that, “So you can communicate with it? You can strike some sort of deal with the thing. Considering the precedent set by last night, that might even be helpful.”

“I…could, when it first came onto me. Since then, it has remained fully quiet. But there's some sort of symbiosis. I don’t think it wants to hurt me, not directly anyway.” he finished, suddenly finding the floor much more interesting than the twitchy dwarf before him. ‘God, I couldn’t have made that sound any less convincing if I tried.’

Vangrec stared at Tal, brows drawn down in a considering expression. The creature inside him was plenty dangerous. It wasn’t something he was comfortable being around, much less having the children around. On the other hand, its actions contributed to ensuring the safety of his men. He knew the might of the creature would be instrumental in getting to the castle safely. He also knew that if they could befriend the creature within Tal’s body, they could have a vital asset to help them with their true mission at the castle.

At the lull in the conversation, Tal looked up, meeting Vangrecs eyes once more, “Please. It doesn’t mean harm.” he said, praying that he was correct. When he saw the dwarf wasn’t fully convinced, he continued with a half-truth “Besides, the System gave me a prompt when it happened, something about us coexisting together. It can’t be that bad.”

Vangrec paced back and forth for a few seconds before he looked back at Tal, wearing a tired, exasperated expression, “Let me be clear. I don’t like this. In fact, that's the understatement of the century. So I’m going to be watching you very closely, Tal Cael. You make one step out of line, and I’ll personally throw you out.

Tal stifled a sigh of relief, opening his mouth to thank the dwarf, then, upon reconsidering, stopped himself from saying anything.

“Get out”, Vangrec continued. “You’re dismissed.”

Tal stood, grateful to finally get away, and made quick steps toward the exit of the tent. But before he could leave, the dwarf spoke again.

“I’ll be seeing you tonight and every night after. If control is what you need for this thing. Control is what I’ll teach.”

“Yes, Sir”, Tal replied as appeasingly as he could before scuttling through the tent's flaps and into the much less oppressive atmosphere outside.

His body sagged with the release of built-up stress he hadn’t been aware of as he plodded back toward his caravan. The meeting had made one thing crystal clear; he needed to get the thing inside him under control.

Sunlight illuminated his skin, and for a moment, he closed his eyes, simply breathing in the day's air and seeking to find some sense of calm in the wreck his life had become.

It didn’t take long for the moment to be ruined. The events from the night before had left the campsite in shambles. Dwarves were running about carrying all sorts of equipment from carriage to carriage, most of them packing away and clearing the campsite.

“Faster people! Faster! We have a schedule to catch up to.” Draenor boomed from amongst the clatter.

Tal sighed and got to work, striding into the crowd and asking what he could do to help. He figured a bit of goodwill could go a long way, especially with the tension of recent events.

A mere hour later and the campsite was all bundled up, each caravan unfurling to form a single continuous line in the long procession. The wounded, despite many complaints, were transferred as best as possible into each of their respective living areas, and finally, they were ready to continue their journey.

Tal jogged back to his caravan, swinging open the door. It had been far too long since he had had any sort of conversation with his sword friend, who listened with almost bursting excitement as Tal explained everything that had happened.

But when Tal finished, his mood was a sharp contrast to that of his friend. “Are you not worried? We have no idea what this thing wants!”

“Shhh, keep your voice down. Saying that sort of thing will only get you in more trouble. Besides…I have a plan.”

Tal gestured impatiently for the sword to go on.

“There are a few things I picked up over my time in The Tower. Enough to know that soul binding goes both ways. This creature influences you, but you can also influence it. And luckily enough for you…I happen to be awesome enough to have possibly found out a way to exert that influence.”

“Thank god! And then I can finally be rid of the thing. What do I need?”

“Ah well…I’m not so sure about getting rid of the Null, but,” the sword paused, “let's just focus on the present for now. Besides, you don’t need a thing, so to speak, but rather a skill or set of skills. Do you remember when I mentioned to you about your Soul Space?”

Tal thought for a moment, “Right, when we first came through the portal out of The Tower. You said there was something wrong with mine?”

“Not wrong with it, but in it. Each of my wielders has only ever had one binding; to me. Yet, this binding you have with this Null creature is far different from anything I would expect. But the first thing you need to learn is how to see this space within yourself.”

‘Well, at least this trip gives us plenty of time for experimenting.’ he thought to himself before replying to the sword, “Great!” he exclaimed, a spark of hope igniting in his chest, “You’ve been perfect. How do I see this space?”

It didn’t take long to explain the premise.

Tal sat down, legs crossed and back straight, leaning back just slightly against one of the walls in his carriage for extra support. His eyes fluttered closed, and he did his best to clear his mind.

“Now, I'm going to give you sort of a mental tug. Don't resist it - follow it.”

Tal sat still, and as the minutes ticked by, he still felt nothing. He was about to stand and get up when his sword saw his intentions.

“No stop. Wait…” it spoke, its voice strained. “I’m almost there.”

Tal knew better than to voice any question; lately, that just lead to more confusion. Instead, he trusted in the sword, settling back into position with a yawn.

His breathing slowed to a measured pace; idly, it occurred to him how nice sleep would be right now. But before he could peruse that line of thinking, he felt a faint itch. The hairs on his body stood on end, and he knew this was the signal he had been waiting for.

He followed the feeling mentally, and behind closed eyes, a picture began to form.

The Hiatus Begins...