Learning to write is an ongoing process, and I learned - I hope - quite a lot while writing this series.
It is a complete story. Unlike many serialized writing in the LitRPG genre, I am more comfortable with stories that have an end, or at least a definitive breakpoint where they change gear, and stuff goes differently, so I knew there would be an ending at one point. It is entirely possible to keep writing about the team going to various places of the Labyrinth, but I, as an author, am not at the point where I think I could keep it entertaining. Besides, the setting of litrpg is not conducive to that - our six friends are leaving the early period when things go fast, tiers come often, and new mechanics are introduced. Continuing their adventures would require more and more time skips - I already did a small time skip when they had to grind XP in the last third of book 3, and the only reason there is no further real time skip in book 4 is that I had the clock ticking already, so there was literally no time for them to waste.
The chapter on Mhambi Meshindi and his distortion of Earth-113 Divergence is now closed. As I said in an older note, he started "life" as a literal demonic race, come to conquer a realm of his own on Earth (back when the Infinite Labyrinth was a fantasy construct that would lead humans into conflict with older fantasy races). But once I realized what fits better the alternate history theme, then he got changed into a Zulu from a different timeline. And, of course, I drew inspiration from existing figures.
Mhambi Meshindi owes a lot of his persona from that most famous of all Zulus, Shaka "Zulu" kaSenzangakhona (which has a cameo in the series). A son of a disgraced concubine of a major Zulu King, he rose to prominence by revolutionizing warfare among the Zulus, reforming the Impi (Zulu Army) structure, modernizing quite a lot, and putting his stamp on Zulu society. He didn't do it using the Infinite Labyrinth, but by mundane methods, but it is essentially what Mhambi Meshindi set out to make.
And, just like Mhambi Meshindi, Shaka was ultimately betrayed by two brothers - his half-brothers - who were seeing him as warping Zulus, acquiring far too much influence on the Zulu way of life, and fearing his cruelty and callousness. There is very little known about what exactly happened, but it's widely believed that they assassinated him, trying to remove what they felt was a dangerous usurper. Yet his legacy lived on - he had already made enough of a mark to unify the loose confederacy of Zulu chiefdoms into a true Kingdom.
The series differs from most litRPG in that there are no real villains. There are antagonists aplenty, but they aren't moustache-twirling villains. They all have motivations that are perfectly understandable, and - I hope - that you could see yourself having the same ones, in the same circumstances. And Mhambi Meshindi belongs to the same category. My main regret is that, since he is very much in the background, it's hard to give you a proper insight into his motives. You get a better insight if you read the origin story of his, at the end when the High Lord in Panomekon explains to him that most of Africa never gets "interesting enough" to open a Gate. That African Labyrinth is a rare thing, and never for the Zulus. That his people, in True History, never rise to the point where they could become a player in any post-Divergence.
That's his Atlantis. His dreamed history. He's shaped the connection he forced to Earth-113. The site of the Gate, a battle that symbolizes the peak of Zulu power. An era, that of Shaka Zulu himself. That's what he wanted to build. And, of course, he would have done it again. Once he'd made the Zulu into a World Power, thanks to the Labyrinth, he would have gone, found another proto-gate, and do it again. And again.
(which is bad, and pretty much for the reason the high tier fear that thing, although they haven't realized how close they are to - he forced an early opening of Earth, and that put pretty much a halt on the "normally scheduled" openings for the last two decades)
The narrative has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.
The series needs a break (well, the author needs one, at least). At the end of the story, our six friends are in a different place. They know the future, they got a pending invite to see the High Tiers (as soon as they can survive the zones up to Panomekon). And their Divergence is being watched, which means very few threats. This is why I wrote that epilogue. They will, inevitably, diverge after a few decades. Go each of their own ways, meet again, "next decade, in London". Progress at their own rhythm, dream of the high tiers. The next story of the Labyrinth is, by nature, different. So, before I tackle a new story, I'll be heading to a different setting (watch out for an advertisement here, probably in late January, early February, when I begin the first volume of The Chosen Ones trilogy).
There are a few side stories that I want to get out still. Two, in particular.
- Stranded: It's a side story that happens nearly concurrently to the main story, but on a different Divergence. It's a story of Edo-era Japanese that get "stranded" in Ptolemaic Egypt because they were deposited a bit too far from their original Earth. Their rescuer, a certain Ahati-waqrat, knows the way back, but it will require (as usual between divergences) surviving tier-8, and so, for a few years, they will have to live in the distant and incomprehensible past.
And get involved in a war between Egypt and Corinth vs Sparta and Rome. Because that's a thing.
(there's also a secondary reason, but that's a spoiler)
- Wall Breakers: It's a sequel to the "Atop the Wall" side story, set in about forty years in the future from now when the Alpha Progression Society of Tang Feng decides to race another sector of the Labyrinth for the first to break through the Wall.
And they find out the surprises in the next part of the Labyrinth.
(spoiler alert: there is much swearing)
A few other side stories I'd like very much to finish as well are:
- Knight: The origin story of the unlikely pair of Cowen and Habborlain. Which is intricately linked to the discovery of the Labyrinth, and all the baggage the British Empire carried up until a few years before chapter 1. It's not an easy story, because it redoes quite a lot of the journey of our team, with just the Gate to London available.
- The Long Night: A completely independent side story - probably the most independent side story of all, since it has no bearing whatsoever on Earth-113, Jonas Sims and friends, or Panomekon (it's three nexuses... nexi?... away). I wrote it to make sense of what a modern society, set in 2029, would evolve into, given the existence of the Labyrinth for nearly two centuries.
- Facets: The story of the founding of Panomekon. A story of the first Lords, pushing toward undiscovered, unexplored areas.
- The Correspondence Society: A small story about a network of Swiss Patent Office clerks turned Professionals, across multiple Divergences, sectors and eras, writing to each other about how to reconcile the existence of the Labyrinth and Earth (you can probably guess which Swiss Patent Office clerk I'm talking about - I'm probably never going to write this story correctly).
And the last side story, which I probably won't publish for a while, even if it's almost finished already: The NULL Gate.
Like I did for most of this series, I wrote small stories to make sense of details. They're not 100% canon (for instance, Recruit, the first one I wrote to set up the rules of the series proper, requires serious retrofit for the rules, plus, I think I changed some of the names).
The NULL Gate is the story I wrote to explain what the Labyrinth is, once I figured out what I wanted it to be. You've heard of it in the prologue to book 4. It happens 10 years before Mhambi Meshindi makes his move to force Earth-113 to open where and when he wanted. It is the story of the team who won. The team who exited the Labyrinth, and found out what lies beyond.
(not a spoiler: and found out they're locked out and can't go back)
And, of course, that's why I won't publish it, at least not yet, because it truly ends the Labyrinth's mystery. It opens its own, distinct, set of mysteries, but I do want to toy a bit more with the mystery of the Labyrinth. It explains most of the weirdness - the nexus zones, the Professional status itself, some of the minor details that I wrote back, the structure of the post-20 Labyrinth, the 1918 ending date of True History, and more.
This is why I needed to write more - there will be a book 5, in the future. It will tell a different story, certainly.
Speaking of which...