Hello immortals, it's me again, and wow has this been a journey. So a bit of a backstory on this one. This book is a gift. To my beta readers who hated the ending of a non-progression fantasy short story I wrote ages ago and demanded a sequel of sorts and to a friend who really wanted to get into a progression fantasy but couldn't because she doesn't usually vibe with serial works. At the time, it seemed a thing of ease to unite all of these into a single project. Continue the story of that short story and write a standalone progression fantasy novel.

It's been three years since then and it didn't take me long into writing to understand why authors in this genre don't do standalones. It's hard! Very hard. Trying to craft compelling characters and arcs is difficult enough, but trying to fit in a progression sequence that doesn't feel rushed and is earned? That is much harder. I think I started and discarded at least three separate manuscripts and variations of this story before I finally settled on the one that ultimately made it to completion. Even now, I'm not entirely sure about releasing it to the world, but hey, it's a gift and the people it was originally meant for have given it a resounding seal of approval.

So, yeah, that’s Phase One of the Apotheon Sequence complete. I haven’t finished introducing all of the major characters that will be playing a role in the story going forward, but I feel like I’ve explored enough of the story to judge the opening arcs as finished. Going forward, expect to see way more crossovers. But don’t worry. Things will be kept on the down-low for now. It is still my intention for anyone to jump into each of the series without having to do some homework beforehand.

The narrative has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.

And on that note, if you’re a returning reader, hi. Good to see you again. Hope you liked this one. And if this is your first time experiencing the Apotheon, then I hope you too enjoyed your time with me. As always, you can visit my site at https://theanwansihouse.wordpress.com/books/ for excerpts of the other books in the Sequence as well as a free download of We Kill the Traitor God, the short story that sparked the idea of Vestige.

And if you're like me and you are an avid consumer of all things lore and would like to learn more about the Apotheon then visit https://theanwansihouse.wordpress.com/companions/ for free downloads of The Idiot's Guide to the Apotheon and Soul Beasts 101, in-world fictional textbooks that expand the wider story.

You can also check out the other story I'm posting here on Royalroad, https://www.royalroad.com/fiction/97267/the-tower-unbroken-a-west-african-take-on-cultivation, which was inspired by the Cradle series and is my own West African take on the cultivation genre as a whole.

Please, if you can, do remember to leave a review on Amazon or Goodreads or anywhere else you found this book and share this story with all of your friends. There are more of you now than there was when I first began Amobi and the Door Beyond Time all those years ago and I will always be grateful. Thank you for accompanying me on this journey.

Ka o mesia anu! (Until next time.)