Chapter 81: SYSTEM ERROR_

The following is an update on Tear the Sky's revamped sequel and the announcement of a new project.

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𝚃𝚘 𝚠𝚑𝚘𝚖𝚎𝚟𝚎𝚛 𝚏𝚒𝚗𝚍𝚜 𝚝𝚑𝚒𝚜 𝚖𝚎𝚜𝚜𝚊𝚐𝚎

𝚠𝚎 𝚗𝚎𝚎𝚍 𝚊𝚜 𝚖𝚞𝚌𝚑 𝚑𝚎𝚕𝚙 𝚊𝚜 𝚠𝚎 𝚌𝚊𝚗 𝚐𝚎𝚝

𝚝𝚑𝚎 𝚕𝚘𝚗𝚐𝚎𝚛 𝚠𝚎 𝚜𝚝𝚊𝚢, 𝚝𝚑𝚎 𝚖𝚘𝚛𝚎 𝚠𝚎 𝚍𝚒𝚎 𝚎𝚟𝚎𝚛𝚢 𝚍𝚊𝚢

𝙸 𝚍𝚘𝚗'𝚝 𝚔𝚗𝚘𝚠 𝚒𝚏 𝚖𝚢 𝚕𝚎𝚝𝚝𝚎𝚛 𝚠𝚒𝚕𝚕 𝚏𝚒𝚗𝚍 𝚊𝚗𝚢𝚘𝚗𝚎, 𝚋𝚞𝚝 𝙸'𝚟𝚎 𝚍𝚘𝚗𝚎 𝚖𝚢 𝚋𝚎𝚜𝚝

𝚎𝚟𝚎𝚗 𝚒𝚏 𝚒𝚝 𝚒𝚜 𝚝𝚘𝚘 𝚕𝚊𝚝𝚎, 𝚙𝚕𝚎𝚊𝚜𝚎 𝚝𝚛𝚢 𝚊𝚗𝚍 𝚜𝚊𝚟𝚎 𝚞𝚜.

𝙸 𝚠𝚒𝚕𝚕 𝚠𝚊𝚒𝚝 𝚏𝚘𝚛 𝚢𝚘𝚞, 𝚎𝚟𝚎𝚗 𝚠𝚑𝚎𝚗 𝙸 𝚌𝚊𝚗𝚗𝚘𝚝 𝚛𝚎𝚖𝚎𝚖𝚋𝚎𝚛 𝚖𝚢 𝚘𝚠𝚗 𝚗𝚊𝚖𝚎.

SENDER: UNKNOWN

ᴍᴇssᴀɢᴇ sᴇɴᴛ ᴡɪᴛʜ ʜɪɢʜ ɪᴍᴘᴏʀᴛᴀɴᴄᴇ

sᴇɴᴛ ᴀᴛ 𝟸𝟹:𝟻𝟼

ᴏʀɪɢɪɴ ᴜᴋɴᴏᴡɴ

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𝚒𝚗𝚝𝚛𝚘𝚍𝚞𝚌𝚒𝚗𝚐...

BTS: ARES RISING

» a cyberpunk au

» a dystopian au

COMING IN FEBRUARY

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s ᴜ ᴍ ᴍ ᴀ ʀ ʏ

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It is year 3055.

After the decimation of World War III, global powers have crumbled similar to the old gods.

Humankind has created a new order on a new continent; a society in which those that were defenseless are now armed and fighting together against a common enemy of the monsters they were responsible for bringing to life--humanoid artificial intelligence.

These technologically advanced individuals were meant to be a leap forward in progress.

A glitch in their system has made them anything but.

SEVEN is a military prodigy. A peerless, domineering commander that serves the Elite Ten--a supergroup of soldiers responsible for handling national threats. Her ability to follow commands is second to none, making her the most ruthless member of the force.

RIVER is a rehabilitation center patient that cannot recall the face of a loved one. According to her doctor, she's been involved in a traumatic event that caused the loss of her memories. What the incident was specifically? They refuse to share.

SEOUL7 is a squad of young dreamers that found brotherhood despite their dire circumstances. Day after day, they cling to one another's silent strength in hopes of finding the courage to live another day when living is no longer truly living.

What they all share is the final string of humanity that can bend to make them mindless or break to bring down even the most brilliant minds.

But, not even the relentless black rain can dim the neon cities of Eternis. What they are up against blends seamlessly into the fabric of their new reality. The enemy they seek does not come from above or below. It does not flank their sides.

It stares them in the face.

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(A/N) Ascended reader,

Kinda feels foreign switching up the intro to a note after I've done nothing but write "citizens of Neverin" for a straight month and a half. To any of you that finished A Court of Embers, hey there. Much, much love to you. You're lookin good, glad to see ya. And if you're coming solely from TTS, you look fabulous as always and thank you for clicking this update!

Read the following carefully so that you'll be up to speed on everything!

I also sorta just would like a listening ear for a second.

Let's start with one word. College.

Specifically, graduate school. My gosh. More reading, writing, and research than I ever did in my collective three years of undergrad. It's worth it for the reward, but sending me into hiatus szn is not cool. Due to the fact that I enter study hibernation for four months a little more than twice out of the year, it's really slowed me down. To the profiles that have like 5-10 completed works, literally what is that life like?

Anyway, I say all this to tell you that BTS: Ares Rising is coming at the end of February if I'm responsible. If I'm irresponsible, it'll come earlier.

This idea is hands-down the most complicated plot I have ever created in my life. It is also the most ambitious thing I've ever attempted to write with two main characters and three storylines weaving themselves into a final result that should make you question what's real and what isn't.

If I do this right, you should feel everything slamming into you at once and clicking into place at warp speed. I'm not even going to address doing it wrong because I'm not speaking negativity in this household. But it is an idea that I've had in my notes for maybe a year, and it went through an intense trickling and reshaping process to be what it is now.

I'll be honest--and I'm gonna go on a side rant here--I was afraid to post it here. I've been afraid to publish any update in this book to be exact.

Why? (let's get vulnerable, shall we?)

Because I still have announcements of books that I'll never finish in here. They're like constant reminders that I could not do what I set out to do. And kinda constant reminders that I showed you all something that I could not finish. They're basically empty chapters of failure. My failures.

An empty promise is one of my biggest pet peeves personally. And I take pride in being able to deliver. But seeing those things just make me so upset and it has been eating away at me slowly as more awesome readers find TTS.

7PM (now disguised as the Royal Announcement)? Cancelled. Blackbird? Cancelled. Blood of Dawn? Nonexistent.

For a while, and sometimes even now, I feel a huge disappointment in myself for letting that happen. I also felt like I owed you all an apology for straight up wasting an update like that. But these emotions war with the fact that I'm being too hard on myself.

No matter what, I want to put my best foot forward. But I have to accept that I'll make mistakes, especially as a writer. And I have to adjust to the idea that it's okay to try and write something and not have the time, to lose interest in it, or to simply not click with it. In order to grow, you typically have to be uncomfortable.

And I have kept these cancelled plans up to forcibly teach myself that my profile is also my portfolio. It is not going to be the end of the world if I don't manage to complete something I just wasn't vibing with.

It's just that because I can be so Type A, my world does end inside of my head.

Finishing A Court of Embers lately saved me. It helped me regain my footing after I failed in a lot of work. It also gave me the confidence to finally look y'all in the eye and let you know that I hate that I could not continue those, but I am perfectly fine with letting them be dead in the name of giving you content that I poured my heart into--like TTS, ACoE, and now, Ares Rising. Please consider checking it out when you've got time. ❤️

But what about the TTS sequel? You read all that mumbling and now you deserve a real answer.

Let's get this straight. Tear the Sky is a standalone book. Not once did I ever plan an expansion while outlining the original chapters. Any sequel that I do now is more of an encore thing--a way to tie up all the loose ends with Grey and Amelia. So, it's gonna be shorter and on a bit of a smaller scale but with just as much action, devilish intrigue, and feelings.

Nora, the leading lady of BoD, was quite different from Grey in levels of maturity and other factors. But what didn't click for me about Blood of Dawn was the fact that I was trying to juggle writing, a season of competition, schoolwork, traveling, fighting for starting spot, and other things into a matter of months. She never got the chance to be fully developed and I threw her to the wolves knowing that I would have to bust my tail to write her and I couldn't keep up. It left a bad taste in my mouth and truly I dreaded writing Blood of Dawn. Not even going to lie to you, I physically despised having to even update that book because it was not up to par with what it should be.

So, I scrapped the whole thing.

Blood of Dawn has been renamed.

It is now Ashes of Stars.

It has been diligently replotted, carefully rearranged, and now ready for writing. I am sitting on the completed chapter outlines as we speak.

It is also now centered around Amelia, and the reunion isn't very sweet to say the least. Anaphiel is in for it on this final addition of the adventure.

I can have a full blurb for you soon, but it'll likely wait until Ares Rising gets in full swing so I can give it the respect it deserves if I continue forth with it. Right now I've been wooed by other ideas and even an original work, so I'm not sure. But I do hope for it.

Thank you so much for your patience. Thank you for hearing me out and letting me sit in your therapist chair and whine for a second. I hope you understand that it's been a bit tough, but I'm up for the challenge and I've taken the first steps to not scolding myself so much for it.

I love you, and I hope you have a splendid week and a fantastic new year. I hope to hear from you again soon ❤️

With love,

Milan