Age of Death

by Michael

Tesh smiled. “Me, too.”

  Taking the dagger in both hands, he aimed the blunt metal pommel at the pin.

  Hitting it with enough single-minded determination will cause a spark.

  The bankors were flying again, and for the first time, Orr began to move out across the bridge toward them. All along the edge of the Abyss, Tesh saw the heroes of old—who since their deaths had fought and died and fought again in an unending war. Tesh realized he didn’t want that.

  Promise me you’ll do something good, that you’ll make your life worth something more than killing.

  Maybe it isn’t too late.

  Tesh remembered Brin, not the look of panic before she fell, but the girl he was in love with.

  So, what is it you’re writing?

  I call this the Book of Brin. It’s going to be the story of the whole world.

  But it wasn’t now. All that was lost. All of her was gone, not just away from him, not even to Rel, but vanished—gone forever.

  If I let you go, I’ll never see you again.

  Of course you will. If not in this life, then the—

  As tears ran down his cheeks and bankors dove, a queen screamed in realization, sending the dragon to leap in response, and with every ounce of strength in his being, Tesh brought the handle of the dagger down on that little metal pin.

  A boom. Pain. Darkness. A sense of falling. Then, nothingness was followed by more of the same.

  Afterword

  Hey all, Robin again. For those that don’t know, I’m Michael’s wife, helper bee, and advocate for his readers. I want to thank people for writing and saying you’ve enjoyed my afterwords. It’s one of the reasons I’m back! As before, Michael isn’t going to see this until after the book is published, so we can talk privately. Or at least I can write, and you can read.

  Am I the only one with a slightly revised version of Britney Spear’s song in my head: Oops! . . . He Did It Again? Yep, it’s another cliff-hanger, and it’s remarkably similar to Age of Legend’s ending. Most of our would-be heroes are falling into the unknown, but this time we also have everyone else in dire straits, too. Fortunately, this is the last time we’ll be left dangling because the next book (Age of Empyre) is the sixth and final installment. We’re finally going to see how everything plays out. I’m so excited! Oh no, now that song is looping. I was better off with Britney.

  Before I dive into my commentary, I’d like to address my current emotional state, which is quite melancholy. You see, my infatuation with Hadrian from the Riyria books is well-documented, and I didn’t expect others to find their way into my heart, but they did. With only a single book left, I know I’m going to be depressed when I have to say goodbye to all my newfound friends from Legends. Plus, I can’t count on Michael to give me more tales with them as he so generously did with the Riyria Chronicles. Why? In Riyria, Royce and Hadrian had been together for ten years at the start of Theft of Swords, so we could go back in time to see how they met. That’s not the case with Legends. So while I’m dying (no pun intended) to find out how the final installment concludes, I know I’ll be in mourning when I finish the last page.

  But all that heartache is for another day. For now, let’s turn our attention to this book, shall we? I see that Michael continues his sadistic tendencies, and he’s even upped his game by leaving virtually everyone I love in some form of jeopardy. There’s been a lot of ominous comments about the Abyss, and the fact that no one has ever returned from there doesn’t bode well for Brin, Tesh, Gifford, Roan, and Tressa. And, of course, having Moya, Rain, and probably Tekchin in the clutches of Ferrol won’t exactly be a walk in the park. With Suri and Persephone now facing Lothian and his dragons, it’s not looking good for the home team.

  Even with this stress, I’m glad there is danger in Elan’s afterlife. When I started reading Age of Death, I thought, “Well, they’re already dead, so it can’t get worse.” And while that idea was comforting, it also made me worry that the trip through the afterlife would be boring. I mean, it’s the presence of risk that keeps me riveted, and I didn’t think there would be any. Boy, was I wrong!

  Michael actually touched on two of my greatest fears. The first being a life without purpose but without end. That’s how I see Rel. Sure, the people there have no pain, but they also are free of want and have nothing to strive toward. For someone like me, who thrives on challenges, that certainly isn’t a state I would like to find myself in. While I’m sure Arion’s discussion about ceasing to exist was supposed to be frightening, I’d much prefer fading away then being stuck in all that monotony.

  Then there is Nifrel, a place with plenty of challenges, but aside from a small victory here or there, it, too, is the same from one day to the next. I see it much like Sisyphus pushing his rock up the hill only to have it roll back down. But unlike in Rel, existence in Nifrel isn’t free of pain. In the movies, when someone is tortured, they eventually die or pass out. But in Ferrol’s realm, neither option is available, so the torment could literally go on forever. From a purely intellectual perspective, I know the concept of unending pain is engrained in Christian beliefs. Still, I’ve never personally feared such a fate. Yeah, I’m far from a saint, but I have tried to be a good person and help others, and I think I have some brownie points in my column. But now Michael plants the concept that it’s not about “good” or “evil.” His notion that ambitious people might prefer the struggle, even if nothing changes, gives me food for thought. For me, that’s an even more frightening future than the blandness of Rel.

  And now I have the Abyss to worry about! Because so many people have talked about that place with such foreboding, and because I know how Michael’s mind works, I’m more than just a little concerned about what we might find down there.

  The one bright spot is that Suri is no longer captive, and she has access to the Art once more. But even that bit of hope isn’t without trepidation. I’m not sure what Imaly has in store for Suri, Makareta, and Mawyndulë, but I’m not hopeful that it will turn out well. The curator has her own agenda, and I don’t think she cares about the casualties in her wake.

  And of course, we know that Lothian finally figured out how to make gilarabrywns. So far, we’ve only seen one, but are more coming? That fact brings up all kinds of questions. Will Suri try to prevent additional ones from being made? Can she do anything about the one that was created? The only thing I’m confident about is she won’t be making another to counteract it . . . unless her newfound friendship with Makareta deepens. Hmmm . . . I don’t want to go there. Let’s just be happy that Suri is in a significantly better place than she has been in recent books and call it a day.

  Oh, and while I’m discussing gilarabrywns, I’ll let you in on a little secret. They weren’t supposed to show up in this book. Michael moved up their appearance from Age of Empyre, and I’m glad he did. It makes for higher drama now that all the pieces on the chessboard are at risk. Seriously, there isn’t a character I care for, well except maybe Malcolm, who isn’t in peril.

  Speaking of Malcolm, I’m so glad he’s back, even if I can’t figure out if he’s “good” or “evil.” I must say I’ve waffled about him and his motives on many occasions throughout this series, something I’ve enjoyed quite a bit. My current suspicion is that Michael is trying to make a point rather than just being coy. But either way, I always enjoy his scenes. For those who have read Riyria, did you get the same sense of déjà vu that I did regarding the timing of his reappearance? If you’re not sure what I’m talking about, drop me a line, and I’ll say more.

  In any case, Nyphron’s and Malcolm’s scene was one of my favorites. Upon re-reading it, I noticed how deftly Michael inserted Malcolm’s comment about Uberlin and his followers in a scene just before Drome’s tirade about the same person. That’s a nice bit of seed-planting by Michael.

  Speaking of seeds, I’m glad to see that one which was sowed in Age of Swords has sprouted. I’m referring to Rain’s “mystery woman,” who has been haunting his dreams f
or years. He became a digger and took two trips into the heart of Neith looking for her. And now he has finally found what he was looking for. I’m encouraged by Beatrice’s foresight that Rain will live through whatever awaits him in the last book. Also, I wonder if the reestablishment of the dwarfs comes into play in Michael’s Rise and Fall series, which takes place between Legends and Riyria.

  I’m a soft touch for an emotional scene, and this book had plenty of them, but two stood out for me. The first was the drink shared by Nyphron and Persephone. Yes, we all know that their marriage is primarily strategic. Still, it was nice seeing them share a time of loss and vulnerability. I appreciated that even someone as stoic as Nyphron was able to provide a bit of comfort to Persephone. Michael hasn’t given us insight into their union, and I think that was purposeful. But with this scene, we see that it is not all bad. Also, I think this chapter had a great Book of Brin entry that nicely encapsulated their relationship.

  Speaking of touching, another favorite of mine was Tressa’s reunion with Gelston. The fact that she kept coming back despite all his ill treatment really told me a great deal about a character that I had previously despised. I think that’s one of Michael’s strengths, taking a seemingly insignificant and reprehensible character and giving me new insight. For those who have read Riyria, you know that redemption is at the heart of those books, and I’m glad to see that the Legend of the First Empire follows in that tradition.

  There are many other scenes I loved, but if I concentrated only on them, I’d run out of time and space to discuss what was the biggest aspect of enjoyment for me. Which is the revelations! All the pieces of the puzzle are coming together, and I can see the picture emerging. We are finally at the point where Michael can reveal some of the cards he’s held in his hand for so long, and that is, by far, my favorite part of this book.

  So, let’s recap what we’ve learned. Everyone lived happily in Erebus until Turin (a.k.a. Malcolm, a.k.a. Uberlin) killed his brother Trilos and became a tyrant that warred against his sister Ferrol and brother Drome. I think that qualifies as “breaking the world.” Now comes the real question . . . is Malcolm trying to fix things, or is he manipulating everyone to do his bidding for a goal that we aren’t yet aware of?

  Another new piece of the puzzle is that Trilos and Muriel were in love. And Turin tried to keep them apart. I guess that justifies Muriel’s hatred for her father. But we know something that Muriel (and maybe Malcolm) does not. Trilos is currently hanging around the garden and stirring up trouble. So, I guess that whole death thing didn’t stick, which makes me wonder . . . why hasn’t Trilos and Muriel reunited? I think there is still more we need to find out, and I’m fairly certain Michael will tell us before everything is said and done.

  As for things yet to be discovered, what’s up with the message Malcolm passed to Brin via Padera? And why didn’t he just tell Tressa when he gave her the assignment in the first place? I’m guessing Malcolm discovered something while he was out and about. Since the mysterious line regarding trees walking and stones talking didn’t come up again in Age of Death, I’ll be looking for it in the last book. In a way, I’m glad there is a little break between this and the final book. I like having a bit of a breather and time to ponder. Sometimes the anticipation of a great meal is as good as eating it.

  Well, those are some of my thoughts and ramblings. I hope you enjoyed the story as much as I did. Since we are getting near the end of the series, we’ve received a lot of emails asking, “What’s next.” So before I go, I should touch on a few things.

  First and foremost, we need to release the last book of this series, and yes, there will be a Kickstarter for it just like there was for Age of Legend and Age of Death. If you want to be notified when it launches you can sign up here. The release date for Age of Empyre is May 5th, but early backers will receive the ebook near the end of February and the hardcovers just as soon as they come off the press. If you miss the Kickstarter, don’t worry, we can always do a manual add for you after the fact. We had more than 400 people who did exactly that for Age of Death.

  As for what comes after Legends? Well, for the last several years, Michael has been working on a new series, which is tentatively titled, The Rise and the Fall. This is a trilogy, and the current plan is they’ll start releasing in the summer of 2021. As I write this (early December 2019), Michael is about three-quarters of the way through writing the second book.

  Like Revelations and Legends, Michael is writing the entire series before publishing the first book, and no, I’ve not read any of it yet. That said, I do know a few things. First, there are no cliffhangers . . . hooray! As for where it fits in Elan’s history, it starts about eight hundred years after the end of the Legend books and ends a thousand years before the start of the Riyria tales. I have heard Michael bring up a few names that will be recognizable by either Riyria or Legend readers, but I’ll mention only one: Esrahaddon. That name won’t mean anything to people who have read just the Legends books, but I suspect that Riyria fans will be excited to see the full backstory for this particular character.

  I’m sure there are many Riyria fans who are wondering, “Will there be more Royce and Hadrian books?” The answer is, yes! The fifth Chronicle book, Drumindor, is planned, but we don’t have any release date for it yet.

  Okay, I have just one last thing to mention before I go. If you participated in the Kickstarter for Age of Death, then you’ve already received a Suri and Minna short story called “Pile of Bones.” It takes place before the start of the Legends of the First Empire series, so you can read it without worrying about spoilers. Also, it’ll be free on Audible.com for a number of months after its release. But if you missed the Kickstarter ebook, or the Audible version while it was free, drop us a line at michael@michaelsullivan-author.com and put “Send me a Pile of Bones” in the subject. If you do, I’ll send you an ebook version of that story.

  Well, I see that my time is up. In conclusion, I want to thank you for reading my little afterword. I’m a big fan of the series and it’s nice to be able to share some of my thoughts with others. I hope you are doing the same!

  Acknowledgments

  When you buy a Michael J. Sullivan book, it’s my name on the cover, so it would be understandable for you to assume that I’m the only one responsible for the story between the pages. Maybe for some authors, that is true, but for myself, it takes a lot of people to produce a work that I feel is worthy of your time. I would feel remiss if I didn’t mention their names and bring to your attention their incredible contributions that made this book what it came to be. If you’ve previously read my other acknowledgments, you’re going to see some familiar names.

  Anyone who is even a little familiar with me knows that Robin is hugely responsible for the story you’ve just read. She is the consummate reader advocate who makes sure that the book is as good as it can be. Her fingerprints are throughout the pages as an alpha reader, line editor, first-pass copyeditor, organizer of the beta and gamma readers, and she even takes care of the ebook design and print book layout. She also runs the Kickstarters, and I’ll have more to say on that in just a minute.

  What you may not know is that during the final stages of Age of Death, my mother passed away. As it turned out, Robin was at my mother’s, sister’s, and brother’s side when Mom passed. Having her there was nothing short of a miracle. Robin’s main strength is bringing order to chaos, and I know that Mom’s final days were significantly better with Robin ushering her passage. With Mom gone, our primary focus was on the well-being of my brother, who had been Mom’s selfless caregiver for decades. Robin prudently kidnapped Pat and brought him to live with us in Virginia, an action that got my brother through the worst experience of his nearly seventy years of life.

  Why is this important? Because Robin and I were spinning many plates at a critical time in the development of Age of Death. You see, while I thought the book was in good shape, Robin had a different opinion and no time to discuss her reservations
. Initially, I wasn’t concerned because her alpha feedback is usually easy to incorporate, and it takes no more than a day or two. When we finally got some time to go over the changes, it became evident that hundreds of hours of work would be required, and with our time divided between dealing with Mom’s affairs and Pat’s welfare, days slipped into weeks and weeks into months.

  When we finally got the book to a state that both Robin and I were happy with, time was running short. The recording date, which had been scheduled nearly a year before, was quickly approaching. If we missed that date, it could mean slipping Age of Death’s release date by six or eight months, as Tim had many other projects already booked. Given we had already committed to a quick release (due to the cliffhanger nature of Age of Legend), we didn’t want that to happen. Something had to give, and in this case, it was the beta. Rather than Robin’s usual process, we had to do a “mini-beta.” We want to thank Beverly Collie, Buffy Curtis, Jeffrey D. Carr, Louise Faering, Cathy Fox, Nathaniel and Sarah Kidd, Evelyn Keeley, John Koehler, Jonas Lodewyckx, Richard Martin, Jamie McCullough, and Jeffrey Schwarz. Not only did they give us great feedback under tight deadlines, but they did so while deviating from our standard procedures.

  Another corner cut was how we did the copy editing. As we have done for years now, we enlisted the talents of Laura Jorstad and Linda Branam. Originally, Robin scheduled them serially such that Linda would receive the book after Laura had already gone over it. As time started to compress, we knew that wouldn’t be possible. Linda’s date was unmovable due to the timing of other jobs. Luckily, Laura was able to be more flexible, but that meant that each editor would receive the books at roughly the same time. The fact that we could still use them both was a positive, but on the negative side, that meant more work falling on Robin to collate their edits. To make matters worse, I was doing a last-pass review, and there were paragraphs added, deleted, and line edits performed. So, that meant Robin had to take input from three different people and combine them into one cohesive file. Not a small feat, especially with the recording deadline approaching.