Hey guys.

I'm taking a break. I've been quite annoyed with this story for a while now, there are way too many things I wish I could rewrite, delete, or add, but I guess that's the issue with posting chapters as I write them. And I don't really feel like working on this these days, I barely wrote a single chapter in three weeks, while I could write one in two or three days before. A month ago I started a story in my native tongue, which I aim to publish; it's going well, it's much more comfortable and swift, and when I compare this to my english writing, well, it's frustrating to say the least...

I'd rather not lie to you and make you wait weeks or months between chapters. I'm saying hiatus, but maybe I should say 'dropped' instead. I'm not sure I'll be continuing this novel here, to be honest. Right now I'd say I wouldn't, but in a month or two I could feel like going back to it. Or maybe not, we'll see. So, sorry guys, thank you all for reading and for your support. I really enjoyed reading your comments and your theories, I was looking forward to surprise some of you or to confirm your thoughts, but I'd rather stop here before this novel becomes a chore. I hope you're not too disappointed.

Edit :

For those who asked, here's a very short summary of the rest of the story and the ending. There's only the main plotline here, and I didn't write down much about the secondary characters. If I had to guess, I'd say we were almost halfway through. Callir was the first arc, Ocia was the second one, and there were two more after that.

Spoiler: Spoiler

The siege of Ocia drags on, and the defenders realise that Gavnel (Viera's chosen) has coerced the other city-states into backing the Paarese, and sent ships to intercept the Daeli fleet that was supposed to rescue Ocia. The Callirian army also joins the besiegers. Demnir takes advantage of the extended siege to sell his products at high prices, and he turns himself into a powerful advisor at the side of an increasingly paranoiac and anxious Vierodel. In the end, the defenses are broken, the city is sacked, and Demnir escapes with Ezveril, and plans to use her as a ransom to get himself a reputation of saviour in Dael, as well as power and money. Vierodel and Atricia are left for dead, the Daeli manage to reconquer the city and their rule over it stays weak and fragile. Rina uses the defeat of the Callirian army as a way to get rid of Phiramel, she poisons him and puts her own minions in charge of the church.

In Dael, a civil war breaks out after the king's death; prince Arthian faces his own brother and his supporters who criticise Arthian's decisions and his failure in Ocia. Demnir takes Arthian's side as a means to climb his way up, and they wage war against some of the Daeli nobility, backed by Paar and some Vierans. While Arthian arranges negociations with the foreign countries backing his brother, Demnir is tasked to defeat the rebel lords so that Arthian may have a peaceful land once the negociations have worked out. The heroes get involved, and Demnir uses his strategical genius, his wealth and his connections to take down the rebels. He therefore succeeds in crowning Arthian as king.

Demnir then helps the new king fulfilling his dreams of conquest and he is soon seen as a dangerous prince merchant. At this point he becomes more and more obsessed with power and money, and he takes on the role of the big bad in the eyes of the more 'moral' characters. It's implied he's the chosen of one of the grey gods, who feasted on his resentment towards his original gods and eventually brought him back. Some of the seers and heroes are convinced he's the threat they were meant to be fighting, and they try to assassinate him. Rina betrays them as she tries to save her brother. In the epilogue, Demnir's fate is left uncertain (it was meant to be ambiguous), Rina is seen on the run, known as a traitor and a heretic, and the Daeli royalty has to deal with a crumbling empire.