God of Discovery [high fantasy, slow build, mlm]

Arc 4 - Prep and reminder

Hey all! Sorry for the super long wait between arcs. It's been a roller coaster for me. I can, however, say that I have gotten back into writing the fourth arc. It will be a bit slower than before (posting one chapter a week) until I feel I have enough of a backlog that when I take a break between arcs 4 and 5, you won't feel the wait like how long this break was.

As such, first chapter of the new arc will be starting next month! That's 6 May!

In the meantime, here's a recap of Arcs 2 and 3 (since the 4th arc picks up right where the 2nd arc finished, hence why both):

Arc 2 recap

After returning to Evadia with the goal of looking for an answer about strange and unknown magic wielded by someone other than the gods, D'Argen and his company, including the exiled god Thar, end up getting distracted by with the possibility of an adventure to new lands.

The far north is cold and dangerous, with unknown lands and strange events that even the gods question. The frozen crusts of the ocean that barely hold their weight, the marked pillar that reaches beyond even gods' eyes can see, a field of red snow that bleeds under their steps, and a jagged mountain that pushes them to their limit.

When exploring the mountain, D'Argen and Thar are separated from the rest and end up exploring the inside of the mountain to look for a way out. Before they find it though, they do the impossible – a joining of mahee like never before seen. They become one and enter the ethereal realm where the dead gods reside. Only to find Lilian, D'Argen's best friend, among them.

The shock of leaving that realm and learning the truth of his best friend's demise sends D'Argen into a mania that no one has a chance to control and he uses all of his and Thar's combined mahee to bring down the entire mountain. The use of so much magic at once sends D'Argen into a coma for the next seven years.

Arc 3 recap

While unconscious, the mahee does not let D'Argen just be.

Instead, he ends up reliving the past seven thousand years since the gods first fell to the mortal realm. Except, something is off. Not only is his best friend distant and aloof, not only is the leader of his aspect cold and mean, but also one of the gods is missing. Add to that the fact that D'Argen does not realize that he is not just following the steps of the past, and he starts remembering two different lifetimes, making him question his sanity.

With the support of a white shade at the edges of his vision, and catching differences in his memories and predicting events of the future, he stops questioning himself and instead starts questioning the world around him.

Thar's shade helps D'Argen realizes the truth of his realm – it is all in his head. When he encounters a mortal culture created around the destruction he caused with his fall, he also learns of a new type of magic – one that lets the mortals survive the demons and rejects all the gods. The more he questions this world and the more he tries to change it, the more he breaks everything.

Even though there is no way, D'Argen returns to the ethereal realm where Lilian tries and fails to protect him. And upon exiting, Thar's shade is gone and the man himself is there. Except, he no longer loves D'Argen like before.

With no ideas on what to do and how to survive, D'Argen takes drastic measures. Lilian had told him to remain in the realm for longer, to let his mind heal where it broke, but he cannot remain with enemies and demons surrounding him on all sides. He forces himself out and returns just in time to run away from Thar, the god who is like another part of him, and to discover the changes their bond has created in his mahee.

Arc 4 blurb

Avoiding someone who can feel your every being, no matter how far you are from one another, is a task that D'Argen is more than willing to take on. Fortunately for him, the rest of the gods seem to be perfectly at ease at keeping the two apart. Even more fortunate, Thar does not seem to care about their bond either and ignores him just as easily.

Except, it starts to become harder to ignore one another when the mortals gain access to the gods' magic. It is in the same place where D'Argen and Thar forged their connection, and it is possible the two have something to do with one another.

In order to learn how to stop the mortals from abusing the magic, what their bond actually means, and how to even stand to be around one another – D'Agen and Thar must explore the lands and learn the truth. Even if that means setting god-mortal relations back by millennia and turning even more mortal nations against the rule of the gods.

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(blurb is in progress, as usual 😅)

Also... one other note and a question to get your opinions: the previous arcs' chapters averaged at around 1500-2000 words, however, when I started writing this arc (and based on my outline), the chapters are now over the 3000 word mark. I can find good spots to split them, but I wanted your opinion: do you prefer to have two shorter chapters or one longer a week?