FROM: AMIRAH, ORACLE TO THE ORACOGNOMANCERS 
TO: PERONIOUS DEXLOUS, SON OF MAGNUS
“I know not the purpose of the Time Warden’s meddling, but she twists events and changes outcomes.”

Well, I’m definitely tired after this one—and with damn good reason. 

So, it’s here, Vol. VII has a first draft. I will caveat that by saying two chapters for minor characters remain unfinished, just closing out the chapter. The meat of their entry is done. But I’m feeling the burnout, and I’ve been writing long enough to know that my tank is empty, and it’s time to pivot. 

So, the first time I started working on this in earnest was March 12th, or at least, that’s where the initial post on Patreon started with the tracker. And the official end date for writing is 5/8/25. Just felt like writing that in stone somewhere. Let’s take a quick look at the final product. 

Prologue: 1 / 1Chapters: 55Epilogues: 1/1Word Count: 265,692Starting Word Count: 174,900Main POVs: 4Minor POVs: 5

I’m sure the first thing you noticed—if you’ve read my other DLS books—is the epilogues. I’m notorious for writing several. This one’s different. Just one. And it hits hard. 

This book’s a milestone as it’s the second-to-last entry in the series. Without a second draft, it’s near the threshold of Vol. VI word count, which sits pretty at 285,646. After a few more drafts, it could easily surpass it, and you can always add more to war, magic, betrayal, and reckoning.

Vol. VII is darker, quieter, and heavier than some previous tones. For those who liked Vol. III, The Jackal of Shades, this might tickle you just right. The focus is on legacy, moral rot, and the limits of loyalty, whether to follow blindly or step out on your own. That said, if Vol. VI was the thunder, Vol VII is the strike that ignites the forest. 

Anyone whose picked up my works know that I love deep character dives, what makes people tick, the decisions they make, and the ramifications that follow. This entry is not different. A particular note is one relationship in this story is at its most intimate, and yet, at its most dangerous. Moving beyond that, this story explores power and consequence, everyone’s broken, dangerous, and no one’s clean. 

A spotlight in this tome is lore expansion. Readers will get a deeper glimpse of the brimstones and their mythos. Also, here, near the end, we start to see the fray of other things that have massive implications. Not to give anything away, but what happens when gods go silent or don’t have all the answers? 

The visual and emotional aesthetic leans into the grief-soaked, surreal tone. It’s not the calm before the storm, they’re in the brunt of it, and this one’s got no peaceful eye in the center. The world will be forever changed, and faith in institutions has fractured beyond all repair. 

During the writing of this book, I’ve had a running tab labeled ‘live or die.’ I’ve never done that before. Deaths have always serviced the plot time and time again, but as we draw to a close, I have to think of the larger narrative. This is war, and not everyone gets to live; this is grimdark, and happy endings don’t exist; this is the Dark Legacy series, and it resonates long after the last page. Sometimes, I want readers to think, “If only…”

Late in the game during the drafting of this monster, I changed a pivotal plotline, altering the course. I’m happy with that decision. It kept the focus on where it needed to be and humanized two characters far better than anything I could’ve done. One character in particular, readers will get a deeper understanding of him, and they’ll have to reevaluate everything they knew about him. 

One last tidbit before I pivot, the story returns to a place visited long ago in Vol. II. The story necessitated this, and I knew it when I started writing, but I saved it for the end—of the writing journey, not the story. This is a breadcrumb, and we’re returning for the meal. 

What do I know going in for the second draft? Well, bolts will need to be tightened, character voice and internal dialogue will need to sing, and I need to find a way to drop more lore in. While writing this book, I spent a lot of time brainstorming an element that dropped off in book two. Most will consider it an aside, but with a few well-placed sentences of dialogue, it brings it roaring back to the forefront. Now, I will need to make it more immersive.

But that also means, I need to go back into Vol IV and VI, and hint at it more. I love trying to find ways of dropping breadcrumbs into the writing. It’s on the re-reads that people go, “Oh! He signaled that all the way back here?” I try to be subtle with my writing, so subtle that a lot of people don’t realize some of the answers are in Vol. I, they just don’t know it yet, because they haven’t been asking the right questions. 

Well, that closes the chapter here, and now, it’s warp speed ahead with a hard pivot into the sci-fi universe with Decimation Protocol. Hopefully, I won’t linger too long in the deep of space. After that, back to Maro 3 for its third draft. 

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Oblus ina’ti Sepan Eti — Live and die by the sword.