About a week ago, I posted the first half of this scene, which is located in my previous post. I had to split it up because otherwise it looked freakishly long for a blog, and I left the first half posted for a while so everyone would see it. Here's the second half, featuring Ach'magut, the Overseer.

Enjoy!

First off, you may have noticed some changes around here--the site is currently undergoing some growing pains, so it may radically shift and transform over the next few weeks. Try not to be alarmed.

With that out of the way, I'd like to stretch your memories back to the distant past...back, back to the haze of last month. When I promised that I would release all five of the possible rewards for 100 combined Amazon reviews on the Elder Empire books.

Well, now I'm going to continue making good on that promise, with an excerpt from Of Darkness and Dawn, featuring the Emperor...before he was the Emperor.

This is the first half, and the second half will be posted...soon? I'm not sure when the next post will be, because I'm hard in the trenches pounding out word count on ODAD, but certainly soon!

And now, without further ado, hit the jump for the origins of the Emperor!

To celebrate 100 combined reviews of the first pair of Elder Empire novels, I've agreed to give you some extra content here on the blog. Because I'm awesome, and because 100 is such a cool number, I'm including not just one piece of content, but five!

That's four cooler than it could have been!

Here's the first: information regarding the future of Simon and the Traveler's Gate universe.

(Hit the jump to see it!)

All of the above.

I told you, I reserve the right to change my mind. And I have. I said to you, "I'll deliver whichever one was most popular." Instead, I'm going to do all of them.

The votes were clear, but there were passionate advocates for all options involved. So I decided...you know what? I can do them all, I will do them all, and Merry Christmas. I'm starting with the winner, and I'll work my way down the list one at a time.

The first of five planned 100-review rewards will be delivered two days from now. And we're starting off with...

The future of Traveler's Gate.

"But the last time we asked Will for the future of Traveler's Gate, he gave us sphinx riddles and lies! Even his Valin story ended on a cliffhanger!"

No. This is the current introductory information--sort of a trailer in written words, if you will--that sets up the next adventures of Simon and company.

Tell your friends.

As I mentioned a couple of weeks ago, we recently hit 100 combined Amazon reviews for the Elder Empire books! Pat yourselves on the back!

As I did for 10, 25, and 50, I was going to release some original content to celebrate 100, but I delayed a while to give the second anniversary of House of Blades the attention it deserved. Now that comments on that front are starting to wind down, I thought I'd get back to what matters: you.

Two weeks ago, I asked you to suggest some options for potential 100-review rewards. They fell into a few specific categories, and I would now like you to vote between them on this handy-dandy poll.

In a week, I'll tally the votes. Then I'll deliver whichever one is most popular.

DISCLAIMER: Any stories will be short, because writing two novels at once is hard enough, and any information about unreleased stories will be subject to editing and my own fickle whims.

Again, any statements I make about the future are not binding. I may change my mind later. I may be lying to you now. Always in motion is the future.

Without further ado, the Poll of Absolute Destiny: