Epilogue

Feronie was dying, and there wasn’t a moment that passed where she wasn’t reminded in the most painful way.

Perhaps, initially, when the pain had been slight, she could have lived with it. A cramp and nothing more. But the pain grew. It expanded across her entire form, exponential in its growth and depth.

She knew that her time was limited.

Soon, she would reach the tipping point, where all her beautiful creations would pass on, destroying themselves. They were blinded by their own pride, fooled by new gods who knew no better, and misled by those who knew and didn’t care.

Still, not all was lost.

Carefully, she looked to her crop of final hopes. There were many of them, scattered like seeds across the world. Most had faded, some had been stolen from her by others, their potential turned against her. More had been culled and eaten up.

Her attention curled around one of them, a lonesome little sprout, less a seedling and more a spore which strived and fought. Its anger was palpable and potent, burning away the glamour of industry and the enthralling desire for wealth.

Yes, this little one would do well, a little mushroom whose cap and stem would become a potent poison and a powerful cure.

“Do you know what it means to be loyal?” she asked the little mushroom.

It did, though its loyalty had wavered. That might only make it stronger now.

“Loyalty unto death is what I need,” Feronie whispered. It wasn’t hyperbole. She needed loyalty and fervour. Those had served the other gods well.

“But worry not, child of man, it is not your death that I want.” And with that, she poured just a little more of herself into this one little sprout, that it may grow and fulfil its potential.

If this new world that had grown around her wanted to play violent games, then she’d show them that she was not afraid of doing the same.

***

End - Black Mould Arc​

***

Afterword

This story was written as a challenge, one where I tried very hard to go from nothing but a premise to a completed book in as short a span as possible. I started on March 16th, 2022, and had completed the first volume, the one you’ve presumably read (I would hope, who skips straight to the afterword?) on May 25th, 2022.

The editing and formatting and all that other fun stuff took a while longer, but I think the challenge was worth it! I certainly had a lot of fun!I hope you enjoyed this story as much as I enjoyed writing it. It’s quite a bit shorter than my usual works, but I’m going to try to price it accordingly.

If you’ve enjoyed this, then please check out some of my other stories. If you want action and explosions, then you’ll love Stray Cat Strut, and if you want something fun and cute where nothing bad happens, look no further than Cinnamon Bun! I promise, you’ll enjoy them!

And lastly, I want to thank my patrons, and all of you who bought this mushroom-infested mess of a story. Without your help I wouldn’t be able to follow that silly dream I had as a little raven chick, to write to my heart’s content and grow as an artist. If you want to join my discord and my little community (I write ever chapter live, and often steal my reader’s ideas when it comes to interesting characters or novel plot hooks) then consider joining my Patreon at: RavensDagger is creating Fiction | Patreon