The Enemy and The Army

Well then comelies, we meet again!

Hopefully, or so I will suppose, if you are here somehow then maybe you already read the parts which serve as prequels to this long developing saga (namely “Iron Serenade” and “Creatures of Song”). I am afraid by this point in the story these following pieces of work will no longer function as mere stand-alones, since it would be a tad hard to grasp what is actually going on without having accompanied the incidents which took place in both those previous installments.

Gladly, though, I should also announce here that we are nearly done with the past and its events, here almost fully unraveled (though indeed brought up along the path we are about to take), and so we will soon take a colossal centennial leap and move on to the “actual” series of books: A Fool’s Journey.

Before we learn what this journey is all about, however, we will, through this short interlude, take a more in depth dive into what was going on at certain key points in time with some of our future central characters: the antagonists.

Divided into five parts (one longer, four much shorter), we first reacquaint ourselves with Liviu, getting a closer (slightly alarming) glimpse at what went on in his mind. And then we meet the court, the legion, the army: those whose duty is to assist him into achieving his newfound goal. Here, in this part, we finally realize the true nature of certain things and the fantasy aspect of this tale, so subdued so far, really kicks off. And then, it likely won’t wane until we reach our ending (for example, I might say something of the likes of ‘here be dragons’ on where this is headed and not be lying at all!).

Now onto our usual warnings (I apologize if by now you are slightly weary of them, but best to be safe): this tale is meant for a more adult demographic, and that said doesn’t truly intend on shying away from adult themes. Including allusions to and descriptive (non-sexual) violence (here I should state the relations established between the characters albeit unhealthy were consensual), sexually explicit scenes, toxicity in relationships, homophobic, sexist, and overall prejudicial slurs and more content aimed solely at mature audiences.

At that, I take a paragraph to allege also that many of the actions of these characters and their purported points of view are neither condoned nor congruent with those of mine. That is simply to say despite being written by me, they truly do not reflect my own opinions, thoughts or code of ethics.

As is commonplace for any such a historical story such as this one, let me add too that the research upon which I have based myself to write this properly and to the best of my abilities, although rather extensive, was unfortunately limited many times by the resources available to me at the moment. And, so, I humbly stand and restate that I would love to be corrected on anything written here that is inaccurate or simply nonsensical, and also am always willing to share my sources if anybody has any interest on where precisely I stumbled upon any information and how I chose to verify it.

Last but perhaps not least, I reiterate that although the places named in this story do exist (or have existed) in actuality, the landscapes portrayed are almost entirely imaginary, as I have never been to any of the locations here described and mean absolutely no offense to their eventual inhabitants or the communities I so happen to not be a part of. Remaining true too that every character and the narratives concerning them are wholly fictional.

Well, all this out of the way, I sincerely hope you find this read enjoyable and insightful! ☺

- M.