Story Ideas

Plot Ideas

Sometime about halfway through the series, the group will be captured by the organization that held Damien and Azrael, and Azrael and Ella will be left behind. Azrael will find out about Ella's past, and they will spend much of the book hunting Damien and the others. Azrael will feel guilty about not being able to do anything, and so he will go on a warpath. Eventually, when they find the facility where the group is being kept, Ella will find an artifact, a set of chains attached to the wielder's back and controlled by their thoughts. Azrael will rip through the facility in search of Damien, eventually leading to a major confrontation where Maya sacrifices herself. Azrael will get lost down his path of vengeance and endanger everybody, setting up a character arc for him dealing with his guilt.

At some point in the series, after Maya dies and Azrael talks to Damien to stop him from killing himself, but before Azrael professes his love, Damien, in his grief, will not have any desire to live, and will become very reckless. In a heartbreaking moment, Azrael and Damien will get into a major fight, and Damien will attack Azrael, believing that nobody cares about him and lied to him. They just wanted to use him, and now that he wasn't there being emotional support for them, they cared. Damien will nearly kill Azrael, lost in his grief and rage, unaware of what he's doing. Eli will find this and stop Damien, but not until some major damage was done, leaving a scar along Azrael's back. Azrael will be comatose for a little while, during which time, Damien is wracked with guilt, Opal pushes him to commit suicide. Opal already hated Damien, and now she blamed him for what happened to Azrael. Maya, outside of the timestream in the abyss, will manage to contact Azrael, who is on the verge of death, and Azrael forces himself to awaken to save Damien. He finds him, but Damien won't listen, still believing that nobody cares about him, and that is when Azrael professes his love, bringing Damien back to earth and grounding him.

Currently, I am planning to have Opal spiral further and further, until she eventually loses her power and commits suicide. I am not a believer in happy endings for everybody, and Opal is too far gone to save. Another arc that I'm considering is Opal gradually losing more and more control until she hurts Azrael. This will crush her and she will run away, where she will either spiral into darkness that ends with her taking her own life, or she will find some form of inner peace and will return for the final battle. If Opal is to survive, she will have to realize that her obsession needs to stop. If Azrael can realize what is happening, he might be able to get through to her. He will also realize that Opal is Azrael on a different path. He would have been just like her, obsessed with Damien, relying on him to save him.

Food is not particularly difficult to come by for our party, as Azrael's ability makes hunting and gathering exceptionally easy, and Opal can cook anything they find. Water also isn't really an issue due to Damien's ability to conjure storms. However, due to constantly being hunted by various enemies, they are constantly low on sleep, which just worsens their mental state. Opal especially continues to spiral.

I'm thinking that maybe I'll try an escape arc for Azrael and Damien, but I don't want to just completely make them the main characters, so I'm unsure about how to handle that. There isn't a whole lot to go on for Opal, I want to keep Eli's story somewhat vague, and Maya's background wouldn't make a good story. Maybe I'll tell the story in flashbacks, or maybe a novella.

After Damien and Azrael fight, Damien will almost kill Azrael, before being found by Eli and Ella. Azrael is passed out and in critical condition, and Damien, after realizing what he'd done, $wracked with guilt, will run away. This will lead up to Damien almost killing himself and Azrael professing his love to him.

My first book in this series I think will be a background for all of the characters to set up their stories. That or I will tell the stories through flashbacks, slowly piecing together the story, similar to Stormlight Archive.