The End of Eden

Authors Notes

Hello! If you are reading this, that means you probably just finished your journey through Eden. I sincerely hope you liked this story! I know I did, and I had a blast writing it for you all to consume.

I want to apologize for how long it took me to finish this story. Every single ounce of fire I had in me died for an unknown reason, and I struggled so badly with finishing the ending that I knew I would have when I started this story. Every single time I sat down to write the last few chapters, I wanted to do anything but write, and this includes folding laundry, and if you know who I am behind this pseudonym, you know that I vehemently hate folding laundry. I have no idea why I struggled with sitting down and writing the ending. I wanted to move on to other things, write novels that I wanted to publish, write other fanfics, lay down and daydream, play a bunch of video games. All of which I have done without finishing this fic, but the weight of leaving it unfinished has suffocated me and my creativity.

So for the length of time it took me to finish this one, I'm so sorry.

I'm so sorry I made you wait so long for this one to be completed. Maybe I was scared of finishing it, and letting you all down in the process with a lame ending, because this fic has been so monumental for us all.

I will now leave you guys with a few notes for making it through to the end, and sticking by my side.

-Ellaria's description was purposely left ambiguous. The only descriptions I gave were that she was a woman in her early 20s, she had mid-back length hair, and that she was of a smaller stature. I wanted you, the reader, to imagine yourself in her place if you wanted to. I know I sometimes have a hard time imagining what someone looks like as I read, so I wanted you to have it easy, and place yourself or anyone you wanted to within the story.

-In accordance with a bare minimum description, I also avoided using her name as much as possible, and therefore gave her a nickname from each vessel; Four calling her Little Bird, Three calling her Flower Girl, Two calling her Sweetling, and Vessel calling her My Love. Four calling her Little Bird was inspired by Sansa and The Hound from the Game of Thrones series, because Four ended up becoming her confidant, her protector and her best friend within Eden. Three called her Flower Girl for their first interaction together being near the poppy flower fields. Two called her Sweetling because their first encounter, she is carrying a tray of sweet rolls. Vessel calling her My Love was exactly that, she was their love, and he knew her purpose for being in Eden long before she arrived, and he hinted at that every time he called her My Love.

-Speaking of names, Ellaria's surname is a giveaway of her ultimate fate; Nevesta means 'Bride' in Cyrillic. I don't blame you if you missed it or forgot. It was purposely mentioned only once, at the beginning of Chapter 2 (II).

-I also avoided at all costs, exposing the vessels' descriptions in this story, much like they do in real life, relying on only what we see on stage, or in music videos; Three is tall and lanky, Two is short, Four is of a thicker more muscular build, and Vessel is absolutely ripped. Those who have exposed eyes, all have varying shades of blue. They don't wish for people to know who they are, so I left it as such in this story. I loved playing with the idea, though, of falling in love with someone, or in this case someones without seeing what they actually looked like.

-I referenced a LOT of lyrics from Sleep Token throughout the fic. Of all the references, my favorite is the one made to Vore. Throughout the story, our FMC has many dreams where Sleep, the deity, appears to her. As her faith in Sleep deepens, he appears larger and larger in her dreams, culminating in her being swallowed whole in her dreams during the final chapters, which signifies her ultimate falling into faith with Sleep, and losing every bit of her pre-Eden self.

-The first scene I had ever written for this story was Chapter Ten (X) which was when the character of Jonah was ultimately killed for his attempt to leave Eden, and for also talking bad about Sleep. It wasn't just our FMC who tattled on him though; in my mind, Annabelle also told on him and his intentions directly to Vessel himself, in order to get on his good side, and potentially catch his eye out of jealousy of our FMC. Anyways, I showed this scene to my close friends, who absolutely loved it, inspiring me to actually expand on this idea and write an entire Sleep Token fanfic.

-Throughout the story, there is constant focus on white roses, with them being offered to our FMC, growing in the rose garden, and them being her and the vessels favorite flower. The white rose represents our FMC, because of her own purity and innocence that she sheds throughout the story. I also found it surprising that when TMBTE was released, in the titular track, the lyrics mention white roses as well.

- If you couldn't guess, our FMC is suffering from psychosis bordering on schizophrenia, and goes through the stages of a psychotic break throughout the story. It was a challenge to write a character in the first person who is struggling with a mental illness like psychosis and schizophrenia, and I hope I did it justice. I know there were some confusing parts during the story, but it was purposefully written to convey that our main character is out of touch with reality, isn't reliable, and couldn't tell what was real or what was a delusion, and since it was her telling her story, you, as the reader would only know what she is telling you, regardless of what was real or not.

This is the end of The End of Eden. If you enjoyed my feeble attempt at writing, make sure you follow my author page, as I am currently in the midst of writing other stuff as well, both fanfictions, and original content. If you have any questions, leave a comment! I always try to give comments a heart, and I will answer any questions you have.

If you are curious, my favorite Sleep Token songs are Give, followed by Nazareth, Ascensionism, then The Summoning. Also Vore. It's actually really hard for me to pick my favorites. Drag Me Under. Levitate. Hypnosis. I could go on.

But I am a Four stan, through and through.

And finally, thank you. For every single eye that read this, heart it received, comment made, and every add to a reading list, a fire burned brighter inside me, even if I wanted to - and did- give up halfway through. If you have made it this far, from the bottom of my heart, thank you. It is a scary thing to put your intellectual work out online for the world to see, but your support has meant the world to me.

I'll see you on the other side.

-V