Somewhere very, very far away , in a very dark, dark place, a subroutine was triggered.

  It received a report, analyzed it, and passed it along. Then, it deleted its memory of ever having seen or handled such information.

  In a blindingly fast chain of triggers, routines and subroutines, conditions, subterfuge and deception, the report was passed along. Until it reached its goal.

  Phew! That was a journey!

  Thank you so much for reading this far! I hope you have enjoyed seeing Nar and his party grow and Climb, face obstacle after obstacle, become better and stronger people (and closer too!), and that you've enjoyed all the mysteries and questions that we've encountered on the way up as part of the bigger plot of the series (which will all be answered one day!).

  I would also like to thank you all for your reviews, messages, comments and typo spotting and suggestions. This has been a fantastic journey for myself as a writer, and your feedback has been utterly precious in identifying the bits and parts that will need fixing in a future draft. The two biggest ones being more clarity and better execution around the Unclean VS Clean and Aura VS Aether points. So, honestly, I thank you so much for all your feedback and thoughts on the story.

  If you can, I would love to hear your closing thoughts of this arc in the comments below. Let me know what you think worked, what didn't, what you loved or hated!

  Speaking of learning experiences, as soon as I started releasing chapters, it's like life suddenly decided to kick things up by several notches and mess up all my plans. Unfortunately, that means that instead of having 7 chapters released per week as I had originally planed for, I will instead be releasing 5 chapters a week going forward (Mon-Fri). This is done in order to preserve the quality and to ensure that I'm faithful to the vision I have for this story. I need to write these arcs from beginning to end for continuity, then draft them (once, twice or more), until I'm happy with the end result, which takes me quite a bit of time. I hope that's okay with everyone, as I really, really want to put forth the best story that I can write!

  Going into book 2, like I mentioned before, you can expect the tone to be a bit lighter (away from dark, claustrophobic corridors, cannibals, Pressure and all that), for the worldbuilding to explode, and, hopefully, for Nar and the party to have a bit of a breathing room in which to explore their new reality and grow in new directions (until shit hits the fan again, hahaha)! I'm really excited to show everything that lies beyond those Gates to you all!

  And if you can spare the time, I would be really grateful of a review, rating or follow! These really help with the story visibility and in ensuring it's longevity! And if you know someone who you think might like the story, do recommend it to them!

  All in all, thank you everyone for coming on this journey with me! I hope we can continue together!

  All the best,

  Everhart