Dat hiatus.

I'm Cozy, and my humblest thanks to you guys for reading Words of Power quest. I hope you've enjoyed the story thus far.

As the title says, this series will suffer a short hiatus. I'm approaching the exams that's held at the end of February. Don't worry, though! March and April are going to be filled with free days for me to continue this story with ease in mind, at least until I return back to school on April 22nd, where my Major Project begins. Until then, I have no clue as to how I will continue this little story. Rest assured, when I return from the hiatus, I'll bring a triple chapter or something magnificent amongst those lines.

Enough about myself, let's talk a little bit about the story. The first conceptualization of the Words of Power began when I was just staring into space, trying to conjure a tragedy that was both epic, yet tragic.

A young boy, abandoned by his final pillar of emotional support (A woman whom he treats as an elder sister figure), goes absolutely berserk. He used the word "定" to "set" his status as "constant", and then "set" the gravity around him into 15 times its original strength. The bunch of gangsters, men and women alike, are all forced to kneel. Those who just gave in collapsed onto the floor, while those who struggled could do no more than lift themselves up by a few inches.

The boy took an iron pipe in his hands, and proceeded to beat the leader of the gang senseless, to the point where his brains splattered out into a grotesque mess on the floor. When he was finally tired, he set the gravity around him to be sixty fold of what it originally was, causing every human around him to be forced toward the ground so hard the concrete cracked, and blood oozed from them all.

A pretty fine, messy short story indeed.

2011, when I was asking around for an animation I could watch, I was recommended Deltora Quest to watch. To be honest, I liked that story. The concept of magic, medieval theme, and the age of chilvalry fit the theme well.

Aha, I see you guys are thinking what I was thinking back then.

"I should probably replace those 7 gemstones into words, and make a similar setting for my story!"

And so, the Words of Power Quest, was born.

Well, except, Words of Power Quest is indeed different from Deltora Quest.

The entire framework is pretty similar. Deltora Quest has the young boy Lief set out to hunt for the 7 Gemstones of the land, to form a Belt of Deltora which was believed to be a holy artifact against what is known as the Shadow Lord. Katachi, the semi-protagonist in Words of Power Quest, similarly sets out on a traveling adventure across the lands and seas in search of the Words of Power. You can blame me for spoiling it here, but there are actually 292 Words of Power, and a hidden 293rd Word of Power. (Of course, they are also different - The 7 Gemstones has a definite, set location where it would appear, while the 292 Words of Power could appear anywhere, for its carriers may have died while fleeing, or placed their Words of Power into hidden hands, etc.)

Deltora Quest also talks of its own world in a strange fashion, a mythical, unknown world with laws common to our own (spare the magic and the ghosts and the like) as much as Words of Power Quest speaks of its worlds and lords, and how they have their own Gods as well. It's often depicted this way because our normal world is set and defined in history, and to derive at something that did not exist in our reality using whatever we have is beyond this realm.

Similar as they may seem, they are also fundamentally different. Lief was *spoiler* apparently the son of King Endon and Queen Sharn, *spoiler end* while Katachi is the son of a renowned Word of Power Hunter, Kotsuba Musashi, and his mother... Well, I wouldn't talk that far in for fear of spoilers. It's nothing much anyway, his parents are minor characters. (lol)

Lief has what people would address as "Nobility's Blood" within himself, a recurring theme in many adventure stories. Katachi has a similar drive, but it is merely the desire of a fool given the power to achieve it. They're similar, and different at the same time - If a stereotypical hero was to fight a villain, it would be classic, but if an old beggar on a street suddenly got up, armed himself with brass knuckles in his hands, and proceeded to punch the shit out of the villain who's just walking down to the local bakery? And then the beggar proceeds to rob and take everything the villain has, throw the body in a dumpster, and lives his new life impersonating the villain? ...

... Yeah. That's what I'm getting at. They're similar in that they are both sources of motivation, but fundamentally different in the reasons behind their actions.

Lief was known to travel with a trusty old fogey (lol) Barda, and met Jasmine, Filli and Kree in the forest early on, before meeting many other acquaintances around the world. Katachi also has a similar, yet different approach to this which, well, you'll just have to wait until I write that far. I can say this though, unlike Lief who has had multiple companions throughout the journey, Katachi's getting only one companion for the rest of the journey. (He's powerful enough to take out any and every city anyway, if you give him a dictionary.) ^o^

Deltora Quest is based around good and evil, in a bright light - The Gems are good, the Shadow Lord is evil, a definite line is drawn between good and evil clearly in that rhapsody. However, in WoP Quest, it is starkly different. There is no world-rule that states that you cannot use the Words of Power for justice, nor with malice. Everyone has their own story to tell, everyone has their own beliefs, and in whoever's hands, the Words of Power *will* bring out the best, or the worst, in any character.

Of course, there will also be some classic twists in the story as it rolls out. I'm making the companion Katachi's traveling with... unique. That companion has a standard, yet very unique story, in which it would most likely drag both of them into deep, deep trouble not-so-very soon.

This story, unlike Deltora Quest which delays the romance towards the end of series, is going on a new route. It's going to be a heart-rending adventure, where you guys will delight at the happy moments, and depress at the sad moments. I'm making it really good. You can guess and speculate the relationship between Katachi and Bael all you want, but... Heeheehee. Just wait for it.

Lief's adventure shows of Lief maturing from a rash, hot-headed arrogant careless idiot into a careful, meticulous king. Of course, that is a given from how a person has to eventually grow up. However, Words of Power Quest is going by a significantly different route. It's a tragic story by nature, and it shows the slow descent of Katachi into madness and desperation as he struggles to fight the battle both physically and mentally.

I hope you enjoy the next chapter that I'd be releasing probably on March 2nd, or 3rd, or even 5th if I want to make heavy edits, and the like. Because the next release is also going to start on the second protagonist's view, Katachi's companion. If you've been at my wall, you know her name already : R*****a.

Katachi just took Cillian, the finalist down. But that's the finalist who lost, not the champion who won. Look forward to it.

Cozy T.W. Signing off.