May 25, 2023
Hi, it's me! I'm alive! *Waves enthusiastically* :D
It's been nine years since I've updated this story. Every now and then I try to pick it up again, but...I just can't pull it together. I actually have about five pages written for the next chapter, but the block is real and keeps me from breaking through. I can't pick up the flow from where I stopped writing the chapter.
Since the pandemic, I thought that you, the readers, deserve to know how it ends. I don't usually plot my stories in advance – I write organically and just let the words come – but I actually sat down and made bullet points just so that I can share something.
So that, perhaps, you and I can have some closure.
Below is how Nocte Yin ends. (Though, it doesn't really end in my head.)
I hope this will give us the conclusion we've been seeking.
THE END
Groups
- Nocte et al: Nocte Yin, Aman Rafiki, Pyralis Markku, and Corliss Erskine
- Paine et al: Necrosis Paine, Ladomer Noir, Harrier Seo, Xylene Seo, and Killian Witley
- Delano et al: Delano Yang, Doctor Lucent, Kardos Prosperitas, and Morven Freesia
Part Two
- Nocte, Pyralis, and the Winds leave Evil Academy to meet up with Aman, Sterling, and Corliss at Lucent territory
- They are intercepted by Melantha (Paine's s sister), Acanthus (Paine's brother), and Ladomer Noir and his band of merry men: Killian Witley (yes, Necrosis Paine gets a Witley), Harrier Seo, and Xylene Seo (Harrier is the older brother)
- Doctor Lucent et al, arrive to the rescue, but no one is fighting
- Noir et al approaches Nocte et al, saying that they do not like that the Blackthorns were upsetting the status quo. To put things right, Noir plans to travel to Esrat to retrieve Paine, where he is stuck, just as Nocte and Doctor had been stuck on Earth. He invites Nocte et al to go with them. He tells them that Delano Yang is also stuck on Esrat, as Delano is the hero to Paine's villain in the Academy's Last Project
- Doctor also wants to join in retrieving Delano, but is worried about leaving Erisire because of the political issues with Freesia territory. Although Doctor is not the heir of the Lucent Clan, he holds sway as being the strongest healer, as well as being friends to the Freesia heirs
- Nocte et al agrees to join Noiret al without Doctor, and they head to Esrat with a stolen Key
- Esrat:
o Magic is heady – so strong that Nocte et al choke and have trouble protecting themselves from the weight, like the pollution on Earth
o Steampunk, windpunk, and solarpunk thrive
o Matriarchal society
- Because Esrat and Earth are sister planets, the prophecy is at play on Esrat as well
o Delano Yang = The Light
o Necrosis Paine = The Darkness
o Singer = singing man from intermission chapter
o The Great Evil = to be awakened
- On Esrat, they rescue the Singer and his brother from their female captors
o Corliss becomes almost BFF with the Singer – completely platonic
- They find Paine, worshipped by dark magicians from a suppressive matriarchal kingdom, and Delano, supported by a democratic empire where men have rights and freedoms, in the midst of heavy war
o Noir et al sides with Paine
o Nocte et al stays neutral — only wants to stop the prophecy and the complete destruction of Esrat
- To complete The Final Project, Paine summons The Great Evil and Delano coaxes the Singer to sing
- The Great Evil breaks open the land and kills the World/Sealing Tortoise before it awakens
o Simultaneously, Nocte and NPCs all fall into the crack
o It would be death, but Nocte is saved by Paine — catching hold of her hand from the edge of the crevice
- Paine is tired of The Final Project, especially as Noir is injured by The Great Evil's callous behaviour
- Nocte uses her patented Death Glare to slow The Great Evil's approach and Paine beheads him before Delano could
- Nocte et al, Paine et al, and Delano return to Erisire
Part Three
- The prophecy is at play on Erisire
o Savvy Deadwood = Singer (need to rewrite earlier books to have scenes of Savvy singing A LOT, "melodious voice," etc.)
o Terrian Darkhour = The Darkness
o Corliss = The Light
o The Great Evil = to be awakened (contemplated in making Vanessa Blackthorn as The Great Evil, but I don't think I'm willing to *SPOILER* kill her off – HAHAHA!)
- Nocte et al and Paine et al hear that the Freesias (underwater kingdom in continent Iavindine) and the Kheftneys (desert kingdom in continent Iavindat kingdom) are at war – the land masses are connected
- Singer and The Darkness are being kept at Iavindat under the Khefteys and Blackthorns
o The Kheftey Clan have allied themselves with the Blackthorns because the Blackthorns are assisting the Khefteys in suppressing the Freesias – once and for all
- The Yins, like the Paines, do not like the disruption of the status quo, with Blackthorns having too much power
- Occult is in Iavindat, keeping watch on the Khefteys/Blackthorns
- Dire has an army ready to suppress the Khefteys/Blackthorns
- Gash and Ebony are on the Zyrinth continent (floating islands), speaking with the Bloodstone Clan, trying to form an alliance against the Blackthorns by offering Occult as a concubine to Incubus Bloodstone
- Nocte et al, Paine et al, Delano et al (Doctor Lucent, Kardos Prosperitas, Morven Freesia), and Sterling Argent join forces and head to Zyrinth, hoping to speak to the Yins and Bloodstones
- Nocte visits Ebony in Zyrinth
o Ebony is pregnant
o Nocte encounters a Joyful Sower (the counterpart to a Grim Reaper)
- Incubus Bloodstone agrees to an alliance upon speaking with Nocte et al, Paine et al, and Delano et al about the prophecy
o The Bloodstones were skeptical of the prophecy until now
- Everyone arrives on Iavindat with the following plan:
o Yins, Bloodstones, and Paines (Paine's siblings: Melantha and Acanthus) act as distractions by asking for an audience with the Kheftneys
o Nocte et al, Paine et al, Delano et al, the Hēis (Siyamak, Ohanzee, Bronwen, and Merle), and the Opals (Ayers, Jade, Garret, Emi) infiltrate the Kheftneys' palace from FIVE different areas, in hopes of rescuing the Singer
§ FUN FACT: Siyamak is actually bisexual and in a relationship with Xiāng Huā, one of the grandmasters of the Dark Moon Sect, who is transgender
- Nocte finds Terrian Darkhour instead, based on Priti's direction
o Priti suggests that Lord Sheut Kheftey is under the pressure of the clan elders to eliminate the Freesias and did not want the whole destruction of the world...which would be pointless
- Nocte tries to convince Darkhour to not summon The Great Evil
- Darkhour says too late and that they cannot save Erisire
o He shows Nocte to Savvy's "room" (prison) and there is a scar along Savvy's throat
o The Singer has been permanently silenced
o The Blackthorns did not want to make the same mistake as with the Singers of Earth and Esrat
- Darkhour always wanted to prove that he is better than his brother and can play on the same level as the Powerhouses (need to rewrite earlier books to play out his history)
Last Battle
- Darkhour summons The Great Darkness
- Corliss does all she can to heal Savvy
- Darkhour goes to deal the killing blow on Corliss and Savvy
- Nocte blocks with her body
- Darkhour kills Nocte
- Nocte dies, talks to Death, gets resurrected
o A self-resurrecting necromancer?! (Yes, why not? What's the point of have an over-powered main character if I can't make her overcome her greatest fear?)
o She also heard a lullaby in the background near the end of her conversation with Death...coaxing her back to the living
- When Nocte becomes conscious again, her head is in her mother's lap
o Malise is lucid!
- Umbra is standing above them
- Darkhour is subdued on the ground by a BEYOND FUCKING ANGRY Gash (Darkhour did not put up a fight)
- Occult has cleared the area around them, ready to scramble Darkhour's brain to oblivion
- Dire and A VERY PREGNANT Ebony are present and equally livid
o Opals and Hēis surrounding the family unit
- BASICALLY ALL OUR FAVES ARE PRESENT TO DEAL SOME YIN-HĒI-OPAL DAMAGE
- Corliss and Savvy watch the group in SHOCK
- The battle rages on
- Doctor, Delano, and Paine have surrounded The Great Darkness, holding the creature at bay
- Then, faintly, Nocte hears someone singing her name...
- In all the dust and grit of the battleground, Nocte spots Chantee (Earth's Singer) calling her name – the lullaby she heard when she was dead!
- Then another voice harmonizes with Chantee's and it's Esrat's Singer
- THE WINDS DELIVERED!
- Chantee and Esrat's Singer wake the World/Sealing Tortoise
- Umbra joins Doctor, Delano, and Paine in fight against The Great Darkness
- The Great Darkness is paralyzed under the power of the World/Sealing Tortoise, trying to break away from the sealing magic
- Nocte's Death Glare holds Vanessa Blackthorn and followers of The Great Darkness at bay
- Corliss deals the killing blow with Sterling Argent's dropped bow and arrow
Epilogue
- Umbra does not remember much of his life, but he remembers and feels the love for Malise
o Nocte sometimes catches glimpses of affection in his eyes when he looks at her at times
o Perhaps, in time, he'll recover his memories
- Malise recovers from her depression and psychosis, but continues to be easily fatigued
- Gash retreats from politics to rebuild the Yin Clan, which still hasn't fully recovered from Umbra's death the year before
- Ebony gives birth to a beautiful baby girl, Vanity Opal, and nests in comfort
o She assists with Gash in navigating the drama of the Yin Clan
o She continues with planning her wedding, which was postponed from Umbra's death and all the prophecy nonsense
o She chooses to hold her wedding ON NOCTE'S ESTATE! (THE FUCKING HORROR!)
o (Malise is HAVING THE TIME OF HER LIFE with her first grandchild and PLANNING A WEDDING)
- Occult continues her education at Evil Academy and becomes the Yin's political representative in the Imperial Xonese Court
- Dire returns to his empire and establishes a few very strategic embassies around the world, as well as making several very choice real estate investments in certain countries...(and allowing a few Yins to reside in said real estate investments)
o Dire starts designing a garden (i.e., labyrinth) for Nocte's estate, hoping for it be completed JUST IN TIME for Ebony's wedding
- Nocte graduates from Evil Academy — with fucking honours
o She panics about Ebony's impending wedding ON HER ESTATE
o She panics about the LABYRINTH Dire is constructing ON HER ESTATE
o She panics as the The Yin Zodiac shapeshifter demons (I don't remember what I called them) start building 12 guard towers on the edges of HER ESTATE
o The Winds are chilling (lounging by the river, sunglasses, spiked lemonade – all that jazz...and probably taking some names)
§ They deserve a vacation after everything that's happened
o Noir and Bloodstone are looking forward to visiting her estate for Ebony's wedding
o CHAOS, CHAOS, CHAOS
o BUBBLE TEA AND CROISSANTS AND ICED COFFEE AND CAKE
o (Nocte secretly loves preparing her estate for a wedding – SQUEEE!!!)
o She loves her niece even more, who visits her every time Ebony visits to survey HER WEDDING VENUE
o Malise sometimes joins Ebony on her visits
o On one such visit, with Umbra tagging along, Malise takes Nocte aside and kindly, softly, gently suggests to Nocte that perhaps she'd like to pursue a Masters at Nyx University on Zyrinth
o Malise sets an application on Nocte's desk when she leaves
o The series ends with Nocte filling the application under the full moon, sitting on a picnic blanket by the river, lantern aglow, fireflies and moths, thermos of tea and finger sandwiches at her side – her horse Xiong lying down behind her, her raven Yong in the sky – Winds and Yin Zodiac demons guarding from far, far away – Farhat's feet playing in the river – the ghostly, fragmented silhouette of Death faintly in the background
- AND THEY LIVED HAPPILY EVER AFTER OKAY?!
xxx
Lastly, I want to thank everyone for reading this series.
Thank you for being on this journey with me as I developed my writing skills and my own identity. I started Nocte Yin when I was a teenager in 2006, and reading how the story and writing changed throughout the years has been fascinating to me – Nocte Yin is my magnum opus and a reflection of me throughout those years.
A growth in 8 years that has been one of the best and most defining experiences in my life. It's hard to believe that it's been 17 years since I started writing Nocte Yin (remember when it was Nocte Yang?). (My husband is weirdly proud that "I" have a TV Tropes page, and I hope one day that my son can better understand me through Nocte when he's older.)
I appreciate your support and patience with me over the years. I never wanted to disappoint, but Nocte, I feel, was always about writing for me and I had to stop for me too.
I was and still am extremely grateful for all your interest and investment in my world and characters – your positive words built me up at times when I really needed it (especially when I was feeling like a lonely and nobody teenager). Every review, comment, and message have been priceless.
You have no idea how much I appreciate you.
Thank you, thank you, thank you.
Zhen Xue Qing
甄雪清