Well, It's finally over. Over a year of work has finally come to and end. And what an ending! How I came to such an obscure end, do not ask me. A lot can change in a year. If you were to read the story again, it would probably be quite obvious how my writing style has changed.
Chasm's plot was very strange, to say the least. At some times, I didn't even know what the hell was going on. I had the basic sequence of events plotted from the beginning, but they changed constantly. For example, the idea of Malachy being a 'good guy' was actually a joke at first. But then I thought, "wait a minute, a god that governs everyone's destiny isn't very nice now is it?"
A lot of the ideas were spur of the moment. For example, Aren's death was totally unexpected. I have no clue how I came upon that. I never really wanted Aren to travel to Megalensis, but I certainly had no intention to kill him! I was originally going to have him stay in Vargania with Maria after they defeated Vargan. But I really like super powerful beings, so I decided to demonstrate Ignis' power by vaporizing Vargania. So, with no Maria, I killed him.
Jezza's fate however, was set in stone. Ever since the beginning, I knew she had to die. How, I didn't know. But it had to be a sacrifice, I knew that. For a while, I was going to have her 'blow her self up' while in the Life Shaver. But when the battle with the Fire Force took place, I knew I had to oust that idea.
Another idea, that didn't last very long mind you, was to have Vargan somehow revive an ARMOR. After the Fire Force was defeated, the party would be too weak to fight against it. So Jezza would kill herself to defeat it.
Mathis' fate was sealed as well. I knew that he was going to sacrifice himself at the final battle. At first, he was going to sacrifice himself to defeat Malachy. But after Malachy 'became good', I changed it around a bit. He still died though.
Chasm had many alternate roads that it could have taken. I remember that I asked if it would offend anyone if I used the religious idea. Since no one protested, I went on. And personally, I really like the outcome. I did have an alternate path set up if I did in fact offend anyone. In the alternate version, Destiny would still be the villain, but there would be no God. The idea was that only one being in the plane of omnipotence could exist. Mathis would sacrifice himself to Malachy, making him omnipotent, and the two forces would cancel each other out.
Some of the scenes really scared me. My fingers went by themselves, and I didn't really notice what I was doing until it was too late. For example, the scene when Alex was 'inside' of Longinus when he killed Christ. When I proofed it, I nearly had a heart attack!
I really enjoyed Longinus' world. Especially the music. I hope it fit well to the scenes. I tried to use pieces that would fit, and that most everyone would know. I tried to create a world that was a combination of Heaven and Hell. Because of the isolation, it was kind of like Hell. However, Longinus was able to do anything he wanted, or listen to whatever he wanted.
Now, I want to give my thanks. I want to thank Hideaki Anno and all the rest of the nice folks at Gainax for creating a masterpiece as grand as Evangelion. You have no idea how much of that stuff can rub off on you after watching the damn thing multiple times. The latter part of the story, starting with 'the ascension of Taben' is when I really began to be influenced by the series. If you've seen the series, which I highly recommend, you would notice the, quite obvious, similarities.
Also, I want to thank God, no seriously, for helping me finish the story. If I didn't have such a profound increase in faith, I seriously don't think Chasm of Darkness would've been as good. Try to imagine the story without the Longinus scene, the Taben scene, and the rest of religious themes melded into the work.
But mostly, I'd like to thank my readers, how little that number may be. When at times I got bored with it, and thought of it as a pain, I thought of you guys. I knew how crappy it felt to be following a story, and then all of a sudden it gets discontinued. AAAAHHH! I did not want to spread that torment. And not to be offensive, but I loathe people who can't finish their work. I don't mind if it purely personal, but when you post it on the web you make a commitment. And that's a commitment that should not be broken.
Anyway, thank you for reading my story, and for helping me. I hoped you enjoyed the story as much as I did. Personally, I think it's pretty darn good for my first long term project. And now, I must be off. Off to begin my next quest. What lies ahead is yet to be seen. With the end of the old, comes the beginning of the new. The future is unknown and indefinite. The only definite in life is the past, and Chasm of Darkness is history.