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~ Extended Synopsis ~

When does a man become a monster?

Is it when he reaches his breaking point? When he loses sight of his humanity and the person he once was? When a selfless intent to protect the ones he loves goes astray? Or, is it when the hero reaches a point in his life where he realizes he truly has nothing to lose?

For each person, the answer varies but for Issac Finkelstein, you could say his journey to becoming a monster involved a bit of everything.

But we're getting ahead of ourselves here because before he became a monster, he was a man.

A man trying to move on from the tragedies and hardships he endured. A man trying to be there for his daughter while he tried to hide his secrets from her. A man who trying to keep the darkness and the shadows from drowning him as he kept his demons at bay.

He was just a man, but the prophecy didn't care. No, the prophecy dictated that he would become a monster, but before he became a monster, he had to first become a villain.

So, this is the beginning of that journey and at the start, Issac had no intention on being a villain, but then again, no one ever does. For you see, before he became a villain, Issac was still just a man — a man trying to ignore the temptations of the dark.

Beforehand, it was never a problem for him as Issac lived a good life [ignoring the past he had before he integrated himself into Fairytopia's societal system]. He had a family who loved him and friends who enjoyed his presence. There were some challenges that he and his family faced along the way, sure, but for the most part, life for him was truly going well...

Until it wasn't.

When Issac first got faced with hardships, he never quite got a good grasp at handling the grief that followed. As the hardships pressed on, so did his inability to properly deal with the grief and pain that followed after as this mindset seemed to continue for years.

So when his adoptive eldest child, Jaxon, disowns him [and his daughter] after blaming the two for Lillian [his adoptive youngest daughter]'s disappearance, the action serve as a gateway for the darkness to arrive and it hasn't left since the night the shadows first made itself known to him.

So, Issac has spent the past two hundred years {equivalent of two human years} trying to ignore the whispers of the shadows that followed, the alluring voices trying to lure him into the darkness and the magnetic-like pull the shadows had over him. But while he did his best to ignore those things, he soon found there was one thing he couldn't ignore: his reoccurring nightmare.

Maybe, his reoccurring nightmare was meant to be a reminder of what would inevitably happen to him or maybe, it was more of a metaphorical meaning of what would happen if he didn't find a way to properly move on.

Either way, his reoccurring nightmare started and ended the same.

Issac would fall from the sky until he landed in the sea of a black abyss. Once he landed in the sea, he would feel cold, undead hands wrap around him — almost forcibly trying to suffocate him.

He would pull against the hands, trying in vain to free himself from the abyss, but his efforts were pointless because the darkness always got its way.

So after the cold, undead hands succeeded in pulling him under, he would find himself submerged in the black, ink-like sea and wake up gasping for air from the nightmare he endured.

Every night for the past two hundred years, he relieved the same nightmare, endured the same outcome and woke up to go through the same cycle again. All while he tried to suppress the darkness that threatened to drown him...

It was hard, but it helped that he had his daughter, 211-year-old Aaliyah [or just Aliya as she went by] to keep him grounded.

It also helped that life had somewhat improved for them and things were looking up for his daughter [who, like him, went through a lot in her lifetime]. It was a strange sort of normal for them, but they made it work. As such, he could manage to keep the darkness — and his demons — at an arm's length.

Unfortunately, the universe had different things in mind for the two for a prophecy hung over them.

The prophecy spoke of shadows and the darkness Issac was destined to bring into his world and that of another. It spoke of monsters who would resurface and wreck havoc on the two worlds.

It spoke of a war that would determine Avalon's fate and a fight that will either claim his life or that of his daughter for the two were one and the same; their fates intertwined as Aliya was the light to his shadow.

Through her, Issac was at a balance — a balance the universe wanted to viciously break in order to set the prophecy in motion and thrust him into a destiny that was set out for him — and Aliya [though she didn't know] — to follow.

Issac has always considered himself to be good at keeping the darkness hidden and the shadows at bay. But the darkness and the shadows can be pretty persuasive... Especially in the right circumstances.

So when Issac reveals his powers and exposes himself as the last shadow witch, suddenly his daughter isn't the only one wanted.

With his secret and his powers out, the shadows and the darkness that he tried to keep at bay get a taste of freedom that results in him struggling to control the very things he let out.

As the shadows and the darkness festers, Aliya tries her best to help him, but tragically, not even she can stop what's to come. For even the shadows are capable of eclipsing the light and in its presence, no one is safe as in the end...

Darkness always wins.

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~ Author's Corner ~

Hey! 👋🏾

First of all, how are you all doing? How's your day (or night) been? How's life? If things aren't going great or if you've hit rock bottom, just remember there's only one way to go and that's up. ♥️

{Also yes, I did just reference Buster Moon's quote from Illumination's Sing in case any of you got that.}

Secondly, welcome!

If this is your first time being here, it's great to meet you. If it's not your first time and you've read some of my other stuff [or if you read The Monster Within], then welcome back!

For those of you familiar with my previous book, The Monster Within, this book will serve as a soft reboot/a updated version/replacement of that book. As such, some of the things that initially occurred in the book will still remain while some stuff will be altered and other things will be incorporated.

Thirdly, to those who've noticed my prolonged absence/silence on here... I'm not dead. I've just been incredibly busy as a second-year uni student and haven't really found the time to be active.

Even now, I won't really be that active with finals under way soon, but I thought I could [at least] try to be on for a bit.

I would love to at least get the pilot out of the way before finals start, but we'll see. Most likely, I'll have to go list this project as coming soon, but if I can get the opening chapter out, then it would at least provide a start for me... but again, we'll see.

With the logistics out of the way, let me address some things in regards to this project of mine.

1. This book contains LBGTQIA+ characters!

I'm not sure if anyone actually cares about this, but I'll have this part listed in the event I get some not-so-nice-things about the sexualities and/or gender regarding some of the characters.

Several characters in this book fall under the LBGTQIA+ umbrella, including the main protagonist, Issac Finkelstein, who [despite being single in this trilogy] is poly as he was in a relationship with two women, whose names will be known in the pilot unless you're some of the ones out there who read The Monster Within. If this applies, then you know who I'm talking about.

As such, his poly relationship {though not the term itself} will be explicitly mention as he {and the other characters} reference the two.

2. This book will deal with sensitive topics!

If you read The Monster Within or Part of Your World {one of the books that take place before the current trilogy... that also needs to get rewritten}, you already have an idea of what to expect.

For the new people out there, I'll be honest with you. While this book will have its cute and wholesome moments, this book will include not-so-cute-and-wholesome moments.

Though it was only mentioned in the extended synopsis, this book will explicitly display and reference murder since it's a frequent concept in this book. Furthermore, this book contains explicit use of violence among other things. In addition, this book will dive into certain themes like fate-and-destiny [which plays a major role all throughout the three books].

To combat this, I will write trigger warnings at the front of a chapter, if I feel there is something that needs a warning [I'm usually good at detecting sensitive topics, but if I miss something, feel free to let me know].

3. This book will have two protagonists, but the main focus of the first book is Issac [not his daughter].

Issac is the main focus [or the main protagonist] as a lot of the plot points are centered on him. As such, he'll have a instrumental role on shaping the narrative for this book for the other two books that follow. These two factors are ultimately the reason why I chose Issac as the main focus.

This is not to say that Aliya isn't important to the plot, because she is. The girl literally kicks off the plot, so she definitely plays a major role in this book. As a major character, I'll tell segments of the story from her perspective and what not. It's just for plot-related elements, it will be centered on her father [as her own plot points will be intertwine into the main plot line that her father carries].

4. The names of the "episodes" [or chapters] will lean towards the darkness and shadows theme... unless stated otherwise.

Because this book exclusively deals with shadows and darkness, I've decided to lean in that theme with the titles of these "episodes" [or chapters]. That's not to say, all of the episodes will follow this theme, but it'll mostly correspond with the general idea of this book.

5. Despite this being a product of my creation, I do not own everything that is in this book.

I briefly listed all that I don't own in the description section of the book, but just to go and reiterate: I don't own Sonic, the 2012's version of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, Mario Kart or Henry Danger. In addition, there will be characters used in this book that are not mine.

The characters that are not mine will belong to either GeekyCookie1 or Sci-Briana14 [depending on the character(s)] as my online sisters/besties were kind enough to let me feature their characters in this book.

Additionally, some of the concept ideas used in this book are created by GeekyCookie1 as she helped me shape the foundation of this unique fandom of mine, so shout out to Kiki! ♥️

As such, I'll dedicate a credit section to showcase the things/characters that I don't own rather than list all of the characters in each chapter [I realized it was quite tedious and it wasn't as organized as I wanted it to be, so hopefully, having a designated page will be more effective].

...

Those are the main things I can think of at the top of my head right now, but if you have any questions for me, please feel free to ask! I don't bite, promise!

I would love to know your thoughts... even if I am painstakingly slow at responding or spontaneously go inactive [I swear it's not intentional — it just happens and I'm sorry to those who affected by my prolonged absence].

Also! In case you didn't notice I tried out a new aesthetic, styling format that I made for this book! What do you think? Personally, I think it's cute and I think it might end up as the main format for my future books/projects. I also don't own any of the gifs, but I did make the book cover.

This is also random, but if I did a second part that contained a playlist/the general vibe of the book and some aesthetics for the characters, would that be something you would be interested in? Would any of y'all be interested in seeing a 'cast' list too? Or, nah? Let me know your thoughts! ♥️

Oh, this is completely irrelevant but Issac's face claim on the cover is Riz Ahmed. He's a British actor and rapper who starred in several movies including Nimona and Venom to name a few.

In addition to being British, he's considered to be the first Muslim to be nominated for an Oscar, but yeah! If anyone has any other interesting facts about him, please feel free to share! ♥️

Thank you for checking out The Shadow Within and I'll see you all [hopefully] next time!