-Finis Cornata Opus-

(The End Crowns the Work)

FINAL THOUGHTS

When I began this epic story, I never imagined it would either grow to the size that it did, or achieve the popularity that it has (as of right now almost 1 million views) . I thought it would be 30,000 words, be read a few dozen times, and vanish into the aether never to be seen again. Obviously... that is not what happened. So I hope you'll indulge me one last time and let me say a few things before I disappear to move on to other projects.

Writing this story has been a journey like no other, it made me laugh, it made me cry, I studied a lot to get the details right and represent everyone and everything the way I believed they should be, out of respect for the real people who endure these trials, but also for those fictional characters who, despite not being of flesh and blood, lived lives within our own minds for those brief hours where you and I alike read them into being.

Some hard issues were tackled in this series and its connecting stories. Suicide, depression, PTSD, economic disparity, environmental science, love, loss, life, death, family, and so much, much more. In the course of writing this, the charitable donations that came my way paid for medicine and education in the third world, bought land for farmers, helped support schools, extended capital to businesses that had little access to any and helped pay for college attendance for the poor, it's also seen food given to food banks in exchange for double chapter releases, as well as blood donations for the same, and given what I have heard from people, this overarching story has even saved lives, with people writing in to say they saw themselves or a loved one in some of these stories, and were going to seek help as a result.

Writing this for you has never once been a chore, it has been a privilege, a pleasure, and a point of pride, because it was something that mattered to you. Writing in the end, is not just for the writer, it is for the reader, it is for the world. It is that little part of ourselves that we can give away without limits, it is a legacy of creation that makes companions out of people we will never meet. Whether you write fanfiction for Sonic the Hedgehog or are a New York Times best selling author, this remains true.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

Of course none of this probably would have happened without my discord members, and in particular the fantastic members of the beta reading team... some of whom I am CONVINCED only got started beta reading so they wouldn't have to wait for chapter releases. It's OK guys, I didn't mind. ;)

But also, I want to say thank you to the other wonderful authors out there, Jade Tatsu, Meisking1, ALearningMan, and of course, all those authors who said my work and my encouragement drove them to start writing. Do you know why? Because their energy gave ME energy. It was a spiral of positivity that only went up, and you all had a hand in that.

And of course, I want to thank every single reviewer, from those scathing ones who told me everything I was doing wrong in the hopes that I would improve, to the positive ones who couldn't wait for every new release and told me as much. Of course, even the Choosing Beggars merit a word, because even spite can be motivational, like when they'd tell me not to write a story, so I'd write it more out of sheer perversity. And of course the occasional attention seeking troll (a little different from the choosing beggar), who reminded me of just what kind of person I don't want to be, and helped drive me to produce even more material.

But for all that, there is one who stands head and shoulders above all...

The author himself who created the 'Overlord' Universe, if he should ever see this... I'm forever grateful for what you've given to us.

So in conclusion...

Thank you, thank you all so very much for reading all my work this far along, I wish every one of you long, rich, fulfilling lives.

(ALSO...UNRELATED NOTE... Think this will ever end up with a TVtropes page now?) :D

SHAMELESS PLUGS

Also, feel free to get started on my ORIGINAL work: Scales of Trust, at patr30n dot com /tellingstories (Support's the author's attempt at a writing career)

Support the illustration project at patr30n dot com /godrising (creates art for a God Rising pdf to be given away freely)

Or charity support at bdgiving dot org

Join the Overlord Fanfiction Discord (invite code is in my author page)