Author's Notes: Cometh the Hour

**PROLOGUE:**

But what happened to the light gem? ‘Tis a mystery.

Anyways, I don’t yet have a clear idea about the first war
against the maelstrom, and the Mythrans, and the First Builders, and all that
jazz… but I’m laying some groundwork. I have to admit, that’d be a pretty
kickass prequel. Who were the original gem-wielders? Yeah, that’d be super cool…

**CHAPTER ONE: AN ATTENDEE**

Don’t be so rude, Lux. The Minithrans *are* perfectly nice. They just don’t have the same drive as you, you
wierdo. I can forgive, though – if only because the mental image of him
“slithering” out of bed is one I find hilarious.

Yes, for clarification, neither Lux nor Izora are
Minithrans. Lux’s backstory (being found as a baby by the canyon) was gone over
in Maelstrom, so no real mystery there (aside from who would leave a baby by a
canyon). As for Izora? I don’t want to say it outright, but anyone who’s been
paying attention can probably guess her story.

**CHAPTER TWO: LEAD ON, DARLING**

*Therizinovenator*
is a name I came up with when looking at dinosaur names, realised they were all
based on Latin, and remembered that *Venator*
was Latin for hunter. The actual creature is based on the real-life *Therizinosaurus*, which had the longest
arms in natural history – when they originally found the creature’s claws, they
thought they were the ribs of a giant turtle. However, the creature was actually
a plant-eater, having evolved the claws as a way to reach up and drag down plant
life to eat – and as a defence against predators.

Also, Lux is really bad at socialising, lol.

Why did she call him “darling”? Another mystery. It could
have actually been a blow to the head, she could think that’s she’s dying
(being something of a drama queen) and decide to not go out before… I don’t
know. But before anyone asks, Izora’s crush on Lux is monster-sized, and the
only reason he hasn’t realised already is because of just how *dense* he is. This issue will almost
definitely rear its head again over the course of the story – though whether or
not it’ll be resolved is, of course, another matter entirely.

**CHAPTER THREE: IANTHE**

God, it’s really satisfying to read back over this scene –
it’s one that I’ve had in mind for years. I think the original idea is based on
the book “Frozen in time”, where two kids from the twentieth century find two
kids from the *nineteenth* century in
cryo-stasis in their backyard. By this point, the scene is almost completely
different, which is nice, but I think that’s where I originally had the idea.

Why is time a gem/element? It is a mystery.

But yeah, I wanted to do this for a long time – even wrote a
version or two of it at one point – but it only got out there recently (at the
time of writing).

Who is/was the skellington? One of the scientists. Which
scientists? Background info is that this was a science experiment gone horribly
wrong.

And who is Ianthe…? WELL.

First thing’s first: she is a gem-wielder. The fourth to be
introduced (not counting Lila Valkyrie, who is a strictly KotOS character). She
wields the gem of time, and is a peer in strength to Dante, Neil, and Alizarin.
\*insert dramatic music here\*. You know, despite planning this all for years (or
possibly BECAUSE I was planning this for years), Ianthe has changed hilariously
as a character over time. When she started off, she was basically Rose 2.0,
until I twigged “Y’know, these characters are pretty similar”, and gave Ianthe
much more backbone. I also ended up making some major reworks about a week
before releasing this chapter. She used to be of a diminutive stature, but
she’s lot a lot taller and more muscular. She also had just straight blue eyes,
instead of the eyes that change colour (which is very deviantart OC of me, I
know – I figured it would be a cool differentiation and show that she’s a
little more alien in nature than one might expect), and… I’m still not entirely
sure how long her hear is. Also, she wasn’t called “Ianthe” for years. She used
to have a different name, too. Fancy that.