Spires of Infinity Chapter 44

I've finished and uploaded the first draft of Spires of Infinity Chater 44 and it can be downloaded at the bottom of this page.

This chapter is the battle between the outnumbered defenders of the Spires of Infinity and the Apostle's army. It's also Kari's Climax/resolution. Again, as with the other two characters whose viewpoints are used to tell this story the climax is more of an internal sort of thing. Kari triumphs over a darkness that has been eating her away on the inside.

This was a bit of a hard chapter to write, because the protagonist (Kari in this chapter) must either convert, or completely destroy the antagonist, which is the Apostle. However, she CAN'T do either of those as it will ruin Gabriel's triumph over her which we already saw a couple chapters ago. This event has not happened yet for Kari and the Apostle, but it has for Gabriel. They are in the girls' future but Gabriel's past. Even though those events came earlier in the story itself, they haven't happened yet for Kari. (Isn't time travel fun?) So I had to give her an enemy that she COULD defeat, rather than one she had to let get away, and that enemy was herself. Unfortunately, I haven't built this up very much in this draft, and so it seems like what it is, something I thought of at the last moment to fix a problem with the plot that I didn't see before I got to it. In later drafts I will be adding bits about her insecurities and over protectiveness and fears so that it can become an actual tangible entity that she will have to defeat. Also with this chapter I had to invent a new power for the Apostle, but it goes with the others I've already given her. She can make people see their greatest fears, and force them to face what they hate about themselves. But, as this is only the first of 4-6 drafts or so, I'm allowed to have huge gaping holes in the plot and make crap up as I go along.

The first draft of this story is now at 161,430 words out of an estimated 170,000. There is only one chapter left and an epilogue and the first draft is finished. I'll probably end below 170k, but we'll see. The only thing left is letting the paradox hit and tying up loose ends.