SPOILERS AHEAD
DON'T READ IF YOU SKIPPED HERE WITHOUT ACTUALLY FINISHING THE BOOK FOR SOME REASON

I wrote the first chapter of this book on September 7th, 2021 because I got into an argument with someone about whether or not immortality was a good power to have.

The idea of an immortal living throughout history had me excited enough to keep writing it, and I finished it in just around four months. It didn't have Set, there was no mythological concept, every chapter was incredibly short, and Maalik was actually a good person throughout the entire book.

I had the idea of adding the Seven Deadly Sins as an excuse to write more books with the same concept. So I rewrote the book and made Maalik's sin lust.

After very careful consideration, I changed it to wrath.

As far as the ending goes, the initial ending had Maalik die randomly only to find out his immortality ended. He sees Aisha in heaven and hugs her, and that's it. Then I changed it so he had to live for 63 million years. He dies after an asteroid strikes the Earth. Afterwards, I changed it to 7 billion years.

I eventually settled on 2.1 million after remembering that this book was initially supposed to be about Egyptology.

For a few years after the book's creation, Set as a character was never present. I didn't know how to incorporate a lion into the story. By the time I added him, he never spoke and only appeared for 2 seconds in a few chapters to confuse and potentially scare readers. I eventually made Set's role greater because having Maalik as the only reoccurring character didn't feel right. He needed an anchor.

And now we're here.

Of all the sins, what I really feel is pride. This was the first book I had ever written from start to finish without abandoning halfway through. I finished it because I loved what I wrote, even if I ended up disagreeing with myself later on down the road.

From the bottom of my heart, thank you for reading.

So, what's planned next?

Valerie has had a lot of secrets she never shared with Maalik, and even in the end, we never got to see what they were. Her book will answer all of it. It is not a sequel, nor is it a prequel.

Valerie's Path will showcase her origins in the Pre-Olmec era of South America, eventually reaching the rise and fall of the Mayan and Aztec Empires including other important tribes and civilizations. This also means there will be Mayan mythology to dive into and dozens of crazy historical facts I couldn't believe existed.

After her path, there will be five more entries. Though I already have plans for all of them, I will not share these plans for suspenseful reasons. Instead, I'll share the end banners. Most, if not all of them will change. But until then, this is what I've got.

I wish to explore every part of human history. While European history is overly discussed and has been fun to write about, I want to dive into lesser known parts. One book will be centered around African history (pre-slavery) and another will focus on Asian history as an example. All of them will include their own immortal protagonist that differs from the others because of one sin.

One last note to mention is that Maalik's Path was an experiment. I focused more on history than I did on the plot. That's because, the plot was added in revision and editing after I had already finished all the historical chapters.

It's why Maalik took so long to find the boat, talk to the gods, learn his fate and overcome his wrath.

This means every other entry will be primarily plot driven without losing any of the historical accuracy and themes. There will be crossovers between old and new characters, there will be plenty of real figures, and it will be fun.

This is why I love history.

It's got a billion stories just waiting to be told.

And I want to tell you all about it.