36. P̶ O̶ W̶ E̶ R̶ :̶ D̶r̶e̶a̶m̶s̶ | Blacksdale

AFTERWORD

5 months.

922 pages.

1 big honkin' story.

Hi guys. I'm back again. I know it's been ages, and this story took forever to be completed (and probably to read, too), but I've returned at last. I also know that I've said this a lot before, but I remain inclined to repeat it: thank you to everyone who's stuck around this long. We are FOUR books away from the conclusion of the "Power" series, and boy, has it been a ride. I can't wait to show you all the climax that's been stuck in my mind for the past three years.

But first... let's talk about this story.

So for starters, I'm probably not gonna do a whole list of Easter Eggs per usual. If I do, I'll do it over time, adding more as I find and remember them. Mainly, I just want to talk about "Dreams/Blacksdale" as a whole. I've been wanting to do a story based on the original plan behind ZooPhobia for a while now, and initially, I planned for it to be about the length of the original trilogy stories (200-300 pages).

Unfortunately, as it stretched on and on, it became abundantly clear that this story was going to be significantly longer.

There was so much I wanted to do in this story, from the weird glitchy scene-shifts to the incorporation of other ZooPhobia adaptations. Among my favourite topics were: 

1. Addison and Veronika's relationship

2. Kayla's new personality

3. Sahara's forcefield dilemma

4. Crafting Charlie's new/old character

5. Dove & Death

6. Eve as the Black Queen

7. The overall mystery

8. Alternate realities

9. The other Liam, Val, and Zeon

10. And, of course, Mallory.

Not necessarily in that order.

But let's talk about them in that order anyways!

Addison/Veronika Dynamic

Ever since I found out about Veronika, I had a plan for her and Addison to be able to interact as normal siblings, even while developing her "Devourer" persona. Here, in "Dreams", I finally got to bring that idea to life. They have a classic sibling rivalry, but display an intense loyalty and love for each other. I wish I could've made more stories with them interacting like this, but with the way the storyline is going, I doubt there'll be many more opportunities for it. Still, I enjoyed incorporating their brother/sister relationship into this story, as well as showing Veronika as... well, as a normal person. She needed a break from all the "Devourer" nonsense, in my opinion.

Kayla's New Groove

The Kayla seen in the Cthylla's dreamworld is a far cry from the one that exists outside of it. She is crass, broody, aloof, and at times, downright cruel. In addition to this, despite her adherence to her religious upbringing, she insults, curses, and swears at others freely, subsequently crossing herself to make up for it (not that she means it). Her relationship with Zill is completely different from the source material, with her being almost entirely antagonistic toward him until the story nears its end. This Kayla is also an ambitious vigilante, juxtaposed against Zill's identity as Blacksdale's "hero" and implying that she is more out of favour with the B.D.A. than he is. (This is also referenced in the "Sophia vs. Drakkis" scenes; more on those later.)

Sahara's Fuchsia Forcefield

Sahara is one of the only characters who sports complete and total awareness of the outside world in this story. Unfortunately, she spends all of it trapped in a cage of her own making: a forcefield raised seconds before Cthylla took everyone into the dreamworld. Despite this, Sahara's indomitable will and refusal to give up on revealing the truth leads her to become a major catalyst for the destruction of the Mad Queen's mad world.