Androxine Vortex
Archmage
I have a four part series (tetralogy I guess you could say) that I am working on and I took a look at my first novel's ending. Let me break down the novel for you (going to skip a lot of details) and you tell me if it sounds like a cliffhanger ending:
-Basically, the MC is betrayed by his patron and God and he and some other survivors from his city flee to the icy mountains of the north.
-There they find lost shrines and temples to demons of old and they make pacts with out of revenge and for immortality
-Long time passes here, lots of going around re-activating lost shrines and killing in the name of their demonic gods.
-MC and small group find a new source of magic that they believe can make mankind totally free from any divine. It has power over death and can be used without using invocations like all known magic (magic in my world can only be used by invoking the power of a god or demon. So they found a way to harness magic without any help)
-They discover a "limbo" realm that is between life and death where they seek refuge from the gods and demons that are after them. During this time they spend learning this new mysterious magic.
-MC starts to desire to use the dark magic of the demons still. He believes that with their new powers they don't have to fear consequences and that he can master them.
-MC accidently summons demon inside the realm and it kills his friend and causes the realm to "break" making it bleed out into reality. Just before he and his cabal were going to have an army of undead to attack and liberate mankind from the gods and demon's rule, they now have to send all of their forces to guard the areas where there are "riftgates" because now where the realm is weak, it seeps out and creates a portal and they fear the demons will seek to enter it. This realm is the only safe haven they have.
-Although the MC is pure in intentions, his cabal believes he is consorting with demons and is still loyal to the dark forces whom they revoked their allegiance to.
-MC is forced to flee. Now he is wandering the wild, the darkness inside him is slowly posioning his soul with corruption now that he is away from the safety of the limbo-realm. He finds a hut where a man takes him in and gives him food and shelter.
-On the verge of death, MC uses his "death governing" powers to steal the man's soul, so that the darkness inside him feeds off him and not the MC
-MC cries out that he will right his wrongs and that he will avenge those who he has killed. He swears that he will master his new powers without letting them consume his soul and be able to master death itself and lead mankind to an age of freedom from divine oppression.
And that's basically it. The MC breaks down crying because like I said, they had an army of ghosts and souls ready to fight but because of his mistake, they can not and his close friend is dead. He sees now that he can use this new power to buy him more time before the darkness inside him devours his soul. So he decides to set out and find the "lost relics" (mentioned earlier in story) that the forces of darkness seek and he will use them instead and will learn to master his new powers.
Do you think it is a cliffhanger ending? The next novel takes place a month or two after book one ends so he has begun to be more adept with his newly learned magics and has set out looking for the relics. I thought about combining book 1 and 2 but it would just be way too long.
EDIT: And I want it to be clear to the reader that this is in a series and not standalone. It is sort of like how the fellowship of the ring ended. There is still so much left unresolved and it ends almost abruptly but you know that there is more to be told.
(man, I really need to stop referencing LOTR in every post I make!)
-Basically, the MC is betrayed by his patron and God and he and some other survivors from his city flee to the icy mountains of the north.
-There they find lost shrines and temples to demons of old and they make pacts with out of revenge and for immortality
-Long time passes here, lots of going around re-activating lost shrines and killing in the name of their demonic gods.
-MC and small group find a new source of magic that they believe can make mankind totally free from any divine. It has power over death and can be used without using invocations like all known magic (magic in my world can only be used by invoking the power of a god or demon. So they found a way to harness magic without any help)
-They discover a "limbo" realm that is between life and death where they seek refuge from the gods and demons that are after them. During this time they spend learning this new mysterious magic.
-MC starts to desire to use the dark magic of the demons still. He believes that with their new powers they don't have to fear consequences and that he can master them.
-MC accidently summons demon inside the realm and it kills his friend and causes the realm to "break" making it bleed out into reality. Just before he and his cabal were going to have an army of undead to attack and liberate mankind from the gods and demon's rule, they now have to send all of their forces to guard the areas where there are "riftgates" because now where the realm is weak, it seeps out and creates a portal and they fear the demons will seek to enter it. This realm is the only safe haven they have.
-Although the MC is pure in intentions, his cabal believes he is consorting with demons and is still loyal to the dark forces whom they revoked their allegiance to.
-MC is forced to flee. Now he is wandering the wild, the darkness inside him is slowly posioning his soul with corruption now that he is away from the safety of the limbo-realm. He finds a hut where a man takes him in and gives him food and shelter.
-On the verge of death, MC uses his "death governing" powers to steal the man's soul, so that the darkness inside him feeds off him and not the MC
-MC cries out that he will right his wrongs and that he will avenge those who he has killed. He swears that he will master his new powers without letting them consume his soul and be able to master death itself and lead mankind to an age of freedom from divine oppression.
And that's basically it. The MC breaks down crying because like I said, they had an army of ghosts and souls ready to fight but because of his mistake, they can not and his close friend is dead. He sees now that he can use this new power to buy him more time before the darkness inside him devours his soul. So he decides to set out and find the "lost relics" (mentioned earlier in story) that the forces of darkness seek and he will use them instead and will learn to master his new powers.
Do you think it is a cliffhanger ending? The next novel takes place a month or two after book one ends so he has begun to be more adept with his newly learned magics and has set out looking for the relics. I thought about combining book 1 and 2 but it would just be way too long.
EDIT: And I want it to be clear to the reader that this is in a series and not standalone. It is sort of like how the fellowship of the ring ended. There is still so much left unresolved and it ends almost abruptly but you know that there is more to be told.
(man, I really need to stop referencing LOTR in every post I make!)
Last edited:
Auror
Dreamer
