A Different Kind of Despair (21 page)

She gazed down at the demon, her expression as
heartbreaking as it was beautiful.

"I did almost anything for power, Miraj. I
wanted it so I could protect the people I loved when they needed it
most."

Miraj went still. Silhouette's words may as
well been her own. They resonated on the deepest level of her
being.

"By the time I was satisfied, that
strength became the very reason I couldn't be near them anymore."
She breathed deeply. "Success has a funny way of revealing our
greatest failings, and once it's achieved we can no longer take it
back. Only once I obtained my power did I realize how powerless it
made me. I wish someone told me this when I was your age, back
before it was too late. I hope your story has a happier ending… or
at least a different kind of despair."

THE END

Thank you for finishing
A Different Kind
of Despair
! If you enjoyed the story and have the time, I'd
love it if you could take a few minutes to post a review either on
its Smashwords page or on Amazon.

As a note on my work as a whole, all books I
write take place on the fictional continent of Dalani.

What this means for you is that if you liked
the world and fell in love with the characters there are many
opportunities for them to cross-over into other storylines!

If you read
Ghostwalker
or
Soul
Shatter
then you probably recognized Silhouette in this
one!

If you'd like to contact me you can reach me
through

Twitter: @MissMartinsen

My Website: www.nicolemartinsen.com

Or send me an email at:
[email protected]

Happy Reading!

Bonus
Trivia!

Marvin was based on the
Necromancer character class from the computer game,
Diablo II
.

His personality was modeled
after Courage in the cartoon
Courage the
Cowardly Dog
.

In this book he uses Courage's catch phrase:
"The things I do for love."

Miraj, surprisingly,
is
not
based on
the Shaman class from
Diablo
III.

Leo is based on a personal friend met through
an MMORPG.

In
A Different Kind of Deadly
, multiple
references are made to Leo's ancestor Leeroy. This is the result of
a joke that Leo's Leeroy is none other than Leeroy
Jenkins.

Tully's first incarnation
was a chicken as an extension of that joke, because
"
at least I have
chicken
."

The whole subplot about Sand Whales, pirates,
and Tully was a jab at Moby Dick.

Technically, Leo
already found a Sand Whale
, or at least a
partial
one. This may or may not be expanded on in a
third novel (but
The Spiderlily
Chronicles
must be finished first. If
there is a third in the "
A Different Kind
of
…" titles, then it will have to wait
until the New Year of 2016).

If you can spot the Sand Whale and shoot me
a message telling me who/what it is,
I will make you a
character,
and he/she/it will be the point of view narrator for
the next novel!