The Ancients - Introduction

Natalie Virginia
Nov 26, 2021
4 min read

Updated: Sep 2, 2022

book one in the promised series

A story about a shifter finding her way through mystery, romance and self-discovery. An emotional roller caster that is not short of drama!

Catherine's story began as soon as I finished another book in the same series that I've recently titled "Fragments". It was supposed to be book two, playing at another time than book one (Fragments). When I wasn't anywhere near the middle part of the plot, I decided I would split it into two and make a trilogy out of it.

I wrote so much lol !

And then I thought I'd reference it in The Ancients, so that if I do decide to freshen up "Fragments" my readers would have a connection to it. I did this for another book I am writing that's called "Valley of Kings", but that one is nowhere near finished.

You can read about "Fragments" on page 123 to 124, when Catherine is telling Kendra a little story about a girl.

if you know TA, what's special about the girl?

She's got gifts like Catherine
She's the daughter of the moon-goddess
She has two promiseds
She gets rejected by her promised

Alright, back to The Ancients!

When did The Ancients start?

The Ancients started in the year of 2016, if I remember correctly. It took me the entirety of 2015 really to write "Fragments", and TA followed shortly thereafter.

I finished it officially in 2021. But that includes the prequel The Sentinels and The Heretics, since I was writing it all in one go, really.

And boy has it changed a lot since I first started!

The whole first scene as it is now wasn't there.

Fun fact: The opening to The Ancients used to be the scene where Catherine and Kendra are in the Iarhus (also known as school), sitting on the tables as they watch the Thrakos men arrive.

I wasn't happy with that though and decided to spice things up with the Cloaked-One to make an entrance.

Another fun fact: I make up the plot as I go. Means that with my new start, I added a new plot-relevant scene that I actually didn't know for a while how I'd clean that up.

Same thing with the other deaths that occur: I wasn't sure who I'd make responsible yet.

The more I got into the story, the more everything started falling into place.

Kind of a risky way to write since that makes it really easy to create plot-holes if you forget to clear something up. Since I've finished, my stories get a rough plot pre-thought of, which I hope will cost me less editing-hours, lol.

I have edited through The Ancients at least 5 times. That means; re-reading everything 5 times.

But, I for one think it was worth it, because it let me create an entirely new world that I can move in with new books as well, like "The Valley of Kings" I mentioned earlier.

If you continue scrolling down, you'll find the summary of The Ancients and some sneak-peaks into the book, if you're interested.

And let me know if there's anything about The Ancients you'd like to know!

Just go onto the "Contact" tab up top and share your thoughts with me.

Catherine Black learns the hard way that some things are meant to fall apart. Some rules, even ones that are centuries old, aren't supposed to last. Once the little community of Everett Valley slowly starts to deteriorate, Catherine knows she needs to decide quickly whether to stay or leave behind everything she held dear. But what if deceit is cloaked in a pretty face? What if the murderer won't be caught? Apparently, everything that has been happening is connected to them. The Ancients. Whoever they are.

available on Amazon!

Want some sneak-peaks into the book?

AND SOME MORE....

(which are probably easier to read)

Reece used a demanding tone in his voice that made it clear it wasn’t up for discussion. His word was final. I tried anyway.

”I will certainly not let anything slip! And there’s something I’ve been meaning to figure out. They can grill me all they want. I don’t want to come along for that,” I answered, folding my arms in front of my chest.

Reece pulled up his brows as he waved Jarred off and said, ”I’ll be there in a minute.”

Although it caused my anger to resurface, I didn’t comment on how impolitely Reece had sent Jarred away as the blond mane of locks stood up and disappeared into the house. Reece wasn’t going to let me come. Even though he was still arguing with me––the fact that he’d sent his beta out before him made it clear there was nothing I could say to change that.

”And what would that be?”

I pushed out my bottom lip and huffed. ”Since you’re not letting me come, I won’t tell you.”

I don’t give a damn if I’m being childish.

Reece chuckled at that, but I kept my demeanour the same nonetheless. I wanted to go. I needed to find out about why they had moved all the books from the bookstore in the human section of town. How they’d been monitoring us all and what was in those bones the council apparently needed. Now was the perfect moment to do so and find some answers.

”Let me come along! It’d be the perfect opportunity. They’re monitoring the entire town––they said they’d know if we ever talked about how things are run here––” before I could continue my rambling, Reece cut me off.

”What do you mean, Catherine? You’re not making much sense.”

I huffed again. ”It would help if you’d let me finish,” I muttered. ”You know, when the Thrakos family moved in. The teachers at the Iarhus told us that they would know if anyone stepped out of line and told the Thrakos family about our ways. I want to know how they would have known that.” Telling Reece about my visit to the human section would stir up questions I wasn’t willing to answer. Holden was something I disliked explaining all the time. And the bones... Well. Those were a whole new matter...