r-o-o-k-i-e

The Apocalypse came and went, its genocide forgotten. Fate has been stolen, but its threads cannot be forced forever. Two Barely-legal Adults are forced to survive the consequences of the gods'''' stupidity. But don''''t tell them that, one still thinks they''''re the main character, and the other has crippling social anxiety. - - - - - - - The world ended a long time ago, but nobody bothered to tell that to the lands that''''d been ripped apart, the few gods that survived the wars having already given up on fixing the mess by themselves. But, like the nature of all things, it had to come to an end eventually, and all the scattered pieces will be dragged, kicking and screaming, back together. The real uncertainty if anyone will survive the process. However, this story isn''''t about the distant past or the destined future, it''''s about a couple of teenagers, who''''ve been thrown into circumstances that''''ll force them to become greater together than the sum of their parts ever could''''ve achieved. One is just entering their adult life, wondering why he feels so hollow, his existence the anthropomorphisation of a cardboard cut of someone else''''s dream, hollow, stale and empty behind the facade of a happy life. The other is somebody who''''s never known what it means to be close to someone, his Father obsessed with spending every hour training for something never defined. But when they are both more alone than they''''d ever been before, bruised, battered and at the bottom of the cliff, they find each other. A ranger, who''''d never known unconditional love before, earns a new family, and the reborn dragon is offered acceptance and understanding for traits assumed to be flaws. But no meaningful journey can be made in a single step, no interesting story told in a single chapter. The only tale from the twinned realm worth telling is of these two. Not the gods and their follies, but of the pair''''s struggle to understand themselves and each other. The process of putting yourself back together never easy, bloodless or conflict free, and never better done alone. - - - - - - - This novel is small/medium rewrite on my previous work, I thought getting reincarnated was OP?, and while the major plot points are similar in a lot of regards, most small details have changed. If you want a reason for me deciding to shed the shell of the previously written chapters while mostly keeping the central story, it comes down to the fact that I spent far too long inbetween writing chapters, sometimes 3 months, that and with the only now medicated ADHD, the work is inconsistent in both plot points and quality. That and I''''m making a patreon while uploading the story to Royal road, so a fresh start felt apt for the expansion of my hobby into something a tad more semi-professional. This Fiction is being uploaded to Scribblehub and Royal Road, and only those two, so if you see this novel being uploaded anywhere else, please message me and/or report it, as its being stolen and isn''''t done with my permission. P.S. - The ''''Gender Bender'''' tag, while relevant to the over-all plot, doesn''''t come into action until ~75 chapters in. The ''''Slow romance'''' takes just as long, but that''''s more self-explanatory