Chapter 109: Limited Time

Feyre Publications had risen from the ashes like a phoenix.

Granted ashes was stretching things a bit far, it didn’t detract from the fact that they’d gone from being in a genuinely bad state to establishing themselves firmly above so many other publications company in the industry.

Within two years, they had gone from struggling to mid-range publishing company.

All in thanks to their solid relationship with Niall Parker.

With every surge in fame that came his way, a healthy portion of it had spilled their way... so much that by the time [Aperture] released and his now viral interview followed, they practically had manuscripts upon manuscripts being submitted to their company every blessed day.

Obviously, this translated to having more and more authors under their belt, and slowly but surely, more books published by them.

In fact, they had such a healthy amount of good to great books lined up for publishing, if Niall had requested for an extra year to finish writing up [The Tree of Fate], they wouldn’t even mind.

Contract be damned, they could always redeliberate on it as long as both parties involved came to an agreement.

And though fans might’ve had to wait a bit longer before they laid their hands on the last book in the trilogy, most wouldn’t mind it if it meant that the story would be a perfect round-up to everything they’d been following thus far.

Which was why, the genuine shock on Bob and Michael’s face, alongside the rest of employees in the editorial team couldn’t be photoshopped even if one tried.

Just this morning, Niall had walked into the company, greeting every familiar face in sight as he made his way up to the editorial department.

Considering he’d informed the CEO and the Editor-in-Chief of his visit beforehand, both hadn’t really given it much thought... especially since he didn’t say anything about [The Tree of Fate].

In their minds, Niall just wanted to check in as he occasionally did whenever he was in town.

Never in their wildest dreams would they have ever anticipated that he came to drop off not just the manuscript of that very book, but also its prequel.

For a moment, they kept staring in stunned disbelief at the two manuscripts on the table, their eyes blinking from time to time.

Then Bob finally broke the silence, a puzzled awe to his voice;

"How... how is this possible? How did you manage to do this?"

"A lot of free time, I guess?" Niall gave a little shrug, then added with a thoughtful tone;

"Besides, I’d written [The Hero of Fate] before I started out with the trilogy, remember?"

"I just improved upon it and refined it here and there." he concluded with a thin smile.

For a while, the duo alongside the rest of their employees simply watched him... almost as if to say;

Does that even make any sense?! Is that all it really takes to pump out not just one, but two books in a month?!

This time though, Michael was the one to speak, the man seemingly doing his best to hold back the excitement in his voice;

"And you’re sure it’s... you know... the story’s of the same quality as the previous two?"

Niall chuckled lightly, an amused smile touching his lips as he replied;

"I’d be offended if I didn’t understand why you’re all looking at me like a specimen you can’t wait to study under a microscope, but yeah. It is."

"Bob can testify after he’d done reading it." he then gestured to the editor-in-chief with an open palm.

Without thinking twice, the chubby man swiped both manuscripts from the table and promptly headed over to his office.

Just before he shut the door behind him, he said to everyone;

"For the rest of the day, I don’t want any distractions,"

"As long as it isn’t urgent, don’t you dare knock on this door." he pointed at all the employees in the editorial team with a warning look.

Then he turned his attention to Michael and Niall;

"You both have my direct line if you need anything, but if possible, kindly don’t."

"Thank you all very much in advance." Bob nodded once and closed the door behind him, the lock clicking softly as it echoed through the now quiet department.

Considering [The Tree of Fate] was gearing up to be one of the biggest and most anticipated book releases in the coming year, it was only natural that the man was being extra scrutinous about it.

Afterall, not only would in round up a long overarching story over the course of two very successful books, but it would also need to nail the landing perfectly.

And as if that wasn’t enough of a pressure, Niall had gone and dropped a prequel right on their heads.

To say Bob’s current reaction was perfectly valid, was honestly putting things mildly.

"Well," Niall casually stood up from his chair, his smile reserved as always.

"I’d best be on my way." he declared as he exchanged a handshake with Michael and a couple other employees he’d known since the very first day he came to drop his very first manuscript.

As his back receded into the distance and finally disappeared around the corner, Michael looked back to Bob’s office and then back to the corridor the young artist had previously being at.

Then, he let out a shaky, excited breath.

The sort of confidence Niall had always displayed... it was never one that was riding on the coattails of an ego trip.

Rather, it was always grounded in what he was assured of. That much he’d come to realize of the past two years.

I mean, how else would it explain how he just seemed to rising higher and higher in everything that he did.

Which was why, despite the fact that Bob hadn’t given his verdict on the books yet, he could tell almost instinctively that it would be just as great, if not better than the last two.

Glancing around the department though, realizing that all of the employees were seemingly lost in their own thoughts as they stared down the corridor as well, the CEO clapped twice;

"Chop, chop. Get back to work!"

Promptly, the employees snapped out of their daze and resumed work with such smooth efficiency, one might’ve never believed they were the same people just moments ago.

Michael likewise returned to his office.

Much like Bob, he too now had a lot on his plate as he needed to begin preparing and drafting out marketing strategies for Niall’s new books amongst several other things.

As for the young man himself, he was currently seated in his car, his gaze focused on the revolving icon in his palms.

A week ago when he’d rounded up [The Tree of Fate], he’d felt that familiar tingle wash over him, one that had remained non-existent after he’d equally rounded up [The Hero of Fate].

Naturally, he understood why this was so.

It was a book he’d previously written, the only difference being that he improved the story’s flow, tightened a few loose plot points and tied it neatly into the events of the first book.

In any case, his fountain pen icon had assumed a half-platinum, half-gold frame, indicating that he was pretty much on his way to becoming an excellent writer.

More than that, there was something else that Niall’s focus had locked onto.

A new icon.

Black dancing shoes with oversized socks frozen in place.

Reminiscent of a legend’s signature toe stand move, its current frame was a middling bronze, indicating how middling Niall’s dancing skills were.

Yet, it was also the skill he had to get to gold as fast as possible if he wanted any chance of making his idea for that one scene in [The Maddened Wonderland] to come to fruition.

Dismissing the icons, Niall ignited his car’s engine and began the drive back home.

Roughly twenty-five minutes later, he’d arrived as the automatic doors of the garage opened.

Stepping out the car a moment after, Niall promptly made his way into the house and headed straight for his room with a relaxed hum.

A few minutes later he stepped out, dressed in a black t-shirt and track pants as he made his way over to yet another room.

A rather spacious one at that.

Though he planned to use said room for work, he had yet to make anything of it at the moment.

The only thing that was there, was a 55-inch television he’d hung on the wall solely for what he was about to do.

Practicing various dance moves.

Though Niall knew that getting a dance teacher might’ve been the more viable option, he had very limited time to work with.

August was just around the corner and today was the first of July.

That meant that [Rink] was already at people’s doorsteps.

More importantly, it meant he only had a month before pre-production for [A Maddened Wonderland] began.

As a result, he’d resorted to this.

Teaching himself.

Now that he was done with the books though, he now had all the time in the world to grind his dancing skills.

And with the Gift of True Aptitude, he was certain he’d be able to reach a gold frame before the end of the month.

Just as he’d switched on the TV and navigated over to the playlist he’d saved to get the basics down properly, his phone buzzed in his pocket.

Retrieving it and seeing that it was from Sam, Niall casually picked it up, only for the man to ask him from the other end of the line almost instantaneously;

"Say Niall, have you seen the news?"

"No... I haven’t. Why?" Niall curiously asked in response.

"Oh boy, I think you should." Sam replied with an almost amused tone mixed with a hint of concern as Archie and Lucas’ voice echoed from the back in sync;

"Tyler’s absolutely fucked."

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/Caer07