The Bargain With Death book Cover

Technology & Storytelling - December 5, 2025

Dear Reader,

I completed the short story The Bargain With Death for the Crow Town Anthology. I sincerely hope the partnership between the dream and Crow Town benefits both sides. It has already benefited the dream. In this tale, I explored the question of who else, if anyone, survived the destruction of the Cioaran Enclave. I may not have done that without this opportunity.

I'm currently waiting for feedback from my favorite beta readers before The Bargain With Death gets the final edit. After I sent the tale off for feedback, I went down the rabbit hole, creating art and extras. I even had the cover turned into a video. (Wanna see it?)

It was fun!

All the bits involved in creating a story are part of the process for me. Writing is the foundation, but in the end, I'm a storyteller as much as an author. I never want to stop at merely writing the tale. I want to add my vision beyond the words. Sadly, I lack artistic talent. That's where technology comes in.

Some will give me a hard time for my use of the technology available to expand the dream, but I will continue ignoring that noise. I wrote the dream. It's my vision. I remain the pen behind all the stories. And I have had a blast bringing my vision of the dream to life with the technology available to me, intending to expand the dream with my singular vision as far as possible.

I hope you will enjoy it with me. Laugh when I fluff it up and smile when I get it right. Readers add to the dream what the author alone never can. No matter how much of the dream I bring to life, I can not bring a reader's interpretation to the dream. The reason an artist seeks an audience for their work is the attempt at immortality, which only exists when other people interact with art, music, and literature.

Go ahead. Lift a brow. Then remember names like Geophrey Chaucer, Beethoven, or Michelangelo. Or forget the names of the artists, musicians, and authors. Remember cave paintings, the kings list on cuneiform tablets, and the nursery rhymes from before time. The triumph of humanity may be its ability to tell stories. This old writing tiger seeks no victory. I wish only to participate in the ritual.

And now a word from our sponsor, Ophelia Kee.

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Behind the Scenes

Eliasar

This week, I wanted to offer you something different. Rather than whine about how my vacation was too short, and how I didn't get everything accomplished. This is the part where I draw back the curtain and let readers into the process behind the writing of the dream. It's the part where you should get a close-up view of some aspect of the storytelling process. I want to share a glimpse of how I wrote the short story The Bargain With Death.

When Ripley Archer shared the premise behind the upcoming Crow Town anthology, I almost said no. I dislike restrictions. I can't even follow my own rules. (Please see all previous posts concerning my issues with exclusivity for reference.) But I had a weeklong vacation for the Thanksgiving holiday. Maybe I could do it.

The premise introduced a character. Usually, that alone would have been a red flag. I don't write fan fiction. There's nothing wrong with it, but I want to be in control of my work. If I choose to monetize it, fanfiction presents a host of issues I want no part of.

Death

Writing a story based on someone else's imagined character usually gives me the feel of fan fiction. This was different. Elias Crow didn't formally exist in other stories, not yet anyway. He was merely the connecting theme of the anthology.

When I saw him and read about him, I knew him differently than Crow Town saw him. Elias Crow wasn't who people believed. He was part of the hidden world, the unseen realm of the Leaindeail. He was much older than he appeared, and he was part of the dream, holding ancient, powerful magic.

His real name was Eliasar Valravn. He smiled at the people who lived in Crow Town. They sold him his dry goods. He still crafted shoes for their horses and provided them with tack and leatherworks when they asked. He protected them and secretly crafted magical artifacts for powerful immortal leaders from multiple levels of the dream.

Emilia

Eliasar wasn't what he seemed anymore than most immortals in the Leaindeail. He owed allegiance to Kharon Thanatos, and I wrote the rough scenes with him first. But the reason for his existence in the dream had to come first. I knew how Eliasar would react and what the Ferryman had demanded long before I knew who Emilia Cioara was. She was the catalyst, the damsel in distress who knew how to beg an ancient god for help and receive it, even if she should not.

I deliberately wrote the story for the Crow Town anthology, using the theme they requested, but the short story, The Bargain With Death, is a pure piece of the dream. It's a standalone story without connection to the main storyline or the spinoff miniseries, and it contains the hallmark tropes and character Easter eggs common to all the stories in the dream.

Nothing stops me from writing more of Eliasar and Emilia's tales, or expanding their base story into other mediums. We shall see what happens in the future, but there is still much of the dream remaining to explore. Knowing the entire Cioaran Enclave didn't perish is what mattered most from this tale to me. I hope it assuages reader questions as well.

5 Ways to Help an Author Poster

I need to get out of here, or I shall miss the start of the movie I'm aiming to see. Leave your comments and questions. I love to hear from you. If you found this post worthy, please feel free to share it. If you are listening on YouTube, don't forget to like and subscribe for more original stories and audio adventures! Special thanks to @OkMusicWriters for Enter The Dream. Thank you for stepping into the dream once more. I hope you have a lovely weekend and will discover a grand story. Please remember when you read, be kind and leave your reviews. Until my next post, welcome to the dream…

Be Careful!

Happy Reading,

Bye-Bye,

Ophelia Kee

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