Crafting the Celestial Saga: A Galaxy on Fire and Epilogue
- Alex O'Connor
- Sep 14
- 6 min read
Welcome to this entry of Crafting the Celestial Saga where I give you a behind-the-scenes look at the series. This entry is all about chapter fifteen of Dawn of the Seekers, a Galaxy on Fire, and the epilogue. I am someone who hates spoilers so I would like to warn you that spoilers for Dawn of the Seekers follow. If you have not finished reading Dawn of the Seekers, or plan on reading it in the future, you may want to avoid reading Crafting the Celestial Saga until you do.
A Galaxy on Fire sees a sendoff for the various characters featured throughout Dawn of the Seekers. It also sets up the future for the sequel. The epilogue shows that the story’s main villain has some tricks up his sleeves.
- Section One: Changes from the Second Draft -
A Galaxy on Fire is one of the chapters that benefited the most from the passage of time while writing Dawn of the Seekers. This chapter originally was the second half of the final chapter of the second draft. Not much happened, but the ending is the same in a way.
In the second draft, Ethan Richards is standing on the bridge with Captain Paul Stanton. Captain Stanton tells him that he and his team did well. Ethan doesn’t think so as he carries the weight of what happened to Italia. He thinks that it is his fault, Nova Team’s fault, because they couldn’t stop Malaton at Jumper 9. Captain Stanton says that they all share the blame.
Julal walks up to them and asks for them to join the Seekers on their ship as he has already gathered the rest of Nova Team. As I have mentioned in previous entries, all of the Seekers survived the events of Dawn of the Seekers, as well as their ship. Once they are all aboard the Seekers’ ship, they make an FTL jump. Since the Seekers’ ship is capable of traveling between galaxies, they arrive to see a galaxy on fire.
Julal states that they are looking at the Inaris Galaxy, where the Seekers are from. He vows to help Nova Team and the United Celestial Alliance (UCA) prevent this from happening to the Milky Way Galaxy. Ethan states that they will be ready. He turns to his team, tells them that he is proud of them, while Nathan and Jennifer tell him that they are with him until the end.
In the final version of the story, I got to expand this chapter. We get snippets of what is happening in the Milky Way during the time between Dawn of the Seekers and Shadow of the Emperor. We learn that Fleet Admiral William Devroe tries to find Kameron Reed, but she and the Coalition of Free Species (CFS) remain elusive. I wanted to leave it an unknown factor if the CFS would go to war with the UCA until Kameron Reed makes her grand return to the saga.
Hades Team and Eagle Squadron are given updates as they go about tending to their business. Carter Jensen continues to make improvements to himself after the events of Dawn of the Seekers changed him for the better. We learn that Eagle Squadron is having some trouble due to Commander Anthony Green not being mentally fit for duty.
We also get to read about what Nova Team is up to. Some are taking care of personal business such as Nathan Ward. Some are looking forward to their future such as Ethan and Jennifer. Others are struggling with the thought that they are responsible for the death of their best friend such as Daniel Robinson. I was able to give Daniel a nice moment where he gets to give a eulogy for Jamie Harper as the team stands around his casket.
Julal was also in a room full of caskets that contained what was left of the other Seekers. He takes some time to mourn before finding Nova Team and asking for them to join him on the bridge. Once they arrive to speak with Captain Stanton, Julal pulls a device out of his pocket where he shows them a before and after image of the Inaris Galaxy. Julal states the mission of his team and asks Nova Team to join him as Seekers. With Nathan and Jennifer stating that they are with Ethan until the end, Nova Team accepts Julal’s offer.
The final line for Dawn of the Seekers was something I had never considered, and it gave me chills as I wrote it. “So began a new dawn of the Seekers.” Up until that point when I wrote it in 2023, in the whole ten years of working on the story I had never thought to have Nova Team become Seekers. In fact, I was going to drop the whole Seeker Initiative. Through the changes that I made while writing the book and thinking about how there would still be Arashi vaults to discover, I thought that it would be wise to keep the initiative alive. It also gave another nice nod to the title of the book. While the title chapter featured the dawn of the Seekers as they arrived in the Milky Way, the ending presented their true dawn as Julal sought for help.
Since the Seekers’ ship exploded during the Tower due to Bala Vitorin sabotaging it, there was no way for Nova Team and the others to physically travel to the Inaris Galaxy. Instead, I gave Julal a device where he could show them an image of what his galaxy used to look like and what it looks like in the present day after the Conclave caused the stars to go supernova. This image is so powerful in what it shows. You look at any pictures released by NASA of galaxies and they are bright and vibrant, seemingly full of life. I wanted the image of a galaxy on fire to be engraved in the minds of the team as it goes from a galaxy that looks full of life to one of red and ruin. It was to show the importance of fighting against the Conclave and preventing that from being the fate of the Milky Way Galaxy.
A fun fact about the chapter’s title, one of my favorite lines from season one of Daredevil is where Matt Murdock describes seeing the world as a world on fire. I thought of that line when thinking about how Julal would show Nova Team a galaxy on fire which ended up becoming the title of the chapter.
- Section Two: Epilogue -
The epilogue really didn’t change too much from the second draft to the final version. The only thing that really changed is that I expanded on the details to set up the scene. It still ends with Malaton on an operating table with the Child of the Stars approaching him. The Child of the Stars states Malaton’s name as his piercing yellow eye shoots open.
In the second draft, I had the character of the Child of the Stars listed as mysterious robbed figure. I had not come up with a name for the character at that point when I finished the second draft. I’m actually not sure when I came up with the name Child of the Stars. Still wondering exactly what the title/name means? One day it will be revealed.
- Section Three: Why an Epilogue -
I like epilogues because I think of them as the post-credit scene for a movie. They either set the scene for the sequel, or they offer an additional ending to the ending. Think like how most Marvel movies feature a post-credit scene that sets up the next movie or how in the first Avengers movie, you get the team eating shawarma as a nice sendoff.
For me, I like using epilogues in the Celestial Saga to set up the sequel. Specifically with the ones for the Ethan Richards/Nova Team Trilogy to tell the story of Malaton. We get to learn what he is doing in his time away from the Milky Way and get a little glimpse into his plan.
While talking to a friend about Dawn of the Seekers, he described Malaton as a Thanos level threat. I couldn’t agree with him more as Malaton is always there working in the shadows, pulling the strings. The UCA and the Conclave are all playing Malaton’s game. They just don’t know it yet.
I will give you a little hint to the end of the Celestial Saga, at least the main story.
The main story of the Celestial Saga will end when there is no epilogue attached to the story.
A Galaxy on Fire features some insight into the mental state of the various characters after the events of the story. It also sets up where the story, both in the grand scheme of things and for individual characters, will be going in the sequel. The epilogue gives a glimpse at what is going on in the life of the Kaltari the Milky Way Galaxy thinks is dead.
That will wrap things up for this entry, as well as the entries for Celestial Saga: Dawn of the Seekers. The next entry will be about chapter one of Celestial Saga: Shadow of the Emperor, New Emperor Rising. I hope you enjoyed this entry of Crafting the Celestial Saga, and I hope you will return for the next. If you have any questions, please feel free to use my website’s contact form and I will address them in a future entry.
