Note

This is probably the core path, after which the whole story is named. I kind of got stuck for a while because I wanted to explore a whole "death given and life reborn" angle for Macius (which is currently about half written).

Took me five years to process my ideas into the three major paths I have now. I hope it doesn't take five more to finish the story...

FWIW paths are:

---> death and life, with a strong angle on the knight's resilience until Imarsi considers his debt repaid (and he, in fact, evolves beyond his limited self to a true Knight). This one is currently 80% done, I estimate 5 more chapters based on the (unpublished) notes.
---> gender switch, via the stone, with a strong angle on possible corruption. I might add an element of programmatic variables there. This is the path you're on.
---> the "non-human-friendly" paths, which I intend to converge from two paths I opened several years ago. The plan was (and still is) to create a storyline where Macius has a lot of sex, possibly as a female depending on his actions, and may or may not sire many children, possibly as a female. I mostly let it rot because I find Chyoa very difficult to use for programmatic multi-paragraphs (eg, I couldn't figure out how to create variables that would display the same ideas for female or males, unless I provide the exact same pages with the sentences switched around).

So, basically: expect the longest path to be finished first, then probably this path, and then the last one.

Don't hesitate to poke me if you have any idea, though I can't guarantee I'll find the time to integrate anything. Real life is complicated for everyone.