A message from the author

Dear Readers,

It has been several years since I started this project…assuming a start in middle school, roughly eight or nine years. My God, I didn't imagine then it would take this long…of course, there were times I thought it would never be finished, between the drama and grind that was high school, the harrowing times of college admissions, and the ongoing challenge of time management, leadership, through my turbulent time transferring universities, and keeping it all together as a college student and cadet in Air Force ROTC. Lets also not forget about the every present specter of procrastination…lots and lots of procrastination…

This story has been written in many places at many times in these years…it moved back and forth between an old desktop and an especially ancient laptop on floppy disk. A couple paragraphs were scrawled in a notebook on the way to a Boy Scout camp out and other road trips. More was typed on the way to San Antonio, on new desktops and laptops right here at home and during over nights at friend houses. Big pushes were made at the dorms of Seattle University, in my one bedroom apartment in North Seattle, on a plane to Seoul, in the dorm of Sogang University, out at Cannon Beach, some more progress made at my current abode in Seattle's University District, a bit in the Air Force lounge at the University of Washington, and finally the story ended where it all began. Here at home, in a Portland suburb, on a laptop.

You can probably see this change happen over the story…I could see my style change and grow over the course of the project, and God willing it's at its best here at the end (despite my efforts to power through).

So, what's next? Well, I've definitely considered doing a Redux version of this, with the writing style nicely standardized. Or, move on to other projects…I've got another idea for the StarFox universe (I wouldn't mind taking a shot at a Fox/Krystal storyline and some new ground in a little romance)…or, explore the FF7 universe a bit. Or, in the face of a three week Winter Break, I'm thinking of striking out on my own and starting on an original novel. Who knows...I just know I'd like to do this again. Don't worry, I won't give you little snippets over an eight year period again! I'm definitely leaning towards one fat release for the next one…I'm thankful for the coming prospect of a job with relatively definite hours.

Regardless, who knows what the coming years will bring…I know for sure I'm a different person today than I was eight years ago, and I can only imagine where I'll be writing my next story, given the Air Force's tendency to send folks the world over. I do know for sure though, I would like to do this again, and again…until, hey, I might get that dream gig of writing stories for games.

Most importantly however, I want to give my most sincere thanks to all of you readers out there that, when presented with so many choices out there, chose to sit down and read through my work. For those of you that have followed this project from the very beginning up until now, big time props to you (shout out to my buddy Andrew and to the others of you repeat reviewers that prodded me along to finish this!) If it were not for the kind words and feedback from each and every one of you…well, I probably wouldn't have gotten to this note.

I welcome any and all constructive feedback (the core of all improvement), and do hope sincerely that some of you will be back for the next release, or at the very least take away the memories, maybe even the inspiration to go out there into the open frontier of the net and make your own story?

Again, my sincere thanks…may you all have a blessed holiday season and enjoy the best of luck in the new year…always learn from your experiences, do the best you can in all you do, and keep right on chasing your dreams…

Raymond M. Sienkiewicz (RaymondS)

December 12, 2009

Lake Oswego, Oregon, USA