Before you begin Alex's journey, or if you originally skipped this "chapter" before eventually deciding to circle back because you're interest in the story was piqued - thank you for that, by the way! Your enthusiasm is greatly appreciated, and noticed. I will do my best to deliver the best story I can.

  In the mean time, I wanted to take this time to talk about my plans for the story and my reasons for posting it here. Wait, did your eyes just glaze over? You're telling me that Author's Notes aren't seen as the best part of a book? Huh, that can't be right. Well, then I guess this next line is for you:

  TL;DR: This is my first story, please don't hurt me for my bad sentence structure/grammar. All comments and criticisms are welcome. Revisions will be made over time.

  There, you happy? Short and sweet! Go away now and read the next chapter that actually contains what you came here for in the first place. Commenting would also be appreciated! 'Like, share, and follow', and all that jazz.

  There, they gone now? They definitely clicked on the next chapter and are eagerly devouring every word on their screen, right? Oh, and leaving descriptive yet succinct comments on how they can't wait for mor? Surely.. Anyways, now that we figured out who here is cultured enough to truly appreciate the full majesty that is the Author's Note and not just the amuse-bouche of TL;DRs (Thank you for that inspiration B.W., but I know it will be long and long until I can come close to matching your witticitudes in acknowledgments.)

  You might be reading a pirated copy. Look for the official release to support the author.

  *Ahem*

  So, uh, looks like we are alone at last... *swivels computer chair around in a circle suggestively*

  Now that we fed the peasants and sent them on their way; lets bust out the bullet points!

  * This is my first time writing a story, so I apologize in advance for the abhorrent grammar and sentence structure. Be gentle; I'm still learning. Any critique you could give will be treasured and used to increase the quality of this story.

  * I am currently working on/breaking up this story in parts ( Part 1, Part 2, etc). Part 1 has already been completely finished - clocking in around 100,000 words. Originally, I planned to stop the story there after Part 1, so for fun I started brainstorming cool story beat ideas for the characters and somehow ended up around 20,000 words deep into what's going to be Part 2... Still had no idea how that happened, but that'll definitely be the end, right? Well, I mean, I did come up with a cool cliffhanger... What was I talking about again? Oh right; my excellent self control. Suffice it to say that I have plenty of content planned for the foreseeable future and almost some of it isn't assuredly horrible. Possibly.

  * Think of this story as still being in Beta. is still a work in progress, and I am extremely open to any edits, criticisms, and suggestions. If you are worried about the content of the chapters/story significantly, and repeatedly changing, don't be! All revisions will be made separately and if any updates are made, it will be predicated by an announcement.

  * I put this bullet point here when I started writing this section, but I don't actually have anything else to add! So, If anyone is actually reading this, or even more inconceivably, connected with this story in some way: Thank you. Please know that I greatly appreciate you giving up what precious little time you have to indulge my silly little dream of sharing my work with someone in hopes that it resonates with them on some level.