I haven't commented while the voting was going on, as I didn't want to influence people's votes, but it seems as if we've reached a stable 2:1 vote for going ahead with the reboot -- with a ton of requests for a bullet outline of what was going to happen if the story had moved forward as it was.

First, let me take a moment to thank everyone for taking the time to vote and voice their opinions. It truly is appreciated. I also appreciate all the folks who are behind the idea of me doing a reboot of the story, since I've lost a good bit of focus and motivation on the current incarnation of things.

For the future of the story: I'm going to put this one aside for a while and let it cool completely. I'll go back over my outline, streamline my notes, and make certain that when I do the retelling of this tale, that I don't let it fall back into the same pitfalls as before. What's the point of a reboot, if you just end up writing the same thing and making the same mistakes a second time?

The 8th Day was my first web novel, it rose high and fast, and somewhere along the way, it jumped tracks. I don't regret writing it at all. I'm not dropping the idea, at all. I've invested too much time and thought into the world, background, and story in my own imagination for that. As I've said all along, I had lofty goals for the story that I didn't know if I could meet, and as it was going, I don't think I could've.

Many folks loved the story as it exists, and I truly appreciate that. It simply isn't up to my own standards, and I'm grateful for the support to sit it aside and do a reboot on it.

As far as the version which you guys have been reading, I want to point out several things which are in the chapters, as a subtle undertone that most readers missed.

Isabella -- if you read her carefully, you'll see that she is quite a manipulative little vixen. Folks complained over Drake sitting and twiddling his thumbs too much, claiming he was a poor leader...

I always found that funny because Drake WASN'T the leader. He made very few decisions. Isabella manipulated him into staying in the room so he wouldn't lead trouble back to her while she studied the magic book. She collected Lunchmeat. She killed the girls. She accepted the slaves. She guided every decision Drake made from the moment he met her.

Did Isabella care for Drake? Surely! He was an immortal shield that could protect her and she could feed off from relentlessly.

Did she manipulate him? Absolutely! She played him like a banjo!

Would she have betrayed him? Nope. Isabella is a coldly rational character. Where could she EVER find a replacement which suited her as well as he did. She manipulated him for his own good, as well as her own.

How'd she view Brandr? The goblins? Buster? All expendable tools useful only in helping her and Drake survive and prosper.

Let's talk about Brandr.

Why did she join Drake? Because she was a broken girl even from before The Crackening. Psychologically Compulsive Dependency. She had relied completely on her dominate father to guide her and tell her what to do her whole life. His last words to her were, "Someday, you'll meet someone whom your blade can't defeat and you'll come to know love from them." He died, and there was no one would she couldn't defeat -- until Drake. Stab him, cut him, slice him, kill him. He'd simply get back up and be fine. He couldn't beat her in a fight, not with ten years of practice -- but he didn't need to. He simply needed to show that she couldn't beat him.

The moment he did that, she devoted herself to him. She was yearning for someone, anyone, to be worthy to take her father's place and take care of her. She was a Truesworn Slave -- a slave in her heart; a slave in her soul. She didn't want freedom. She wanted someone to take care of her and tell her what to do.

Drake became her true Lord; an existence to obey completely and utterly.

And how did Isabella feel about this? Threatened. Nervous that Drake might enjoy being in control -- so she pushed him to take control of things that he didn't want to. "She's yours now, you decide everything for her..." Him blowing up and demanding for her to help guide him with the choices.... Helped put the control back in her hands.

Subtle manipulation so she remained in charge and guided things to her satisfaction...

I mentioned foreshadowing about several things in the story. What was some of those. (See if you guys noticed any of these.)

Isabella made a bomb. Drake carried it to the barricade, in case it was needed. Where did it go? It never went BOOM, but Drake is an idiot and forgot about it.

When Drake was upset after Isabella's mana backlash, he suicided into Jello. While a ghost, he CRIED. Tears fell and bounced across the floor. Drake is an intentional idiot and wouldn't think about them... But tears BOUNCING? Where'd they go? What happened to them??

Brandr told the tale of killing a goblin champion, freeing some slaves, and telling them to get lost. It's where she got her skill book at... What happened to those slaves that ran away?

There was an unnaturally dark tunnel that literally scared the piss out of Drake and Isabella. Why? What was down that tunnel, hiding PAST Brandr's room where the monsters wouldn't go?

There's several more little things, but those are the ones that are important for where the story was left off, in Book 4, after Brandr's Death...

Brandr went out patrolling. She was the deadliest thing around, about to defeat anything with her blade... And yet, she died....

WHY?!!

Question: What if she encountered an opponent that couldn't be harmed by a blade?

What if there was a little slave-priestess who had been freed by her, with the class "Shadow Priest"?

What if that talent gave them the ability to create and shape shadows, making basic illusions out of them -- not all that powerful; basically just moving shadowpuppets across the room and floor.

What if that person found a great spirit focus -- like say Tears of Rage and Anguish from a ghost -- and infused her magic with them?

What it the result of that infusion was an ability to give her shadows true substance...

How effective is a blade against a shadow?

How much anger would such a little slave-priestess have against the one who turned her away and left her alone in the dark, to fear the monsters while Rage and Anguish grew in her heart; also fueled and altered by a great set of great spirit focuses which she found...

And when the one who had turned her away was alone, scouting at the darkest hour of night, far from help and assistance... What do you think would have happened...

R.E.V.E.N.G.E!!

Brandr slain. The group rushing to her. The (more than slightly) insane young priestess actually holds no animosity towards Drake and Isabella. She has a connection already with Drake (a great spirit focus), and Isabella and Brandr were already feuding visibly. The enemy of my enemy is... well, worth giving a chance at least.

At this is basically where the story had left off (with some of these things going on behind the scenes because Drake had no idea about them, and the story was purposively told from his perspective. The clues are scattered, but I told you guys: The reader needs to be smarter and more observant than Drake because this is all things he doesn't care about and wouldn't focus on at all....

From here, what happens in Book 4?

* Drake and little priest girl getting into it. Drake is upset that Brandr is dead, and doesn't care about the reasons. (He is a temperamental immature moron after all.)

* Isabella would wake and join in the battle.

* They would basically get their asses kicked. Home turf advantage, the shadow has possessed the corpses, plus the young lady has other magics she can toss and use herself....

* When they're down, groaning and beat on the ground, the girl would finally come up and gloat. She's invincible!

* At which point Drake would nod lightly, say 'Yes', and then command her to surrender. (Who remembered that she was registered as a slave by the system previously? Huh! Anyone? :D)

* Explanation, backstory, gripeing, return to base.

* Debate of how to spend new girl's points. She's not a mindless slave like the Fruit Makers were... Even she argues about her fate. She can't fight the system, but that doesn't mean she's going to just smile and accept it like Brandr.

* Points spent. Grief time over Brandr.

* Must move on. Back to clearing the last of the south wing.

*Clearing is slow. They don't trust the new girl. Isabella is still trying to master the second book. Drake is a shield, not a blade. (I hear the gripes already.... MOVE ON WITH IT! Some people can't appreciate a slow simmer.)

* While clearing, Drake starts having strange dreams about Brandr.

* Drake also starts having odd thoughts about how to punish the new girl. About not letting Isabella tell him what to do. Trying to guide him to become more assertive.

* Drake finds his attraction for the nice, barely clothed females around him starting to wane...

* The clearing continues. Drake is slowly evolving and acting a little more feminine, and less and less manly. (ARGH!! It's gender-bender! I'm dropping it! AHHHH!!!)

* As they get towards the last hall, trying to clear the way to the central hub, month respawn happens.

* Drake dies.

BOOK 4 ENDS (I told you guys, Brandr was dead.)

BOOK 5

* Cloudme is surprised to see a CloudBrandr floating around and wrapped around his spirit.

* WHA? HUH? DUH..... Drake drools in confusion.

* Drake bursts into flames, reborn.

* A second form bursts into flames, Brandr is reborn!

Questions:

If she's a truesworn slave, where does her soul go when she dies?

Which God gets to claim her and say they own her?

Doesn't her soul already have an owner?

If her soul is attached to her owner, and the veil between the living and dead is weakest during times of sleep, would she reach out to him then?

She's a strong spirit. Could she influence his thoughts and actions while hovering around him, even during the day?

When his spirit undergoes the rebirthing event, what happens to those other souls which are attached to him?

*

*

* Chapter 5 goes on to meeting other survivors. (The central area has become a trading hub of sorts, with the different wings belonging to a distinct goblin faction.) The leader of the central "bazaar" is a jackass human, leading other humans, goblins, and monsters.

* Interactions, explorations, and learning about the various factions happen in Book 5

Book 6 -- working to set the West Wing tribe to declare war on the North Wing tribe. Espionage, Diplomacy. Bribery. Mass battles between tribes.

Book 7 -- organizing the ones under the group's command to be prepared at the respawning. Mass battle/assassination of the leaders of each wing. Lots of coordination, fighting, and action. Final battle against The East Wing and Central Hub takes place.

The Elevator is now unlocked.... Drake and company are now in charge of the whole floor, and they can leave but not come back. The exit message is: "Are you certain you want to leave the training grounds? Once you exit, you may not reenter this dungeon."

The 8th Day has completed. Everything up to this point was basic background for the rest of the story that I'm wanting to tell. It introduces the gaming system, the world mechanics, and sets the scene for....

The 9th Day: Battle for the School!

The 10th Day: Reclaiming the Island!

The 11th Day: The Fight for the World!

The 12th Day: The Final Battle! (against God himself)

The 8th Day was approximately 3/7 finished with 83 Chapters and 185k+ words.

By approximating this total to the other 4 books in the 8th day, it would've came out around 200 chapters before the conclusion, and close to 431k words.

By approximating that amount to the other 4 series in the world setting, it would've been close to 1,000 chapters. and 2.1 MILLION words for the complete story....

SO, looking at the overall picture, backing up now to get the first part right is probably the proper decision. You guys can see the basic outline of where the story would've went, and how things would've turned out.

The 8th Day is an epic undertaking that I very well might never complete in my lifetime -- but it's already mapped out and happened in my head. I just need to find the proper way to write it down and share it, to do it justice. Too much work, effort, and heart has been put into it to drop it completely...

But for now, I'm going to let it sit for a few months to cool off for a while. Think it over. Reevalute how/why/what I want to do with it. And when it comes back, hopefully it'll come back stronger, healthier, and more vibrant than ever!!

For now though, take a look at The GOD Chronicles. I like the idea of having a dark, moody type tale around to work on and play with. The GOD Chronicles is going to be that little relief for me.

It's NOT The 8th Day at all, but it is a dark, creepy little thing, in its infancy. Check it out, see if you like it, and I might see you guys around there. If not, I hope to see all of you later when The 8th Day returns for try #2.

Until then,

It's been a blast, and I want to thank everyone for joining me with the tale to this point. You guys are the greatest!

Darkbringer!