I wish I could tell you in this confident, artistically inspirational moment that I've planned for all this, but that wouldn't be 100% the truth. Between writing commissions, my doubts, and college, when I started this chapter, a part of me was scared that I would never get to start this series. Or my improvements would never be to the level I would like.

However, as I kept writing and editing these (and do right now as we speak), I am glad those thoughts are now long gone. Cringing at past quotes, planning out future events, and structuring these multiple parts was a large undertaking but I've come out of it somewhat rejuvenated. I know this opening chapter has a lot of character intros and dialogue I'll probably be changing for months to come.

If there is one thing I wanted to accomplish from this journey, it was improving my characters. I always felt like Paladin had the potential for my best overall cast if they gave the time to display themselves. Especially compared to the borderline cheer squad of rotted cardboard they were in the original story.