To everyone who has read this far I thank you greatly for it. I never expected I Awaken to take off let alone any of my other stories. Even if this story came off as cringe or poorly written I still owe you all my thanks for reading it. However I feel like I owe some explanation for this story in itself specifically some of the choices of why it's written the way it is.

1. I wrote this story when I first joined this app back in 2017 nearly four years ago from when this goes live.

2. I was in the 7th grade when writing this story.

A lot of shit was going down during this timeframe. With the death of my grandfather, my friend trying to take her own life as well as physical and mental bullying at school.

3. I severely lacked writing and pacing skills back then.

I definitely have learned more about writing and story placement now being a Junior in High-school. Does that mean all my new stories are perfectly paced and masterfully written? No, it doesn't but I know for a fact I have become a better writer than when I was back in 7th grade.

4. This book was written for myself.

I had no intention of releasing this story to the public eye. As such it was tailored to specifically what the edgy & emo 13 year old me wanted. Not the current still somewhat edgy 17 year old wants or my audience wants.

5. I Awaken was written LONG before Volume 6 of RWBY was ever announced. As such I had no knowledge of the connection of the Maidens with Ozpin and Salem as well as a bunch of other information that Volume 6 informed us on.

6. I was stupid as all hell (still am)

Again this goes back to my writing skills being at a middle school level during this time. Put simply... dogshit. When writing this story I thought I was making some crazy epic and legendary story. Now that I'm older I can see now it's just stupid, cringe worthy, and cool by a much younger audience standard.

7. Why I kept it up after seeing all the shot posting on it?

In all honesty I could've taken this story down from public view and access a long time ago, and have even considered it from time to time. I'm going to be 100% up front and honest with all of you. I hate this story so much. I hate the writing, the pacing, the dialogue, everything about it. The only thing I really enjoyed about this book to this day are the alt. endings I wrote for this. So why keep it up then? Simple, while I absolute despise this story, it's what put me on the map. This is my most popular book I've made. The whole reason I made Resurrection was to make a better version of I Awaken. One I could stomach reading as I've gotten older.

8. Why not just change the writing of I Awaken?

I could absolutely do that. But A: that would defeat the purpose of Resurrection, and B: as much as I hate this story I feel as though changing it would be essentially rewriting my history falsely. It wouldn't resemble my first work as that 13 year old who wished to make a great story to be remembered, how far I've come as a writer, and also how much better I've become at making stories nearly four years later.

9. You can't understand good, without knowing the bad.

If I made this story better, then I'd never have improved as a writer. For me, I Awaken serves as two things. 1: How far I've come and improved, and 2: A warning of what to avoid in future creations. The reasons above can also be applied to Killers Remorse and Old Bonds, stories also written around the same timeframe.

I thank you all greatly for reading through all of this. I needed to get this off my chest before I take my permanent leave from making stories. I plan to stay around on this app, but after my final project "The Deletion Process" is released, I will no longer be creating any more stories. I can't believe it's been almost four years since I started writing. I've watched my account grow and evolve. Watched in joy as my stories blew up in popularity. A lot of good memories that I owe all to you. Of course there are the bad ones. Backlash and cyber bullying from toxic people. I've watched a lot of good people on this app leave from the pressure of writing and toxicity of their fanbase. Soon it'll be my turn to take my leave and hand the pen to another writer who will begin their journey when mine ends. Be on the look out for The Deletion Process. Full Release: October 16th 10:00 pm CDT.