The story isn't abandoned.

There was supposed to be an author's note at the end of the last chapter saying that I would be traveling over the holidays and wouldn't be able to post anything for a couple of weeks. Apparently, I forgot to copy and paste it with the rest of the chapter.

So, apologies, that was my bad.

Now, on to the actual update.

It's taking me a bit longer than I expected to get things up and running again. The original plan was to resume my normally scheduled chapters in the first week of January, but travel delays got in the way. And when I finally did get home, I quickly realized that I'd gotten sick.

The narrative has been illicitly obtained; should you discover it on Amazon, report the violation.

After successfully avoiding it since the pandemic began, I finally caught Covid. It has been less than fun. There's no need to worry about me; it's not a super serious case, but getting any writing done while I have it just isn't happening.

On the plus side, doing nothing but lying in bed all day has given me a good opportunity to brainstorm and outline. I have the rest of the story's first volume planned out in pretty specific detail, and I've made a good start on volume two. Additionally, I feel like my worldbuilding has also become more solid.

Once I'm well enough to start sitting at my computer for extended periods of time again, I'm expecting the actual writing part to be smoother than it has been in the past.

I can't say exactly when I'll be better, but hopefully, it won't be too long.

I want to thank everyone for continuing to support the story.

I also want to apologize once again for the unexpectedly long hiatus. Fingers crossed, it will be over soon.