Hey.

It's been nine years since I first uploaded this story, six years since I updated it. I think it's obvious how dead it is. The story has been haunting me between quiet moments and restless nights, and I finally decided to leave a little note at the end.

Where to even start? I was 16-17 when I started writing it for escapism and as a practice for if I ever get up to writing a novel of my own. I was a kid. Looking at Gloria and the first 12 or so chapters, it's a wonder how anyone ever found it pleasant to read. It's terrible. It's horrible. There is so much wrong with it.

I grew up and I can't even write Gloria's character anymore due to her personality. She is grating and infuriating. I can't get back into her enthusiasm about things because I stopped pretending I'm fine myself.

I fell in love, good and proper, so looking at her relationship with Zoro is plain painful. That's not how people in love behave. That's not how Zoro would ever behave.

The original characters sprinkled here and there are shallow and useless (except Kilir, that boy is precious. Was that his name?), there are a million red herrings, many inconsistencies and the logic I tried to impose on this world is bullshit.

I couldn't even put in proper curse words for fuck's sake.

Despite the story being as awful as it is, I will leave it right where it is. It seems that there are still some young'uns who find it delightful and who am I to take away another person's happiness?

Gloria, I loved her. Now I lay her to rest. She fulfilled the meaning of her existence beautifully.

Stay safe.