Hello, my dear friends!

I will confess (again) that I have fallen on progress on the story, though I have to admit, I kinda knew it would happen. Just a little stressed, but hopefully that will fade soon.

Anyway, we’re here for the stats, and afterwards, a little talk on Unity’s Edge #5, so let’s get into it.

Current Chapter: 15 (Essence and the Drapeiron)

Pages: 308 (via MS Word)

Total Word Count: 105,605 (via AutoCrit)

5,000 words over one month is definitely not my best streak, but as I said, I knew this was coming. I finally have some reliable help at my job, so I won’t be doing so much overtime, which in turn means more time to write and think. I’ll hopefully have a more interesting stat update on the next Update Diary, but I’ve also been considering starting another story (I won’t until I’m finished releasing this story, though – that’s my commitment to Hell/Dolls).

So… let’s talk about Chapter Five.

First off: “Why ‘Ready Up’?” Why did I name the chapter “Ready Up”, especially when I’ve been trying to keep a pattern in the chapter titles? (Thank you those that noticed)

The main reason was that when I was writing this chapter, it was supposed to be a gentle, relaxing chapter for the characters involved, but I also knew that this is where I wanted to introduce the start of the true danger in Saruja. Originally, this chapter and the next were combined, going straight from “A Day In The Life” to “Armageddon”, not to spoil anything.

As I got closer to [a certain scene in chapter 6], I realized that I had to cut this chapter in half since I was nearing my personal word limit range (around 9,000 words), so I made the decision to make #5 shorter, and it ended up helping me, since #6 is currently at over 9,000 words., despite my effort.

I will admit, the group introduction scene was a little forced, but I wanted Vincent to be the one to suggest this because of his trauma – he doesn’t want to miss his chance to learn about his teammates before they’re gone, and he’s trying to fulfill his role as Leader as best he knows how. It should be noted, however, that although Vincent is physically an adult, his psychological state is closer to that of a teenager; he’s stubborn, short-sighted, and struggles to fit in, even if he knows the basics. He was raised as a warrior, so social situations still stymie him from time to time.

Rinkyu’s insistence on nicknames is a similar state to Vincent in that she struggles with social interactions – I really don’t want to spoil her story, but she and Vincent are more alike than they know, especially since their upbringings are so critically different from each other.

Finally, we see the defense the barrier provides to the people of Saruja: not only does it make the air seem clearer and cleaner, but it protects the city from the dangers of the world, especially the explosive Baael attacks that are introduced here. As I type this, I realize that I don’t want to spoil the next chapter, so a lot of things I want to say have to be omitted until the next chapter releases. I hope to have the next few chapter out soon, but… y’all know me by now.

I hope you enjoyed this short delve into the behind-the-scenes of Chapter 5, and I hope that you all are excited for when the next chapters come out!

Happy Post-Valentine’s Day!

-Marcosias Isif