, the story is self-contained, but it will simply contain a few references that you won’t get.Long story short, before I stop writing, I wanted to post a little something for esercitto sconfitto, since for a while - during my early beginnings - he was the only one commenting on my stories to motivate me to push forward. However, I can’t pay him homage by finding ways to feature his characters into my stories, like I did with some other friends here.
Therefore I thought it would be fitting to write at least one last story featuring tropes to his liking. Glimpse of the past
**************
The night was warm, as they often were in this part of the season. The moon was full, and the stars were shining, though there were a few clouds in the sky.
The landscape was a lowland, with a few hollows, tall grass, and some bushes. In the Province of Lakeland, there was nothing except vast plains, vast hills, and even vaster lakes.
In the middle of the plain, there were a few constructions.
It was a small army outpost. So small it couldn’t even be called a garrison. A square-shaped camp, with four wooden watchtowers, surrounded by a barbed wire fence. Inside, there were a few barracks for the soldiers, a training field, an infirmary, a mess, and a command center.
Lakeland was far from the capital city, wasn’t the most docile of the Provinces, and was near the very unruly Province of Rift. Therefore, a sight such as this outpost wasn’t uncommon. There was a network of small army camps, meant to keep the population in check and to quickly send troops whenever a rebellion arose.
There wasn’t any movement in the small camp. Outside of the sentries in the watchtowers, the two guards at the gate, and the commanding officer in the barracks, most of the soldiers were sleeping.
However, the night wasn’t as uneventful as it appeared...
Two women dressed in black clothes, trousers, and tactical jackets were walking half crouched towards the outpost. They were wearing black gloves, and black boots with soft soles to muffle the sounds of their steps. Black balaclavas were covering their hair and faces.
Their dark outfits helped them blend better in the night. The stars and the moon were maybe shining, but there were enough tall grasses and hollows to allow the two infiltrators to move unnoticed. They were using the shadows to escape the sight of the sentries on the watchtowers. Whenever the clouds would cover the moon's light, they would swiftly run from one hiding spot to an other. To cover the last part of the path, they lied down on the ground, and crawled on the grass, as silent as snakes.
The two black-clothed women reached the barbed wire fence surrounding the army outpost without being noticed. They shared a thumb-up.
“Lara… Give me the wire cutter…” the first woman then whispered.
Her partner complied.
The first woman silently cut a small hole in the fence, just big enough to allow a crawling woman to pass through. She proceeded with caution to not alert anyone with a noise or a sudden movement. One cut after an other.
Lara was observing the nearby watchtower, ready to warn her friend if the soldier stationed there glanced in their direction. She could discern the figure of the sentry on top of the tower. The female soldier was observing the surroundings. However, the two infiltrators were smart. The blind spot in which they had positioned themselves was allowing them to be almost invisible.
Still, Lara had to stop her partner three times to avoid being noticed. By staying still in the shadows, they couldn’t be detected. But the sentry could have discerned their movements, or heard a noise.
Lara was from the Province of Naïad, and had the typical physical appearance of her place of birth: A peculiar combination of blue eyes and blond hair with a tanned skin. She had a body of average size, neck-long loose hair, and a soft round-shaped face. (Of course, her baclava was allowing her to hide her light hair.) Lara was in her late twenties, but she had spent half of her life training for combat and infiltration in the secret training centers of Naïad, which made her more dangerous than a lot of older people. As a consequence of her training, she also had a fit slender body.
Amaryllis, ‘Amar’ for short, was the name of her partner. She had a dark skin, amber brown eyes, and dark brown hair tied up into a short ponytail. She was taller and thinner than Lara, with sharp facial features, sunken cheeks, and a pointy chin. She was in her early thirties, and came from the Province of Korê.
Amaryllis finished cutting the hole. When the sentry watched an other direction, they crawled through it.
Once they were on the other side, they took a few moments to scan their surroundings.
Inside the camp, everything was quiet. Most of the recruits were sleeping in their barracks. On each watchtower there was a sentry, but these soldiers were looking outside. Same with the guards watching the camp’s only entrance. Nobody was watching the inside of the camp. They could see some light in the commanding officer’s command center, but they knew the woman was probably working late – she wouldn’t come out unless she heard noises.
And the infiltrators didn’t intend to make any noise.
The first step of their plan was to neutralize the watchtowers and the sentries of the camp’s entrance.
Lara and Amaryllis walked crouched down towards the two watchtowers that were on the same side as the camp’s entrance.
They exchanged a few gestures of the hands, and split up. Quickly but silently, using the cover of the night, they ran to their designated tower.
Lara climbed the first watchtower. Amaryllis climbed the second one. Both women were wearing soft boots, therefore they didn’t make any sound while climbing the wooden ladder.
Lara reached the top of her watchtower.
The sentry inside was a young ginger-red-haired white-skinned woman. She wasn’t alert. On the contrary, her posture was definitely unprofessional: The soldier was lazily leaning against the wooden railing of the watchtower. Her rifle was resting on the railing, out of her reach. A big mistake.
The soldier girl was wearing a traditional army uniform of the country: thick black combat boots, dark grey camouflage uniform trousers, a matching uniform long-sleeved shirt, a black equipment belt, a dark grey tactical vest, and a dark grey army cap.
Lara grabbed a syringe filled with a colourless liquid, called agent moonlight. Without any hesitation or mercy, she assaulted the young woman. The blonde hand-gagged her victim with one hand. With the other hand, she plunged the syringe into an exposed part of the sentry’s neck, and she injected the young soldier with a drug that would make sure she wouldn’t be alert for the next couple of hours.
“Mhhh?!” the conscript tried to shout.
Lara immobilized her, while still keeping a hand clamped over the young woman's mouth. The redhead reflexively struggled, and tried to grab her rifle. However, she could only futilely extend her arm. The weapon was out of reach, and Lara was stronger than her.
The sentry barely had the time to let out a few muffled shrieks, before her body arched during one final struggle, and then became limp. Her eyelids flickered, then closed. She let out a long faint moan, and slumped into the rebel’s arms.
Lara laid the sleeping woman face up onto the floor, out of sight behind the wooden railing. She glanced at the other watchtower.
She saw the end of a struggle between two shadowy female figures. Then, one woman stopped moving. The other laid her onto the floor, then got up and waved at Lara.
The blonde smiled, and responded to Amaryllis with the same hand sign.
She knelt down, and checked the sentry’s pulse and eyes. The girl was in a deep sleep. Perfect. Then, Lara started to undress the soldier.
Her first impression when she had seen the sentry from afar was right. The soldier indeed was young. In her early twenties at most. Her ginger red hair were short, the length of a pixie cut. There was indeed a traditional hazing when conscripts were recruited. Their hair were shaved. This girl’s hair barely had the time to grow again. She had hazel green eyes, and plenty of freckles on her round cheeks. She was of average size and build, but with a round juvenile-looking face. The many freckles on her cheeks were making her seem even younger.
Lara started with the boots. They weren’t of good quality. Yep. Definitely a conscript. she thought to herself. Conscripts were the ones given the worst footwear. A good soldier indeed knew the boots were the most important part of the equipment. Since they spent most of their time walking, soldiers needed comfortable sturdy boots. Regular soldiers were hoarding the best footwear, and were giving the cast-offs to the conscripts. Lara shook her head. At least, she wouldn’t have to wear these subpar boots for long. She finished taking off the boots, revealing the girl’s forest green socks. The blonde then unclipped the belt and pulled off the camouflage uniform trousers. She snatched the army cap, unzipped and took off the tactical vest, then unbuttoned and removed the uniform shirt while lifting and then letting go of the sentry’s upper-body.
The conscript’s shoulders and collarbone were also covered with freckles. Once Lara was done, the ginger-haired girl was left clad in her green socks, dark green boyshorts with a pattern of black four-leaves clovers, a black tank top, and a light green t-shirt bra with dark green four-leaves clovers.
“Looks like your good-luck charm didn’t work out tonight.” Lara commented when she saw the clover-patterns.
The blonde pulled out a few black zip-ties. She restrained the sentry’s ankles, calves, knees and thighs, as well as her wrists and elbows. She shoved a handkerchief into the young woman’s mouth, and wrap-gagged her with grey tape. The young redhead was left trussed up and gagged, curled up in a corner of the watchtower, lying on her side, concealed behind the wooden railing.
Lara stripped of her own clothes, then slipped into the army uniform. She reluctantly put on the boots, and only because she had no choice if she wanted to complete her disguise. She promised to herself that she would change footwear at the first occasion.
Lara adjusted the army cap. Once she was in disguise, she climbed down the ladder.
Amaryllis had also finished. She climbed down the ladder at the same time as her partner. She was wearing a similar-looking army uniform with an army cap and boots.
“How was your sentry?” Lara asked her friend.
“Cute I guess.” Amaryllis answered. “Black hair, heart-shaped face, amber eyes, soft dark skin… Her hair were short. Must be a new recruit. Very young actually. Twenty at most. Even her underwear were a bit kiddie-looking. I mean, what kind of soldier wears candy pink briefs and bra? With red little hearts?”
“Mine was young too. They are conscripting them younger and younger. In a few years, they’ll send child-soldiers after us…”
“Wouldn’t surprise me. The government uses conscription as a tool to strike terror into the population. I don’t think they expect conscripts to make an actual difference against us.”
Lara nodded. But they didn’t have the time to dwell on their government's immoral policies.
She and Amaryllis had to neutralize the soldiers watching the main entrance, in order to allow the rest of their guerrilla fighters to enter the outpost.
**************
The camp’s entrance was lit by two huge spotlights. Two soldiers were guarding it. Two girls who weren’t older than the sentries on the watchtowers.
Amaryllis and Lara observed them for a few moments while remaining in the shadows, to make sure the sentries were alone.
There was a small wooden shed near the entrance, in which the guards could go to rest. However, they weren’t allowed to wait all night inside, or even to enter the small wooden building at the same time. Currently, the shed was empty.
“Apparently, the regular soldiers prefer to leave all the thankless tasks to the conscripts…” Amaryllis commented.
“Don’t mind it. Makes our job easier.” Lara answered. “Let’s get them.”
The two young soldiers were trying to look professional, but they were clearly bored. So bored they had already exhausted all topics of conversation. They were fighting the urge to sleep.
The first conscript had short neck-long blond hair, a pearly white skin, and light blue eyes. The second one had short neck-long light brown hair, a light skin, and emerald green eyes. Both had rather plain bodies of average size and build.
The two soldier girls were wearing the same uniform as the unlucky sentries the rebels had just dealt with: thick black combat boots, dark grey camouflage uniform trousers, a matching uniform long-sleeved shirt, a black equipment belt, a dark grey tactical vest, and a dark grey army cap. Contrary to the watchers however, they were at least keeping their automatic rifles on them.
The brown-haired sentry frowned when she saw a figure dressed as a soldier approach them.
However, Lara had been careful to approach her target from the darkness, avoiding the artificial light of the spotlights. Because of the night, the conscript couldn’t have a good look at the blonde’s face or hair.
“Finch. Is that you? Why aren’t you on the watchtower?” the brown-haired young woman asked.
Lara quickly covered the distance between her and the soldier, then punched the young woman in the guts. The unlucky brown-haired girl bent forward and gasped, the wind knocked out of her.
At the same time, Amaryllis jumped the blond sentry from behind, and wrapped a viselike arm around the soldier’s throat. The girl gurgled and flailed her arms, but nobody could hear her muffled calls for help.
Both infiltrators were in the open, in the middle of the small area lit by the spotlights. Unfortunately for the soldiers, the sentries on the watchtowers who could have spotted their plight were already bound and gagged.
Amaryllis and her victim left the area lit by the spotlights, and disappeared into the shadows. There were a few more faint noises of struggle, then everything went quiet and the girl went still after one last struggle. The limp unconscious body was dragged further into the darkness.
With one neckchop, Lara dispatched the brown-haired sentry. Out cold, the girl fell onto the ground with a grunt. The blonde didn’t waste time. She grabbed the limp woman by the ankles, and dragged her out of the lit area, into the darkness. She dropped her burden once she was sure nobody could spot them.
Then, with the soldier at her feet, Lara grabbed a small flashlight, and used it to quickly send a signal. Her friends, who were waiting hidden at some distance from the army camp, now knew that the coast was clear. With the sentries of the watchtowers and of the main entrance neutralized, nobody could see them approach.
Then, Lara once more grabbed the unconscious black-haired sentry, under the arms this time, and dragged her next to her unfortunate blond partner.
“By the way, I heard Emery and Blair are going to inspect our hideout.” Amaryllis commented when Lara dropped her burden onto the ground. The brown-haired rebel was already unlacing the blond conscript’s boots.
Lara couldn’t help but smile harshly. She unzipped the brown-haired sentry’s tactical vest. “Perfect! Wouldn’t mind bringing these so-called ‘special’ combatants down a peg or two.”
“It wouldn’t be wise to provoke them.” Amaryllis warned her friend, as she was pulling down her girl’s trousers. “Now that Aster and Dimitri have set their network up, all the resistance movements from Rift to Korê have a deep allegiance to the ‘Number One’. Even Morgan Shark obeys him now.”
“I know. I simply want to show we can do just as good as them.”
Of course, in an ideal world, the Rebellion against Olympus’ oppressive government would be a group of dashing merry companions. The truth was that they were, like any vast organization, plagued with inner-rivalries and competitions for influence. It took years of efforts and compromises to unify the many small resistance networks under one common leadership. And even then, the big leader, a man simply known as the ‘Number One’, had to hide all the time in the isolated faraway north-western mountains of Rift. Recently, Cérès and Hieron had been tasked with reaffirming his authority. They were sending their precious special combatants everywhere, to remind each network of the benefits of ‘working together under one leadership’. The intimidation was blatant, but sadly also necessary to make sure that everyone followed the same goal.
Lara stopped thinking of inner-rivalries, and focused on more important things. Like taking off the clothes of an unconscious army girl.
In order to buy their friends some time, she and Amaryllis stripped the two sentries of their uniforms. Indeed, these two sets of clothes would also be used as disguises, just in case. Sadly, these two sentries’ boots were also of bad quality. Lara was hoping she could have exchanged her stolen boots with an other pair discreetly.
The blond conscript was clad in black socks, light pink cheeky panties with a hot pink waistine, a grey tank top, and had no bra. The brown-haired girl was wearing grey camouflage socks, sky blue boxer briefs with black borders, and a night blue sports bra.
The rebels quickly zip-tied each girl’s limbs, and tape-gagged them. The soldiers were laid on their side, back-to-back. Several layers of tape were wrapped around both their waists, thighs and upper-bodies at the same time, in order to bind them together. The two trussed up sentries were finally dragged and concealed out of the way inside the shed.
"Did you see the brunette's eyes?" Lara asked her partner.
"I think I did. Province of Karst?"
The blonde nodded. The two women shared a look mixing sadness and pity.
"I heard of the latest mass conscription there." Amaryllis commented.
The people from Karst were the most attached to their roots. They never left their Province. For them, conscription was an even bigger traumatism. Some recruits even couldn't stand the forced uprooting, and killed themselves. Of course, the governement was perfectly aware of that.
Lara sighed. "Well, maybe she'll see being our hostage as an improvement. If she proves herself willing to cooperate, we'll help her return to her home."
As the two women were talking, Lara’s and Amaryllis’ accomplices arrived next to them. They were a group of women dressed in black clothes.
“Any trouble?” one of them asked.
“No.” Lara answered, recovering her professional mindset. “We have two spare disguises for you, just in case.”
Two guerrilla fighters put on the soldier uniforms and boots.
Once they were done, Lara said to everyone: “Remember the plan. Be methodical. One barrack after the other. We can’t let one of them escape and sound the alarm.”
**************
And indeed, methodical they were.
With each barrack, it was the same process.
A group of guerrilla fighters were brutally entering, completely taking by surprise the soldiers sleeping inside, on their military beds. The women were swiftly subdued, zip-tied, and tape-gagged. Then, they were escorted outside, and gathered at the center of the camp.
Most of the soldiers didn’t even have the time to fight back. Brutally awoken from a deep slumber, they were dazed. Plus, they didn’t have any weapon. In fact, they didn’t even have any uniform on them. They were sleeping in their underwear: boxer briefs and tank tops.
The ones who surrendered and behaved were restrained without unneeded brutality. The ones who tried to resist received a few slaps, quickly lost their will to fight, and were restrained anyway.
The plan went on flawlessly. One after an other, each barrack was taken control of.
**************
While their teammates were taking control of the barracks, Lara and Amaryllis went to neutralize the sentries on the two remaining watchtowers. Indeed, while these women were watching the outside of the camp, the rebels couldn’t rule out the possibility that one would take a glance at the barracks at the wrong moment. Or hear the commotion.
Lara and Amaryllis repeated the same process: Each climbed one watchtower at the same time to swiftly deal with one sentry.
Lara reached the top of the tower, and glanced inside.
The young soldier was also a conscript. She had short sunny blond hair, pure blue eyes, a light skin, and a soft angelic-looking face. She was of average size, with a fit body.
Lara silently approached her prey.
However, the blond conscript had good instinct, or keener senses than average. She noticed that something was wrong, and turned.
Her eyes widened when she saw the intruder about to attack her.
Lara didn’t hesitate. She jumped the young woman, and tackled her onto the floor. She clamped one hand over the soldier’s mouth to muffle her calls for help. With the other hand, she plunged the needle of her syringe into the girl’s neck, and injected her with the knock-out serum inside.
The conscript’s eyes glimmered with fear. Still, she had good reflexes. She tried to unbalance and push away Lara. The latter was better-trained however. She repelled the girl's attempt, didn't loosen her grip, and kept pinning her victim onto the floor.
“Nothing personal, Blondie. It’s just that some people have to get their hands dirty if we want this country to change for the better.” she commented.
The blond conscript’s struggles were short-lived. Soon, her body went limp. Her eyelids closed, and her breath became slow and regular.
A quick glance allowed the rebel to see that Amaryllis had also succeeded in taking control of her watchtower.
Lara checked the blond sentry’s boots. She sighed when she saw that they weren’t of good quality. Still, they were slightly better than the ones she was currently wearing, so she couldn’t resist the temptation of snatching them, leaving the blond sentry’s feet only clad in their light blue socks.
The rebel put on her new boots, but didn’t bother with stripping the silenced sentry of her remaining clothes. She didn’t need her outfit. She simply trussed up the young woman’s wrists and ankles with zip-ties, then wrapped a few layers of tape around her mouth and lower face to keep her quiet. She left the conscript lying on her stomach.
Then, she climbed down the watchtower and regrouped with her partner.
“So, how was yours?” Amaryllis asked.
“An other conscript. Cute and blond.” Lara answered.
“Mine had black hair.” Amaryllis thought for a moment. “Each watchtower’s sentry had a different hair colour. You think they did it on purpose?”
The idea made Lara smile. “The others must have captured the officer by now. Let’s ask her.” she joked.
**************
The commander leading the small outpost was a tall woman with dark brown eyes, a white skin, a tall fit body, a sharp angular face, and a long aquiline nose. Her black hair were tied up into a tight low bun. One strand of hair was dyed scarlet red.
She was wearing a dark green uniform jacket with golden shoulders and golden buttons, a white button-up shirt, dark green trousers with golden yellow stripes, and brown boots. Indeed, she was still awake and working when she had been taken prisoner.
Even immobilized by two guerrilla fighters, with captured half-naked soldiers restrained and gagged all around her, the officer was still looking at the rebels with scorn.
“Greetings, ‘Milady’.” Lara derisively commented with a mocking bow. “We apologize for our suddenness, but you and your squad will have to be our guests.”
Her friends chuckled, and exchanged mocking glances.
The officer, however, was not amused. “I’ll make sure you all get the electric chair for that!” she barked.
Lara smiled harshly. “Congratulations, officer. Just for that comment, you’ve gotten the right to donate your uniform for our cause.”
The woman’s eyes widened. “How dare you?! I refuse!”
“I hoped you’d say that. Ladies, she’s all yours!”
A group of guerrilla fighters exchanged harsh smiles, then grabbed the officer. They ignored her frantic protests, immobilized and lifted her legs, and pulled off her boots.
“Top quality.” one of them commented while giving Lara the footwear. “Being an officer has its perks.”
They unbuckled the woman’s belt and unbuttoned her uniform jacket at the same time. They removed both. Then they unbuttoned and took off the white shirt, and pulled off the trousers.
As underwear, the officer was wearing hot pink socks, a black plunge bra with lacy white borders, and a sultry lacy bright red thong.
“Don’t think these undergarments are very reglementary, officer.” Lara commented.
The woman glared daggers at her.
The tanned-skinned blonde took the discarded boots, and admired them. “Nice footwear indeed. I think I’ll like wearing them.” She looked at the uniform. "In fact, I think I'll like wearing the complete outfit."
She took off her soldier uniform and changed herself into the officer’s clothes in front of the woman, just to rub salt in the wound. Once she was done, she tapped on the ground with her boot-wearing feet.
“Indeed. They are quite comfortable. I’ll keep them. Thanks a lot for the gift!”
“How dare you-fffmmmmhhhh?!”
A rolled up pair of thick socks was shoved into the officer’s mouth before she could finish her sentence. She was then cleave-gagged with a thick rag. Her captors used ropes to bind her wrists behind her back, and wrapped a few layers of rope around her upper-arms for good measure.
Lara enjoyed the silence. “Much better.”
**************
The captured soldiers were lined up. They were all of varying sizes and appearances: some were tall, some were short. Some had a white skin, others had a tanned or a dark skin. There were all the hair colours and eye colours, from blond to black and from blue to brown, with everything in-between. The women's legs were free, to allow them to walk, but they were still gagged and their wrists were still tied. They also had been roped into a long coffle at the neck. Their officer was walking at the front.
Lara looked at the trail of women. “Perfect. We’re ready to go.”
“What about the sentries on the watchtowers?” Amaryllis asked.
The tanned-skinned blonde shrugged. “Leave them. Carrying them on the ladders would be too much trouble.”
Her partner pouted. “I was hoping we would leave an empty outpost behind. It would have been more effective…”
“Probably, but that way we’ll leave a few witnesses behind to spread the tales.”
“It’s their lucky day then.” Amaryllis concluded.
She slapped the officer’s backside to signal her it was time to start walking.
“Alright, girls, let’s go! There’s a long walk away of you!”
The officer’s loud shrieks were muffled by her gag. Still, she had no choice but comply.
******* Several hours later… *******
In the empty camp, four young women were gathered.
After several hours, one of the watchtower sentries had managed to break free of her bonds, and had released the other three. The two who had been robbed of their clothes easily found other outfits: They simply had to search the lockers of the captured soldiers to grab a couple of spare uniforms.
Camellia, the brown-haired conscript, was panicking. “This is bad… This is VERY bad… When Headquarters will learn what happened here, they’ll blame US…”
“Or worst, they’ll think we were accomplices…” Zinnia, the black-haired conscript, added.
Finch, the ginger-red-haired conscript, glanced sideways at the three other young women. “Then we simply need to vanish before they come here and see the mess.” she commented with a sly facial expression.
“What?”
“They’ll think we were captured with the others. Officially, we’ll be considered missing in action.”
“Finch! Deserters are executed!” Camellia retorted.
“You think that’ll stop me? I’m not here by choice!” Finch retorted. “This is my chance to leave, and I’m gonna take it!” She approached her conspirators. There was a crafty look on her face. “Listen, my Ma’ and Pa’ have a ranch near the border between Shield and Kachikuni. Vast meadows with almost no people. The government doesn’t have the resources to watch everywhere, so they focus on the towns. There are small hamlets in which a couple of women like us can hide and lay low with ease.”
The three other young women shared one glance. They were seriously contemplating the offer. Like many other conscripts, they weren’t in the army by choice. It was only due to a mixture of fear, bullying, and lack of better options that they had stayed in the army.
“But we’ll stand out too much with our army uniforms…” Camellia objected.
Finch rolled her eyes. She was clearly out of patience. “Then we’ll steal the outfits of a couple of girls on our way! Everyone will think it was the rebels!” She shook her head, and added: “Listen, you three can stay here and wait for Headquarters to make an example of you. Because that’s what they’ll do. But I’m leaving!”
Camellia and Zinnia exchanged a look. “Wait! We’re coming with you!”
Finch smiled. “Perfect!”
However, she noticed that their blond partner wasn’t moving. On the contrary, she was gazing at the horizon.
“Cleo! What’re you doing? Don’t lag behind!” Finch called her.
The blond conscript named Cleo muttered to herself: “She’s right… This country will never change if everyone just bury their heads into the sand… People have to get their hands dirty...” A part of her was still in awe with how strong and talented that woman was.
“Cleo! Hurry up!”
“Coming!”
**************
THE END
Final note:
And voilà! As I have said before, Pakal is meant to be my last big project. I intend to stop regularly writing stories as of now - and will become a lot less reactive when it comes to reviews and comments; as a matter of fact I've already started...
(Of course, I don't intend to abstain forever from posting something if I one day get the inspiration, but for all intent and purpose this story can be the last one. One thing is certain, I won't try to produce content just for the sake of producing content and trying to keep my section alive.) However, I thought it was fitting to publish a little tribute to my early works to wrap up everything. A bit of a symbolic book end.
I know that it's a modest conclusion, I probably should have tried to end everything on a high note but... you know, laziness... 
Consider this story a little bonus, a way to say 'thank you' to all you people who followed my stories. For some of you, it has been more than 4 years now. 
Personally, I've had a great time with all of you and I don't regret any of the hours I dedicated to the USB - however, I admit that I don't have anymore the same spark to write, read and review which I used to have. Guess my tastes have evolved... Plus, real life is going on... So we'll see where this leads. Anyway, I hope you enjoyed this story.
