Dear readers,

Return to the Shadows was first published in 2004 and now completed in 2015 – taking a whopping 11 years to complete! And wow, has it been one heck of a ride; hands down one of the most dynamic stories I have ever written. It started out as a second attempt to a proper sequel to Act 1: The Successor, initially numbered Act 6 in Kenny's life story, and then renumbered to Act 7.

In the length of time that it took to complete writing this story, I've also changed as an author in terms of where I was trying to go and quality of writing, as long time readers (if any!) will no doubt notice the meandering of directions from the beginning and the succeeding chapters, and clamping down on the amount of sub-stories towards the end.

Return to the Shadows also acts as somewhat of a prequel to fellow author Vammy's story Life's Many Comings. She is a talented author to whom I owe credit for her original characters, used heavily in this story, Julian and Dorian Marquez. She is a skilled author, able to effortlessly weave character personal stakes, and relationships into every situation with the fewest of words. I highly recommend everyone to go check out her work.

So after 11 years toiling over and struggling to control this monster of a story, I realized a crucial note that I overlooked before even starting it. The year in which Return to the Shadows takes place (1998) is actually not when the Street Fighter II tournaments occur; they actually occur 5 years earlier in 1993 which means - you guessed it – another attempt at a proper sequel to Act 1: The Successor! As a result I will be stripping this story of its numerical designation but leaving it up as an (AU) story instead.

I hope you will all rejoin me for the rewrite of Return to the Shadows – to commence writing after the release of Street Fighter V, which will hopefully fill in some of the canon timeline gaps. Besides, as they say, third time's a charm!

Until then, I will be working feverishly to complete ACT 00 – Birth of Shadows – exploring the life of the scientist responsible for developing the Shadowlaw's Shadow Cyborg Initiative; Dr. Tai Su Feng, Kenny's father. I hope to see everyone there too. Thank you all for joining me on this long, turbulent ride, and I hope you are looking forward to reading the rewrite, as I am to write it.

Sincerely,

noctorro