Alongside those who are sinful.

Trivia.

1. This story was conceived and heavily influenced by a very prolific week where I viewed the film "Cone and See," played the entirety of the World at War campaign, and took a weekend trip hunting hogs one winter with my own Kar98k. It is not the sniper variant, but nonetheless, the influences of that one week were strong enough to inspire me to plan and draft this story.

2. Dietrich was meant to have been alone for the story, and it was meant to be a slice of life esque book with no clear end or direction besides the daily life of Dietrich being transplanted in a different world.

3. Dietrich and Katya were originally meant to be around the same age, but this was changed to expand upon both Dietrich and Katya's mother/son relationship with each other and their respective character growth.

4. Kasma was meant to be killed by Krisch'a and it would have been the catalyst for the bandit village destruction.

5. Kasma having magical properties, and magic itself, was not meant to appear at all in the story. The idea to include a more fantasy setting was a spur of the moment change and one can see where it changed due to how ground in the world seems before Kasma is saved. Before he is saved, everything is taken into account such as resources and a focus on small details, but when magic is introduced, it helps to supplement the ability to overlook those details.

6. Hiroshi and Hudson were not meant to be put into the story at first. But an idea came later which made their inclusion paramount.

7. If this book sometimes feels like it is influenced by Skyrim and DND, thats because it is. In fact, this book shares some elements with both settings.

8. I somewhat regret not making Kasma a female of appropriate age because Dietrich would be getting some. I've wanted to try and write a lemon just to see if I'm good at it, but I'm not going to just write one and put it in at the risk of the rest of the story. I think I've got a pretty decent shot at it in my next story, though.

9. I had a few extra thousand words of just Dietrich skinning Krisch'a. No joke. I took cues from memories and experiences when hunting in real life and crafted a finely detailed excerpt. As I explained before, I didn't feel that it would add anything to the story at that point.

10. Each human character represents one of the four horsemen of the apocalypse from Revelations in the Bible. Dietrich is Death. Hudson is War. Katya is Famine. Hiroshi is Conquest.

11. All major protagonist characters represent parts of the Yin and Yang and each human character has a Thrask world counterpart that shares their spot with the exception of Dietrich Fischer.

In good, there is bad: Hudson and Sehth'ker. Hudson is a good man of God, but has to go against the word by serving as a flame trooper in the war. Sehth'ker is what one would call "An Honest Thief." She was a bandit, but ends up quitting that life to do good when given a choice.

In bad, there is good: Hiroshi and Cynfael. Hiroshi cares for the initial hostages and others along their journey while being a Japanese officer. Enough said there. Cynfael is quite literally the personification of a bloodsucking demon, yet he comes to aid those who need help desperately because it is the right thing to do.

There is pure good: Katya and Kasma. Both are pure and honest in heart, with love knowing no bounds. This is represented by both of their abilities to see beyond Dietrich's evils while decrying violence.

And then, There is pure evil: Dietrich Fischer. He is the exception. He did have a counterpart. But he was so evil, he skinned her in a Thrask slaughterhouse.

12. With that last fact, Krisch'a was meant to live. Obviously, she did not.

13. The scene with Dietrich teaching Kasma about the K98k and how to use and operate it is an allegory for sex. Let's be realistic: Dietrich having Kasma grab his long wooden rod and telling him how to work it so that a certain reaction expels something?