Date: Mon, 1 Oct 2018 23:19:37 +0000 (UTC) From: Salvador Escher Subject: Stories of an Old Boy Afterword Stories of an Old Boy: Afterword by XPud Greetings, my wonderful readers. Now that the entire story arc is complete, I have to sit back and marvel for a moment--some at me, but mostly at y’all. Never have I had such supportive people encourage me to do anything before; never have I felt this much appreciation for anything I have created. I started this off as a silly way to have a little fun writing the fetish erotica story that I wanted to see online; after enough people emailed me and told me to write another chapter, I was convinced to give it another go. That was all it took to set the snowball in motion: each character became more developed, each chapter longer than the last, and the story itself blossomed into something I never dreamed I’d write. 170,000+ words, y’all. For two years I worked on the story, falling in love with the characters just as much as you, crying when I put them through hell, cheering when they made it out. But the one thing that kept me going in it was the feedback and mails from y’all--I really can’t thank each and every one of you enough for that. Even if you didn’t send a kind word or the such, just knowing that there were thousands of people reading this just blows my mind. So, sincerely, thank you for making my pastime into something not just entertaining, but also deeply fulfilling. That said, this was my first ever foray into online writing, into serial fiction, into erotica, and even into publishing my work (even if for free). I have many other stories I’d like to write, many other seeds of characters that have yet to grow, and I hope that you all will understand that I wish to give them the love and attention they need to become the beautiful boys that they can be. And since I need money--and therefore a job--I can’t devote all my time to multiple stories at once. So, it is with reverence that I leave this story as-is for now; I may return to it in the future, but its plot has been told and its boys have had a chance to shine. As of this writing, I am working on a sequel to the story “Lucky Chances” (located in the Incest section on Nifty), which features a pair of separated twins whose similarities end at their looks (and sexuality). If you’re interested, give the first installment a look and hopefully the second one will make its way in decent time. If not, I will definitely be writing other stories, so stay tuned. I will also be looking into getting a Prolific Authors directory on the Nifty Archives so that my works can be more easily found (let me know if you have insight into that process). And finally, for those for whom the ending of the epilogue was a bit confusing, not only have I edited the ending slightly to provide another clue, but would like to give you the ‘Director’s Commentary’ version of the ending just in case: 1) When Matty loses consciousness for the final time, Phillip is ready to commit suicide. He has been considering it for some time, and after a millennium, he’s ready to go. 2) He takes the pill concoction, thereby suppressing both his power and his central nervous system in hopes that he will not rewind instead of finally dying. As his life flashes before his eyes, though, something is already immediately different; normally everything just stops. He’s never had memories flash before him in one of these circumstances. (Added to that moment in the newer version, he has a final thought in another of those “hall of mirrors” sorts of moments wherein he wishes Matty would live and he would die. Then, for mysterious reasons, he is aware that he is not going to die, but instead is being taken elsewhere...or elsewhen.) 3) This is not mentioned in the story, but one could extrapolate that Matty passes away at roughly the same time Phillip does. 4) Also not mentioned in the story for a lack of a way to do so, Phillip doesn’t just travel back to 7th grade; as he mentions that “I’m a kinda awkward kid, I guess: I feel like maybe my nose is a little too long, I stumble like I’ve got three left feet on only two legs, and I always seem to say stupid things. To make things worse, I sometimes have pretty bad seizures,” he has grown up from birth this time around in this fashion. After all, he would be rather confused if he had different memories of childhood and then all of a sudden he were vastly different at the start of 7th grade. So he rewound entirely to birth and has lived a life that, to him, is perfectly normal (if awkward). He no longer has the ability to affect time; whether it was burnt out of him by the medication, or simply because “there can be only one,” is intentionally left unstated. Even if he were not on the meds, he cannot manipulate time. 5) Matty, however, now seems to have the power. This is not his first run through this moment, as he has had plenty of rewinds to get things perfect; everything he does is intentional. He does notice, though, that Phillip seems to have some vestigial connection to his past, as he has fragmented memories of other times that similar things have happened, though Phillip thinks they’re just a weird form of deja vu. Matty, though, knows the truth, and (not mentioned or hinted at in-story) though he hasn’t gone through a millennium like Phillip had, he has spent a few years getting things right from birth onward. He has not lived as an adult yet; he has not really gone much past this specific point, in fact. Even so, getting everything right up to this point has taken him a good bit of subjective time, so he is merely a very confident boy, not an adult mind in a child’s body. 6) It is still noted that Matty has the scar, so it can be safely assumed that the same issue has occurred for him. However, unless he specifically desires to be seen running into the gym and leaping over Timothy, he has plenty of chances to use the restroom beforehand. (Not mentioned/hinted at) He himself does not yet know whether he will be able to avoid the other cancer, as he has not explored that time again yet. And that’s the thorough explanation of all the details mashed together in those final moments. My sincerest apologies if some of them were too vague, but from Phillip’s point of view, the reader doesn’t get a lot of information. For now, though, farewell my wonderful readers, and hopefully we will meet again over the pages of a different story. <3 XPud