1.18.1
on July 27, 2022
at 3:00 am
big ups to Dainix for providing the appropriate dramatic lighting for this confrontation
Aurora
A fantasy webcomic. Updates M-W-F.
big ups to Dainix for providing the appropriate dramatic lighting for this confrontation
Snarky Voidy making backseat comments is the best start to a Wednesday morning. Cheers!
why do I find the fact that Kendal is just telling Voidy to shut up so funny—
Voidy just stfu man, you are not helping the sitch
Kendal calms Dainix.
V.D keeps on butting in.
Guess who’s not amused.
Wait so Voidy’s been talking out loud this whole time? And not keeping their whole villain monologue in their own head?
I think VD’s thoughts and words use the same font
Oh come on, let the man monologue.
Also, is this confirming Dainix has a connection to Fire? I thought he was connected to soulfire.
YESSSSS Kendal being the awesomest <3 Get shut up, Voidy!
Also, adding my thanks to Dainix for the lighting.
And this is why I LOVE KENDAL! Best boy! But really he’s trying so hard to make the situation not so awful. He’s the best
I swear blue eyes always were the scariest to make eye contact with and voidy is feeling it rn, also Dainix in “fire mode” looks INCREDIBLE
I’m always fond of a good “Just shut up, villain!” moment.
Kendal: I’m trying to keep everyone alive.
Tynan: Shit man, you put a sword in my fucking eye!
Kendal: Not you!
Kendal is struggling to attain contact
And Walter is not making it easy, in fact
Oh wait shit the rain is starting again. Walter must have lost focus when he got attacked by Sparkles over there. Tynan shall soon be back, I fear.
what’s happening to Alinua-
And yeah, Voidy, shut up
Kendal: Well if Fire was so easy to kill, why can’t you do the same here? (V.D. stays silent) Yeah, that’s what I thought.
I thought Dainix’s wasn’t acting mindlessly; he choose to transform into this form, doesn’t appear to be in pain unlike in the arena and has eyes only for Voidy. Kendal communicating with him and him listening may be proof of this.
Poor Alinua, that magic looks painful and persistent. It’s taking longer to heal compared to her previous void injuries in chapter 7; I guess the blast hit her more directly here and she’s already used a lot of the ambient life energy to grow the tree.
Look at how wide eyed V.D. is in the second to last panel; I think he know that while Kendal like to be a paragon, he won’t hesitate to be brutal if pushed. Take his advice Voidy, and stop talking.
wow, well THIS is an interesting party dynamic
also, VD is misidentifying Dainix as Fire’s Vessel. if Dainix WAS Fire’s Vessel, it sounds like he would have no conscious control over this form and VD would have had much less trouble with him. Dainix is something different, something new that even VD doesn’t recognise
so no, i don’t think this is confirming that Dainix is connected to Fire, i think it’s more evidence to the opposite
I love dainix in his fire form, glad we finally got to see it. Voidy really not being helpful on behalf of trying to get dainix back in control tho.
Btw love ur art, it’s amazing and I love the way the hair is so fluffly♥
Voidy making snarky comments and the dynamics between the characters has made my entire Wednesday >:D
Alt text: hello pot, my name is kettle
It’s interesting seeing the Void Dragon like this, you don’t usually see these Sauron-type villains in any light other than menacing, except for when they’re losing and going ‘NO! HOW COULD THIS BE…’ etc.
On an unrelated note…
Is it too late to join the Mum Club?
Did anyone else notice that the place where Tynan slashed Kendal’s back open is already almost healed? Dude’s a freakin axolotl.
Is it just me, or does Walter seem kinda scared of Kendal right now.
I find it interesting that Voidy says he killed Fire first, as it to all six elementals to form his Adamant prison. I suppose it’s possible that Fire was the first to die of his wounds, but Voidy’s statement more implied active killing. Maybe it’s somehow related to the Collector’s ability to “heal” other elements, where Life was able to give some kind of limited resurrection to her compatriots?
‘Goodness gracious great balls of fire!’
@bookwyrm
As cool as that would be, I’m fairly sure Erin healed him after shooting a fireball at him
“I have self-control,” he said as he continued to run-off at the mouth.
Is it just me, or does it look like Tynan is slowly getting back up in panel one?
I think I can safely say this is the first time I’ve seen a protagonist essentially tell one of (if not THE) main villain “Bruh, read the room, shut the hell up.” I love it. XD
I love VD!Erin’s face in panel 3, it’s hilarious. Also that last line, with the subtext of just “My Goodness, if you don’t shut up I swear I’ll kill you myself” is also great.
Also, I wonder why Alinua’s taking so long to heal today? Is it because Life is still refusing her from when she tried to ask for a tree and thus doesn’t want to support her right now unless she’s unconcious or in motal danger, because ambient life energy is exhausted, or something else entirely?
TL;DR: It’s hard to make sure everyone’s safe when one person out of “everyone” is possessed by an egotistical big bad who won’t stop making things harder.
Commenting on here for the first time to say STORMS I love those last three panels, especially the last one. Besides the fact that I really enjoy moments when the hero just tells the villain to shut up (it doesn’t happen enough), Scary Kendal is one of my favorite Kendals, and those panels nicely show the transition from battle-diplomat Kendal to Scary Kendal. And then we have those EYES in the last, plus the fire framing Kendal from behind . . . stellar job, Red. 10/10.
Holy sh*t, Kendal! *applause* I love it when he’s righteously assertive!
I have a feeling Kendal is about to chew The Void Dragon out for attacking Alinua, from the way he looked at her.
OK, first order of business: I would love to see Red start writing Superman comics, because I think she’d be really good at it.
Second order of business: from the little we see of Tynan’s dragon form in the background, he isn’t actively being consumed by void. And as certain sharp-eyed commenters mentioned on the last page, the rain has started again. Does this mean Tynan’s still in the ring, or is storm-floof dead? (Also it’d be kinda funny if, after all our speculation that VD Walter will add insult to injury by possessing Tynan, the light dragon ends up possessing him instead)
amazing start to chapter 18! walter’s shit-eating grin and “chatty villain gets outright told to shut up”.
That’s definitely rain! I wonder if Ms Light will make an appearance this chapter. I would also like to see her tell Walter to shut up to his face – idk that’s my speculation on their dynamic.
this really does demonstrate how Kendal communicates and it’s FASCINATING. He doesn’t add any fluff or equivocation. Straight out, what he’s trying to get across is what he says. His face is stern/angry, but he isn’t actually trading barbs with Walter, he’s stating with the fewest words what his problem is and what outcomes he sees. It’s like the SparkNotes version of all the nuances in the entire scene and his character – if he were to give a big dramatic eleventh-hour speech right here, this is what it would condense to. Pure contrast to Walter (and, to an extent, Erin himself), who seems to greatly enjoy hearing himself talk and is always slipping in some extra additions to spin out multiple meanings.
welp that was a bit drawn out but it resonates hard with me as the local “never understood the social rules of communication so just did it the way it seemed most logical” neurodivergent
VDs face in the second panel makes me laugh so hard and I don’t know wy
*third panel
“There is only a handful of ways this can end without further bloodshed; and NONE of them include you monologuing about your villainous accomplishments!”
Bush Guardian — “Also, is this confirming Dainix has a connection to Fire? I thought he was connected to soulfire.”
I think Voidy is making assumptions all over the place here, assumptions that aren’t even supported by observable facts (with what Erin consider incredibly sloppy logic). Voidy keeps claiming Dainix has no self-control and is just like Fire, despite the fact that that Dainix took his barbs and insults calmly and showed a great deal of restraint, waiting for the battle to commence. Voidy seems to have no understanding of soul-anything, let alone soulfire.
I think it is significant that Voidy’s snarky comments in panels 4 and 6 are framed by Kendal looking at Alunia and then in six shows Kendal looking at Alunia as Voidy speaks. Is Kendal just making sure his first friend is OK? Remembering an early conversation with her? Getting a clue to problem his is trying to solve? Am I overthinking it?
Okay, I love this page. Specifically the art, (not to say the conversations aren’t fantastic because they are), I just love the framing of the first panel, and V.D.’s dumb face in panel three, and how he was actually THANKING Kendal, man I didn’t see that coming but it was great. But what I really love about this page is the last two panels, man I’ve been waiting for this moment for so long! I love V.D. And his lengthy monologues, but in this scene I’ve just been waiting for someone to shut him up and Kendal is the perfect person to do it. On the other hand though, he’s third wheeling our i know you’re in there somewhere fight so he needed to quiet down!
Someone else can take a stab at a QOTD today; woke up feeling ill and not sure when I’ll feel up to trying to be creative. (Far as I know, not Covid, just bad sushi)
Best, (and looking forwards to seeing what you come up with),
Skye
I’m pretty sure this is the first time anyone (aside Erin) has spoken to Walter directly. Starting to love this dynamic as well!
I really love the phrasing of “I’m trying to keep EVERYONE alive.” It hits just the right kind of balance between “You’re not even acting in your own best interests here, just let me help you for crying out loud.” and “You’re a horrible monster who’s endangering everyone around you, now stop it or else.” It’s not often you see those conflicting sentiments mesh quite so well!
Not-Enough-Dragons:
Alinua spoke to him briefly in chapter 7. Albeit, she didn’t know it was him, whereas Kendal knows exactly who he’s reprimanding.
Skye:
Well, I hope you feel better soon. I’ll give it a shot.
Question of the day: Of all the characters we’ve seen so far, who would you most like to talk smack to?
(Personally, I’d choose Tynan, because it’s people like him that give dragons such a bad rep, and the arenamaster, because he’s just such an awful little man (derogatory).)
I love Erin’s/Voidy’s little grin in the third panel. He really seems more and more like a misbehaving kitten.
…is it weird that I’m starting to think VD Walter is actually capable of a redemption arc? IDK if I actually think that’s where it’s headed, but him understanding the concept of being in debt to someone (even if he doesn’t want to admit that he DOES owe Kendal big time) is… more nuanced than a pure evil force-of-nature villain, at the very least
oh and @Skye get well soon! @TheUnknownGame hmm… Tynan IS a good choice. Aside from him, the person I most *want* to chew out is Zuurith, but the person who seems to be the most *fun* to smack talk is VD Walter
@Aulde You’re definitely not overthinking it. Framing is important, it’s something an artist needs to put thought into when making a comic.
My thought (aside from the obvious “Kendal worries about his friends” bit) is that Kendal is recognizing that whatever Dainix is going through is like what Alinua suffered with. They’re both possessed by Primordials. Where that thought will go remains to be seen, especially since some asshole keeps interrupting Kendal’s thought process.
unstoppable himbo meets movable snark
To Hermit Thrush, TheUnknownGame:
Thanks for the well-wishes; I’m feeling better now but I’m still probably gonna take it easy today. I don’t usually eat sushi with raw fish, so I figure what happened is I mistook the taste of it starting to turn for wasabi and pickled ginger/cabbage contamination–not a mistake I’ll make again.
To Hermit Thrush:
If we get a redemption out of him, it’s going to be limited to that fragment possessing Erin, not the entire entity. I really don’t see Voidy as a whole being interested in turning over a new leaf–but I could be proven wrong; we’ll just have to see. You could get some interesting subplot out of that, though… With the fragment, I mean, if it does get a redemption.
To TheUnknownGame:
Difficult to say; a couple of them seem to have already gotten their comeuppance, so I’m not really sure they count. Assuming total immunity from retribution, and that if they’ve already had karma visit they don’t count, probably Walter at the moment. (Without restriction, the list would also include Jolon and Shrike, and probably the Collector if she wasn’t already too batshit insane for words to still have much of an impact)
I keep looking between this page and certain of Red’s tweets from today like “is this what I think is happening?”
This new dynamic between Kendal and Walter is my new favorite thing in this comic. From Kendall straight out telling the flipping VOID DRAGON to shut up, to Walter saying that he’s in Kendall’s debt (however seriously he meant it). It’s GOLDEN. You’d think Kendall would be almost useless when it came to Walter, and yet here we are.
@Hermit Thrush
ok now I’m waiting for The Light Dragon to posess Tynan so she can kill erin (to make life hard on Walter). Would Kendal end up fighting her to try to defend erin?
Poor Void Dragon. He’s not used to being told to do something. He’s totally not used to considering actually doing it to avoid a bad outcome. Good thing this is not a Greek Tragedy.
oh hey! in the first panel you can see Tynan’s tail and part of his wing, I think he’s getting up!
@theunknowngame: ooh, that’s a good one! definitely Erin, I can totally see myself getting upset with him for being insensitive and telling him off, but I can also see us getting along really well and having friendly banter all the time. but Tess would be a close second for the latter reason
hey! you can see Tynan’s tail and part of his wing in the first panel, I think he’s getting up.
@TheUnknownGame: Definitely Erin! I can definitely see myself getting mad at him and telling him off for being insensitive, but I can also see us getting along really well and frequently having friendly banter. but Tess would be a close second for the latter reason
“Between this and the caves, I might actually be in your debt, which makes me extremely uncomfortable” -Voidy
@Hermit Thrush i think you might be correct since we’ve already seen in a previous chapter that the light dragon is capable of possessing other dragons and it’s the only way i think tynan would survive being attacked by walter
To Treebranch:
If that’s the case, then Kendal’s in for a nasty shock once he realizes that Walter’s panicked look has nothing to do with being on the receiving end of his anger…
Gah! This comic is so good!
It’s starting to rain again. Does that mean Tynan is powering up or something? And where did Tess fall to?
Just so everyone knows, Red posted the following text conversation on the comic Tumblr:
Red: *image of WIP panel seven*
Red: Void Dragon: this better not awaken anything in me
Unknown: LMAO
Red: what if you were symbolically and physically a star and I was a star-eating dragon and we were both boys
To cosmerefan:
I saw that. There’s definitely some interesting implications there–like with that Falst sketch dump a couple weeks back . Something to keep an eye on…
Void Dragon: Wow, you vessels really are something else…
Kendal: I’m trying to save your life asshole!
Just a random internet stranger saying I really like this comic and thanks for making it. Looking forward to more of this and your other work Red!
I wanna see some epic battle between alinua and dainix
Okay, can I just say, I love Kendal!!! I have a huge soft spot for super-heroic angsty bois who wield swords expertly. The floofy hair doesn’t hurt, either. Right, fangirling session over, time for the limerick.
There once was a sentient sword
Who acted quickly to ward
His friend from danger.
He acts like a stranger
To Voidy, who is simply floored.
For all his snark, VD is NOT complaining about having a meatshield between him and what was kicking his ass.
Dainix is definitely not a vessel in the same way Alinua is. He could definitely qualify by some criteria, after all, his soul appears to made of fire, much like what is implied by the inside view we get of Alinua’s soul. Also, in the first panel, Tynan’s tail is up. I think he’s coming to, which is also implied by the rain coming back.
bad chaos dragon
Walter panel 3 face is great, I love that he can’t stop telling anyone who might listen about all the cool stuff he did back in the day, he just wants respect guys!