1.18.11
on August 19, 2022
at 3:00 am
that’s the kind of artisanal quality you get when a craftsman really cares about his incarnated body, unlike this fast fashion stuff
Aurora
A fantasy webcomic. Updates M-W-F.
that’s the kind of artisanal quality you get when a craftsman really cares about his incarnated body, unlike this fast fashion stuff
Poor Tynan not innovating across the years.
For mobile viewers.
Alt-text: dear google how do I visually distinguish this blue-white glow from the other different blue-white glow
Image source is “power.”
HELL YES VASH
Vash at full power looks awesome. I gotta say, one of the best things about aurora is the special effects. They never dissapoint.
Why do I see that weird eye on the crystal embeded in the sword?
Well he did innovate the whole dragon thing and it did serve him well.
“Wha-?!” The dragon splutters, “What have you done?”
“AH, right! You only saw my first try,”
Divine Vash, his body as brightly blue
As his sword glowing, replies.
“of course!” Erin marvels, as the bones
Of starmetal produce the glow,
With the raw power of Vash that brave Kendal summoned.
The god adds, “Let’s not let him down now.”
I get the feeling that Erin’s going to want to take him apart and put him back together again just to see how he was made.
Pride in craftsmanship, so sadly rare these days.
“And this is to go even further beyond!”
Vash the Human Glowstick vs Tynan the Sentient Flamethrower; How will they fair, folks?
I love how Tess is looking at Erin. Like “Seriously bro? You’re geeking over this NOW?”
‘Did Vash weave metal into them?’- Alinua, at some point in chapter three.
I see what you did there Red.
Also Erin’s back. I’m very happy about that.
Gods like Vash aren’t nearly as strong as primordials, and so mostly remain relevant due to the relative weakness of the vessels of primordials such as Erin, Alinua, and Danix. So as the comic goes on, Kendal (assuming Vash is forced back into his soul-cage which seems likely) would most likely be eclipsed by power creep, which wouldn’t be good for the main powerhouse. However, starmetal, as hinted at and pointed out by several other commenters, seems to be associated with the Light Dragon, the antithesis of Voidy. Meaning Kendal might end up becoming the vessel of the Light Dragon as well as Vash.
Vash: While you were languishing at sea angsting at any passing fishing boat, I studied the blade. In more ways than one!
Despite Vash’s brash tendencies, this shows he knows the importance of planning ahead. Tynan’s dragon form was a spur of the moment improvisation to counter the protag’s current plan; Vash’s starmetal integration was a long-term investment for any future endeavour.
Oh Erin! Tess can practically see the gears turning in his head. If it weren’t for the pressing V.D. matter, I’m sure he’d be busy writing at least three different academic reports based on members of the gang.
Ok, Erin is 100% back in control, Alinua’s still healing but most of the void stuff must be gone or else Falst wouldn’t be carrying her, Falst and Tess are carrying the team (in a literal sense), but where’s Dainix? Is he burning of his heat to revert back to base form? Has he fled the scene entirely?
No prediction for next week; I’m just going to sit back and watch the fireworks.
@CapitainCutlet
It’s either a result of Vash entering this stronger form, or the soul of Kendal, since he had to “combine” himself with the sword to summon Vash
Alinua asking if vash weaved metal into Kendall’s bones was foreshadowing to this
Yep Erin is definitely back to normal
LET’S NOT LET HIM DOWN NOW!!! THAT GIVES ME SOME HOPE THAT KENDAL’S STILL IN THERE!
Love me a good third act breakdown! God, I love this comic.
! hope that Vash isn’t falling into the fatal flaw of talking too much. Please just do the job — explanations can wait for later over a bowl of ale at the “Golden Lamprey”.
Vash: I have the power of God.
Tynan: Are you T posing right now
Wow, Kendal was quite literally built different, which is probably why he stuck around.
Oh. Vash is speaking of Kendal as a person, and not a tool. A surprise, to be sure, but a welcome one; if Vash cares about Kendal’s well-being beyond the pragmatic notion that Kendal is the one trying to rescue him, he’s not going to want to rob Kendal of his freedom and autonomy.
How did it take me this long to realize that this is why Kendal’s bones haven’t been atomized by the heavy blows he’s taken yet? I guess I was so hung up on the fact that Kendal’s body is biological, I forgot that it was crafted by a literal deity for war-making. My brief panic in chapter 8 was mistaken.
CaptainCutlet:
Because in the first Vash vs Tynan beatdown, the gem was an eye. Vash’s left eye, infused with his soul and with starfire. That energy lingered when the gem was put into the blade.
CapitainCutlet: The orb on the pomel was turned into an replacement eye in the original defeat of tynan after Vash lost his actual eye, just like the metal itself would turn into his right arm. Afterwards, it got forged into the sword, drum roll please, Kendal, aka right hand.
Tynan is just having the worst of days. He gets beat up by a bunch of random people, then nearly gets killed by a primordial of chaos, and then his apparently dead rival comes back, demonstrating that he’s smarter than Tynan and does it while looking prettier than him (and bringing a better light show). Someone get this dragon a juice box for him to drink as he cries in the corner once this is done.
Now we know, there was metal in his bones
Vash has understood, he knows the way to go
Tynan: What have you done?
Vash: I git gud.
There once was a god whose desire
Was to be able to summon starfire.
So he wove into the bones
Of his mortal clones
All the starmetal he could acquire.
Side note: in that last panel, Vash seems like he’s putting on his “I mean business” face.
Also when he said he reinforced his bones with the power, I got some ptsd reminder of a different character. Thankfully magic is far more friendly than that ability.
Every time I think “this comic’s effects cant get more awesome” you blast my expectations out of the park! This page is GORGEOUS
Is a blue on blue speech bubble also on blue too much blue? NO SUCH THI-
It’s a good thing that Voidy got shut down or else he’d probably be interrupting the fight by nibbling on Vash’s arm.
I’m just wondering why Vash didn’t use this power up in the fight with the Collector, tbh. We see something like it (maybe) in 1-3, but not elsewhere. I fully believe Red planned for this at least somewhat, which makes this an interesting mystery to think about.
Hah, “unlike this fast fashion stuff”. Ahem, *Zuurith*.
Other foreshadowing for this was from Tahraim in Ch12: “He only realized the true potential of the starmetal under his city when I forced him to adapt.” Tynan also mentions in Ch15 that Zuurith should’ve “[Taken] a cue from Vash. Build it to last.” with his vessel, but clearly didn’t know or realize the extent to which Vash *had*. Vash’s city was also known for its craftspeople, so it’s cool to see the extent to which he’s a craftsman himself. The clues were there, but I actually didn’t see it coming; hats off, and the page is beautiful too.
@Diana_Nimue Vash probably didn’t see the threat the Collector posed to him and his city; when he attacked her, he probably thought she was just some criminal life mage. She destroyed his city too quickly for him to react, and he was so distressed after witnessing it happen that by the time he probably thought about going full starfire, his soul was already being stolen.
Erin be like “Can you replicate that under controlled circumstances?”
Also, do the color of Vash’s eyes have anything to do with the color of the starfire? Did they change color after he first used it? Or is starfire color a thing specific to the god, so it’s blue because his eyes are blue? Or is it just coincidence and also blue is the best color?
Also wooo Ali’s fully healed (at least, mostly)
@Goldfinch ty for the image of chibi-kitten VD Walter dangling from Vash’s arm while ineffectively trying to nom him
Sick as fuuuuuuuck
It seems Alinua is healing Falst now. Nice touch, Red! You are stretching your art but still manage to put in wonderful details!
@Redstick Vash is doing the Swashbuckler banter (like Spiderman), which is the heroic equivalent of villain monologue but the writer is on their side- which does not bode well fot Tynon…
I believe this is where Tynan says “This isn’t my final form!” Or maybe Vash says that. After all, Tynan could be trying to get Vash to monologue.
Would it be easier if one of them was a white-blue glow instead?
The blue glow is once again really well done: the white outlines and the fact that the colouring for Vash is just all blue does a really good job of making the light feel really intense (I know I said that last page too, but still. Dang).
I am curious how Vash engineered it though: if the starmetal’s in his bones, how did he get the flames to be outside of his vessel rather than just popping out of his ears and nose or burning the rest away so he’s only controlling the skeleton? And I wonder how many vessel-meat explosions it took to get it right.
As always, for Kendal/Vash, It always has to be a no shirts allowed battle
@CaptainCutlet The eye doesn’t really seem to be a human one, its more cat-like, like VD’s?
Small theory, VD days that Kendal has no Void in his body, but has something else hr hasn’t “tasted” in a long time. We knoe that VD was in the business of eating stars, so its reasonable to assume he’s referring to the Starmetal in Kendal’s body. The only problem is that a human body can’t survive without Void, so the Starmetal has to be somehow filling the role of Void somehow.
We also that know from the Junior Archivist that, with the Void and Light Dragons’ being antithesis’ of each other, there powers are equal. VD can posses a dragon, so so can LD. Therefore, its possible that the Light element could fill the same role in a human body as Void.
So basically, Starmetal could be a fused material containing Light.
The dragon eye in the gem could be a representation of the Light Dragon’s power being used by Vash.
Starmetal bones? Wow getting through airport security must be such a hassle. Also swimming.
Huh. Vash never uses Kendal’s name, does he?
I don’t know why but Erin’s “of course” is the funniest thing I’ve seen today.
Privpi:
The gem is not in the pommel, it’s in the blade just above the crossguard.
Natalie:
…Sh*t. The group is going to cross an ocean to get to Helm. If Kendal gets knocked overboard, he’s not getting back above the surface. Unless his sheer strength when swimming can counteract the sinking.
Panel 3 had better be the new character image for Vash lmao
Why is Tynan more concerned about Kendal than Vash?
Sumfin’ wrong with this picture.
This page convinces me of four things:
1 is that Erin is in full control again.
2 is that Alinua is very near fully healed, if not fully healed already.
3 is that Kendal is still alive in some form, I’m guessing it’s the sword theory, but no matter what I’m thinking Vash will leave this incarnation so that Kendal can keep existing.
4 and four is that Red is an AMAZING artist who loves blue (and I don’t mean the person). And not just visually, but I just love the craftsmanship displayed in this page, the glowy effects being just visually distinct enough for it to be clear what we’re looking at, the foreshadowing being payed of right here and the small display of Erin reacting perfectly in character is just the cherry on top. I love this comic
@SarissaTeiflingDruid, i would love to see a repeat of that scene but instead of Kendal giving Erin an angry look and Alinua being super confused it’s Alinua looking angrily at Erin and Kendal being super confused
This is so EPIC! YES! I cannot even describe how happy this comic makes me! It is incredible. This comic/story is wonderful! Red, you are amazing and your work is absolutely awesome!
Erin’s “of course” is such an erin thing to say xD but damn this is some big info
MY MAN GOING SUPER SAIYAN!
Super Saiyan Vash
That shocked Tynan face is both satisfying and cute. I love seeing antagonists be scared.
I haven’t commented in a WHILE. Let’s fix that.
@everyone If Aurora was going to get a crossover with another universe (e.g. Marvel, Attack on Titan, FMAB, etc.), what combined universe would you like to see the most?
Hey spidey, nice to see y’a.
@Alphonse Elric, first off Alphonse is like, my favorite character in FMAB so I like your user name. And two I would love to see an Aurora/Avatar crossover, I think that would be really fun (specifically avatar Aang and the boomerAang squad).
I absolutely think Vash is gonna get dragged back into The Collector’s big rock soon enough, but I also do think this is going to prompt a sea change in how The Collector behaves, because I doubt they could pull this off without her noticing Vash’s disappearing act. I think this is how she’s gonna find out that Kendall exists and is running around trying to rescue Vash, and once she knows THIS is a possibility, I very much expect she’ll be firmly gunning for Kendall to prevent Vash’ rescue and/or any further instances of Vash briefly being sucked out of her big rock.
oooooh pretty
@myself For me, Aurora/Minecraft. I want to see the gang go mining, fight the enderdragon, make a farm, get pissed over trades, fight a raid, etc.
TL;DR: I improved. You did not. Now you’re obsolete.
@Leapyeargirl96 Avatar Aang versus The Elemental Magus would be WILD. Especially considering the number of elements Erin is packing compared to Aang. It would also be interesting to see Katara try to bloodbend, and it just not working. It would also be cool to see Sokka and Falst interact with them both being underpowered compared to their friends. Tess and Toph can have a lot of funny banter, Zuko versus Dainix agni-kai style, god there’s so many possibilities.
Bluefire makes a good point.
Sadly, David Bowie is no longer with us, I was at that concert <3
Who will judge the "walk off"?
So on the machina question raised a page or two back … if Vash (how much I love that name, so close to Rash…) goes back to the Collector after flattening Tynan, it’s classic machina. If he doesn’t, or if he isn’t able to solve the Tynan problem (which, frankly, it seems like he will), then machina’s been side-stepped.
It does sound like perhaps Kendal hasn’t been sent into the clutching hands of the Collector *waits impatiently to learn more of his fate*
I THOUGHT ALINUA COMMENTING ON KENDAL’S BONE STRUCTURE WAS JUST GOING TO BE ABOUT KENDAL BEING STURDIER THAN A STANDARD HUMAN!!
icarusancalion, For some reason I picture Kendal & Vash’s relationship to be like old married couples. One likes to drive and the other prefers not to, not experienced mebbe.
With Kendal having the memories and Vash being inside Kendal how could they not be like synchronized? Like when smartphones dock with computers and their operating systems – may not be the same, but they can exchange data because “external communications” is in an industry standard, universal language; iIrc Java is one of them?
Wouldn’t all that energy/radiation hurt all the stuff the bones are attached to/inside of?
Of course, Erin is nerding out during the life-threatening battle
Wow that’s beautiful.