2.3.35
on December 18, 2024
at 3:00 am
you propose we abandon the extremely complex yet simultaneously deeply limited setpiece we’ve spent two entire chapters on? oh noooooo don’t do thaaaat
Aurora
A fantasy webcomic. Updates M-W-F.
For mobile readers.
Alt-text: believe in the me who believes in internal continuity
Image source: off
Good to see you Zer0 W0lf!
Heyo Zero Wolf nice to see you again!!
Tumblr Text: Maybe it just wants a hug, has anyone tried that?
Bluesky text: wait your turn buddy we’re not done with the last crisis yet
. Alinua is yanked back to the boat as Kendal murmurs, “…Alinua…?”
. She stares into the air, gasping, stunned.
. “…Off the ship,” she says, looking back at Kendal. “We have to get off the ship RIGHT NOW.”
. “Dainix, can you hear me?” Falst calls as fire forms again, curling in around Dainix’s rocky core and forming a humanoid shape. “I can get us off this damn boat. I can keep you safe! But I can’t do anything if you don’t shake off the Void!” Dainix seems to shiver, drawing a hand up to his shoulder. “Whatever you did when you fought Erin, just… do it again! I KNOW you can!”
Oh yes remember a while ago when Red said she’d named the boat “That damn boat” in her file thingie?
Welp this is going swimmingly! Good to see Kendal conscious and Dainix not immediately attacking Falst. One question: is Life… warning Alinua about the gigantic sea monster?
I applaud your pun.
Thank you! I think you fire!
Thank you! I think you fire!!!!
In the last page, it has a suspiciously triangle-shaped mouth.
I can’t imagine Red would torture our heroes so much as to send chimera mom after them right now, but it’s possible.
alt text: believe in the me who believes in internal continuity
image source: off
holy smokes ive never been this early before
So I’m assuming the lil’ Nessie underwater isn’t friendly?
That’s a shame.
Would *you* assume it was friendly?
it friend shaped
Tentacle-tongues! Teeth! Eye on its head! EEEE!
All the better for befriending then!
To be fair, most household pets have eyes and teeth as well.
To be fair, most household pets have eyes and teeth as well.
Diogenes walks into the comment section, holding the sea monster thingy
“Behold, a dog!”
…where do you normally expect eyes to be?
Ohhhhh that cut between the first two panels is amazingg!!! And how the glow fades but still carries well from on to the other mmGGHH
“i can keep you safe”??????
I think one of Falst’s greatest fears is losing the people he loves and subsequently going back to how he was before he met the floof squad (aka sad and alone). This manifests in his whole “I AM the tank” mentality (his other “I’m a monster” thing does too, I guess) and his insistence on keeping everyone safe, even if he doesn’t do the same for himself. He lost people he loved in the past, and he doesn’t want it to ever happen again.
I think Falst is thinking his air bubble can keep Dainix safe if they go underwater.
So two things:
1) I don’t think Dainix would need a bubble to survive submersion. Like Tahraim said, Soulfire can burn at the bottom of the ocean.
2) If Falst did bubble himself and Dainix, then Dainix would burn up all the breathable air, like Dainix himself said in the nightmare bunker.
This only holds true if Dainix is transformed. If Falst’s trying to get Dainix to calm down enough to both purge the void and transform back, then Dainix would be both in his human form and weakened, and neither of those points are true. Dainix would need the breathable air and wouldn’t burn it up.
You are, of course, correct if Dainix stays stuck in Crucible mode.
Yes, that’s also completely true.
Also if Dainix is still in crucible mode the air bubble will likely be too small for Falst to be like physically safe from the hot boyfriend issue so I think the idea is for him to go back to human form yeah
New life powers for Alinua?
He definitely looks to be in pain. (off the ship sounds okay.)
Tarren obviously needs to make better (and less complicated to draw) ships if he ever expects them to last longer than a chapter.
Wow, Falst noticed the void->light transmutation during the Tynan fight!
Hopefully Dainix will be able to pull it off again. Is his core still vulnerable to void? I know it tends to agitate existing void in animals, and if Dainix’s void is stored in his core, then it seems like he could be. Is he somehow keeping the void away from his core, or transmuting any that gets too close?
Is this going to be a battle in the mind type thing for Dainix?
Love that beat of normalcy where Alinua takes in the (destroyed) ship and realizes it’s not there yet. But yipe, what are they gonna do?
Maybe Dainix in Crucible form is a natural enemy to that thing.
(Trust to insomnia brought on by late night caffeine that I’m here when the new page drops.)
If it’s a chimera created by some random errant Life mage, then Alinua can probably channel off the excess magic like she did for Jolon’s chimera back in Gleicann’s forest. (Really hoping I spelled Gleicann right.)
If it’s a naturally occurring creature, then maybe Tess can fight it? I mean she is Tess Stormbreaker, ‘puncher of dragons’.
I believe it belongs to one particular errant Life mage. One with a knack for incredibly dangerous flower-mouthed multi-eyed creatures. Who has a vested interest in getting her hands on Kendal. One that the Ghosts of Vash would warn him about. And one with immense power that Aliuna probably can’t overwhelm.
I don’t think so. The C has some of Life’s knowledge, but Alinua has almost all of Life’s power and all her skill supporting her
No? Collector hás Far more Power than alinua currently especially because life is afraid of helping alinua because she thinks that If she gives Power to alinua alinua Will die like all other chimeric carrions before her
There was a particularly compelling argument last page that, given the speed of the ship and the fact that the Collector only knows the general direction they’re headed, although the green leviathan could be hers, it’s unlikely it was sent out after them. This meeting is probably sheer bad luck.
Or maybe this creature feeds off of Life energy and made a beeline for Alinua.
Knowing Red she’ll just go from drawing an incredible intricate and complicated ship to drawing an incredible intricate and complicated scale pattern on the sea monster…
Kendal: Oh, so Vash warned you about her too?
Alinua: Wha-? No! Life just showed me a giant sea monster! Is the monster a girl?
Kendal: Oh! Right, never mind. I was thinking about something else.
Oh, that split between Alinua’s Life-sense and real life reminds me of her Hilltop dream in 1-9-16; more dynamic, and kinda comedic with her eyes, this time. Lovely spiralling dark fire around Dainix’s core, his heart I’d reckon, centre of emotion and all. Dainix even looks like he’s clutching his chest where his heart is in panel 6.
It’s a good thing this comic was made by Red, or else I may have confused Alinua’s revulsion of the chimera(?)’s tongues reaching for her for something … other than a danger to her life. Seriously, the Collector, Jolon, what is it with giving chimeras prehensile tongues? In any case, the message has now stuck, and fingers crossed they’ll be ready for Tess’s pickup.
Encouraging your friend by reminding them how they almost kicked Erin’s ass? Classic Falst. Still, it looks like he is reaching him; Dainix is a lot calmer now than he was a few pages back and I can imagine seeing his puppy dog eyes in the final panel. The promise of getting off “this damn boat” is probably helping too.
If he is going to fight the Void in him like he did in Zuurith, we might see Void -> Light transmutation next page. I wonder if Falst will take note of that after the diadem incident, or maybe he’ll just be focusing on Dainix.
Honestly, I think we can pretty much blame The Thing (1982) for single-handedly popularising prehensile tongues.
Damn you John Carpenter, you magnificent bastard.
I KNOW YOU’RE IN THERE SOMEWHERE
Hooray, Kendal is awake! Barely! But given Alinua’s visions, the sea monster’s arrival is likely imminent… Oh boy.
Okay, Dainix’s core looks less like a brain and more like a big, volcanic rock to me on this page, which I like a little better. I do have questions about the vulnerability of that core and where it was when the Void Dragon blew Dainix apart in the Tynan fight (1-17-33). Maybe it didn’t appear because Voidy only got his top half, and the core was lower down? Yeah, that’s probably it.
Ah, the anime “I know you’re in there” moment. Falst is trying so, so hard to get through to Dainix, and him promising to keep Dainix safe tugged at my heartstrings. That’s a big promise to make, though, and I can’t help but remember what he said to Erin, in Dainix’s vicinity, on 2-2-16. Does Falst realize the kind of trust he’s asking for? Regardless, I hope he succeeds in reaching Dainix and that Dainix can transmute the void back into light and purge it.
life please sort your issues with sharing power, i need alinua pulling the stuff on michael’s level
Aurora Question #29: When was Dainix’s Crucible Form having a core established, and what purpose does it serve?
Less open ended question today because I’m a.) tired, and b.) genuinely confused
My best guess is that it’s a protective casing for the elemental parts of himself that don’t transmute into flame, like the Life in him that Falst is convinced he must still have. It might also serve as a focal point for the fire to gravitate back to, to help it stay unified… but these are only my hypotheses. Your confusion is understandable! I think we just don’t have a lot of information yet.
We established that Dainix has a Soulfire Core jus tthis week, and I have no idea what purpose it serves. I expect a good explanation when we reach the Soulshaper Monastery. But it probably houses whatever matter isn’t directly transmuted into Fire.
Didn’t someone tell Falst that Dainix has a core? Or am i misremembering…
Man Yells At Fire
The core is really a rock-looking seed. Mystery solved!
Is it bad I just realized the Creature is one of the Collector’s
I’d say whether it’s one of the Collector’s or not isn’t yet fully established. We’ve met other people who can make impressive chimeras.
I mean, I’m not positive but it does have the triangle jaws.
Well the ship is pretty much toast, so getting off it was a good next step anyway
Well now I have to go back and re-read the pages where Dainix fought VD the first time.
Return of Alinua’s Big Scared/Surprised Eyes. Always good to see those.
Also YES I’M READY TO GET OFF THE BOAT
As much as I dearly want to own this entire story in print and look forward to reading it old-school style off a piece of paper, I am going to dearly miss the running director’s commentary at the bottom of each page, that + all the alt text adds so much
Even as a fire monster Dainix doesn’t get a normal right eye.
Exactly how I treat horus in my comic ,he usually hides his right eye under his eyepatch but when it’s off it glows/ Burns like crazy
Anyway when
are We all getting off from the boat
TL;DR: Jump, just trust me! What do you mean you can’t?
Dude my legs are broken that’s why
Look at yourself. You don’t have legs.
I just noticed, the ocean is looking really good! It’s like, water!
I mean this as a good thing, like, good art!
“…Alinua?” the prone Kendal
Manages to murmur.
“We have to get off the ship RIGHT NOW,”
She replies with a look of horror.
The flames coalesce around the mass,
“Dainix can you hear me?”
A bent and blazing figure takes shape
As Falst begins his plea.
“I can keep you safe! But I can’t do anything
If you don’t shake off the Void!”
He shouts before that figure hunched,
Of fire and darkness alloyed.
Ali states, with reason, that they’ve got to go
Falst pleeds with Dainix the Void to let go
To whoever moderates this: I’m the same OngoingConversationCouplet as I always was. As the next step in my transition I’ve changed my name and got a new e-mail, but I’d rahter not have to take on a different pseudonym in the comment section, since I still do the same thing. So I’m not trying to steal OCC’s identity, I’m the same person. Sorry for the trouble, can I please comment agan?
Okay yay, I’m back! Been about a week of my comments awaiting moderation.
Oh my gosh, hooray and congratulations!
…even if you did rhyme ‘go’ with ‘go’ 😜
I know… Wasn’t my best one.
And I see your comments on pages 32 and 33 have appeared! I encourage everyone to go check them out.
Welcome back Ongoing! Congrats on taking the next step in your transition 😀
Welcome back, Ongoing! Congrats on taking the next step in your transition 😀
You didn’t tell me there were *sea monsters* on this planet, Red! :3
> you propose we abandon the extremely complex yet simultaneously deeply limited setpiece we’ve spent two entire chapters on? oh noooooo don’t do thaaaat
Sometimes, the creation of new beauty implies that some old ugliness has been swept aside or blown up.
Interesting how she has Live’s extra eyes in this page but not on the last one. I wonder if that means anything
Might just be a zoom thing. It would be too small a detail to add last page, at least in the bottom panel
Is it just me or is Kendal’s sword arm blackened? Is it like a burn thing? Now that I look at the previous pages you can kinda tell that it was blackened.
Yeah, Kendal has a bad case of “too strong for his body” when it comes to his starfire. If you look back to 2-3-30, his left arm is positively cooking on the way down.
How does he know this is happening? How does he know anything about the dragon’s mind? Something is wrong here.
…Oh, that’s interesting. Did Alinua’s spirit-form have those markings/extra eyes before, or are those new?