2.4.12
on March 14, 2025
at 3:00 am
Happy pi day! I brought you your favorite Smart Guy! Anyway, see you on monday!
Aurora
A fantasy webcomic. Updates M-W-F.
Happy pi day! I brought you your favorite Smart Guy! Anyway, see you on monday!
For mobile readers.
Alt-text: don’t you know who I am?
Image source: down
Bluesky text: morning everybody
Tumblr text: this will surely turn out well
I wonder if Tess can just bluff having some kind of Void resistance, considering the last several people Walter’s tried to fight.
JUST noticed shes sitting in a runic circle. Sis definitely has a trick or two up her non-existent sleeve
Egads, you’re right! Looks like Tess picked up some runic carving tricks on her travels.
Now, with no lacrima in sight, she must be using herself to power it, so it’s a lightning runic circle. But what does it do?
If I had to predict, I think she’s going to tap into lightning’s repulsion powers to try and repel any Void blasts that come her way. Erin must have already told her what to expect from V.D., so she knows what his powers could do to her.
Dear God, you’re right. But for what?
Erin has found success in inducing paralysis to keep VD at bay. Tess could be trying something similar here? Or maybe she’s simply physically repelling him…but that won’t stop him just blasting his way out. Elemental Void is supposed to be able to eat through anything.
Tess guards the entrance, for lurking within
The cave stands a shape with gold eyes and pale skin
Tess being, once and again, extremely cool.
O-ho, I want to see that!
Show him the Stormbreaker, Tess!
Well we’ve seen that well applied lightning can take care of the dragon pretty well so hopefully this doesn’t end badly.
Less well-applied and more poorly-applied, if you’re meaning that one time in the caves. And I doubt Tess will want to electrocute her brother even if he’s possessed by a dragon. Maybe Alinua or Life will notice the Void and come to save them? But I also kind of wonder if Tess will try talking, and how that’d work out.
ohhhh I have a feeling this is NOT gonna go well for voidy
Tess vs. the Void Dragons let’s go!!!!!
OH. OH HE. HE LOOKS LIKE HE’S GOT CLAWS. OH NO.
he looks like a cave crawler in that last panel— the way he’s standing, the glowing eyes, the hands like claws. wonder if that was intentional?
Almost certainly. Cave crawlers are void-corrupted people, Voidy is the personification of void and hunger.
She’s not happy 🙁
TEEEEEESSSSS <3 <3 <3 <3
…why do I find panel 3 hot
Because Red accidentally made Tess a laser guided precision strike aimed at Sapphics specifically?
I dub thee the greatest comment of this page. Congratulations.
Bold of you to assume that only works on Sapphics.
OH SHIT NOT WHAT I EXPECTED THIS FRIDAY MORNING
Aurora Question #40: Who do you reckon wins in a fight between Tess and Walter?
YOU’RE BACK!!! I MISSED YOU! Anyway, Tess. Unbrindled sisterly fury.
Agreed, especially because we’re now seeing Serious Tess. “You aren’t the first dragon I’ve taken down and by all the gods you won’t be the last”
In a normal setting? With both at full power? Tess loses. By a mile.
Here? With Erin’s physical form in a vulnerable situation? With his elemental seals possibly compromised? Things are a little more even. And let us not forget Erin’s default tactic for restraining VD. In lieu of sheer force of will, self-electrocution has served nicely. And what is the one element Tess just so happens to be capable of wielding?
To be fair to VD, the seals don’t appear to have any effect on him and his ability to use Erin’s magic.
What might have a negative effect are the consequences of overchanneling. He won’t risk going in a cave if there’s a chance Erin’s soul channels give in halfway down and he gets eaten by a crawler. (I don’t know what canonically the consequences of overchanneling are, but I’d imagine his power stops working even for the Dragon)
Erin mentioned previously that Walter doesn’t need the seals when he possesses Erin, free-casting all 7 elements he can wield.
Also I’m not sure if Tess will be able to replicate Erin’s method of paralysing his body as an external force while Walter’s using Erin’s body. She’s very powerful, but he’s also perfectly capable of using lightning magic to shield himself from it.
The most important parts are yes, Erin’s physical condition being poor and Walter’s complete lack of knowledge about what Tess can do.
Fortunately I don’t think it’ll come to a fight. Walter really doesn’t want to be caught by the paladins he likely thinks are very close by without people willing to protect Erin, nor does he have a good way of actually achieving his goals right now, being stuck on the island.
Walter. I know we all love Tess, but with Erin’s magic at his disposal he can easily repel or absorb her lightning strikes (as we’ve seen with the Storm and Tynan), and without a miraculous immunity to protect her, all he has to do is touch her to kill her.
That said, I’m betting there won’t be a fight. We just had one.
Uh oh. Voidy, buddy, pal, get out of there. Tess is gonna beat your ass.
ohhhh he looks so spookyy!!!! also a cut over his tattoos, wouldn’t that scar and mess up his tattoos therefore destroying his seals?
Yeah, it looks like they weren’t quite fully healed. If Erin’s Life seal is still intact, he could do it himself, but I doubt he’d be so lucky.
However, by default, Erin doesn’t require his seals to do magic – he only needs them to safeguard his soul from channeling too much elemental energy. The seals act as a constant buffer, negated only by the combination of his physical touch and mental commands, to allow him to do magic.
The question is thus: How does a physically compromised seal affect Erin? Is his soul now vulnerable to elemental corruption? Or is it the opposite, and is he now incapable of DEactivating his seals?
Personally, I am inclined to the latter. From a meta perspective, Erin already fulfills the Superpowered Evil Side trope, which Red has covered in a previous Trope Talk. But do you know another trope she’s covered?
Trope Talk: My Powers Are Gone!
Regardless of Erin’s ability to channel elemental energy, VD has no such limitations. Red has already beautifully planted the Chekov’s Gun of VD being able to wield Erin’s elemental magic without physically interacting with his seals. Also, Erin is still branded by VD’s Great Rune, which I doubt was cut up so badly, given how he is currently possessed.
oh that would be very interesting direction, especially for erin considering how much he prides himself on his status as elemental magus. If you look closely it seems the tattoos go over the cuts which could very likely just be a mistake with the overlay or the tattoos aren’t ink on skin but rather ink onto the shape of the soul directly meaning that they can’t be compromised quite so easily perhaps?
Did anyone else read Tess’s “Put him down” like a dog owner telling their pet to let go of something?
Yep, I knew this would happen; with all the V.D. counters elsewhere, along with the Paladin Champion, V.D. was definitely going to try something. Tess knew this too and has deliberately put herself between Erin and the exit to bar his way.
It also, art wise, creates a light/dark, freedom/confinement contrast in this scene to reflect the two speakers, who are themselves contrasting colour wise. V.D. standing and Tess sitting could also hint at the power difference between them.
This will be painful. V.D. is forcing her brother to go on this dangerous journey, actively wants all of them dead, and is so scary Erin is willing to give up his life to stop him if there are no other options. She’s angry at V.D., but with no immunity to his powers, she can’t hope to stop him, and worst of all he knows this. He’s going to take pleasure in her frustration and powerlessness, much like he did with Tynan, and may even bring up her argument with Erin in 2-2-31 to twist the knife.
Tess’s personality has seen a marked darker shift since the end of Arc 2 Chapter 2, and now we’re going to see the full effects.
However, as painful as this interaction will be, Tess needs to go through it because, while she can’t stop V.D., she can stall him. After “saving” the gang during the Paladin attack, no counters around, and in control of Erin, V.D. is ready to gloat and arrogantly feels like he has time to do so. If she can keep him talking, it buys time for Erin to wake up and take control, or the other members of the gang to stumble across them and back her up.
Prediction for next week: As for who comes to her aid, let’s look at our options.
While Kendal and Falst are on the mountain, one is heading to the top and the other the north face. It’s difficult to say, but from their route to Helm I’d wager this cave is on the south of the island. So I think they’re ruled out.
Erin waking up and taking back control is more likely. Overexerting himself on the boat might “lay him out for days” as Tess put it, but he could still remain conscious through it to keep V.D. at bay. Afterwards, Tess can have another painful conversation/argument, this time with her brother.
The third option is Alinua making her grand return; I can just see her, or Life possessing her, appearing in the mouth of the cave, glowing green with power with vines and/or a tamed Nessie behind her. While that would be cool and reassuring, it would also rob Alinua of a potential solo-arc a non-zero number of us have been thinking about.
I absolutely read Tess’ words like a dog owner telling their dog to stop chewing the shoe. That doesn’t belong to them.
Panel 3 give me flashbacks to Kagome telling an angry Inuyasha “Sit boy!” and the Jeweled Necklace slamming Inuyasha to the ground, always a satisfying scene. Not only is this an homage to that anime, it implies in a duel of wits between them is in the offing. And Tess armed with Erin’s information and with Lighting’s bravo, native wit bolstered by Ruunaser support will be strong counter to Void Dragons bluster. I wonder how Tess’s gambit will play out?
Tess: drop it… DROP IT… LEAVE IT! EY, I SAID LEAVE IT.
Oh hell yeah I’m so excited to Tess and Erin content
Might be a stretch, but light could be an equal and opposite to void meaning it is kind of the same as void, so my theory is that light is to free will as void is to hunger, and with Tess getting Sparked by being chosen by the sky, she would have some connection.
OOO THATS FUN
Oh my god that is CREEPY. Usually VD acts more or less like a human while piloting, but esp with the hands, the stance here is almost like a cave crawler.
Also this is not looking good for Tess since Erin is likely fully out unconscious (not like in the cave where he woke up halfway through) and I don’t think she has the resistance that the rest of the gang does
Hey, buddy, you seem to have a little evil on your face there.
Uh-oh, your possession is showing.
Favorite thread of the day
Omgg, these two have such opposite yet insane energies going on. I’m curious to see how this will play out, on one hand we have no idea if Tess is void-resistant or not, Erin even made an attempt to distance her for this reason. However, i don’t think she’ll take it lying down if it comes to a fight, Erin seems to be more hung up on the hurting siblings thing, not that she wouldn’t feel bad but I feel like Tess would weigh up the options here. Anyways I’m soo stoked.
Just wanted to say that I really appreciate your username! Also, totally agree, so here for this!
There once was a thing that was Other
Who’d taken over the body of another.
Tess looks madder than heck
And ready to deck
The thing that’s possessing her brother.
👏👏👏
Let me speak to your manager!
Oh, you’re just showing off now, Red.
Tess is being really smart here, sitting in the opening of a cave. Not only is she guarding Erin from anything outside, she’s also barring VD from leaving, and by placing herself, shimmering gold, in the sunlight, she’ll be passively signalling her presence to any survivors of the shipwreck just by sitting there.
As hesitant as I am to apply real world logic to Red’s story, there shouldn’t be any entrances to the Singing Caves on this island. If it’s volcanic, it likely formed after Stone died, when lava erupted from the ocean floor and cooled in the sea to create land. There can’t be an entrance to the Primordial’s Circulatory System here, so unless VD wants to dig straight down in Erin’s condition, he’s not going anywhere.
First rule of the game; never dig straight down
Y’know, i kinda feel like, if there is a fight here, Tess would either
A) Hold back, because it’s her brother, and maybe she wouldn’t want to hurt Erin too bad,
or
B) Tess beats the living crap out of Void Erin, because she’s trying to get Voidy(Void Dragon) out of Erin’s body.
Or something else happens. I dunno. My predictions have been wrong in the past.
I do hope Alinua’s ok. probably in some sort of MEGA PLORB. Maybe she has a baguette.
There is also option C: Tess beats the crap out of Voidy as a way of venting her frustration with Erin
YEEAAAHHHH
ooh I am very excited for this. was wondering if we’d get Tess forlornly on a beach contemplating her friends’ survival. Panel 2 feels like a breath, steeling (heh) herself for panel 3- which I think might be one of the most serious faces we’ve seen from Tess. We’ve started seeing more of those in the past chapter and a half, from Erin being injured to fighting Michael- sorry, I mean Tam- to this face now. Curious if the squiggles on the floor (seen in panel 1 and 4) are the impact from landing, or a spell carving. If the latter, why around her in an unbroken circle and what could it be? An alarm if Erin moved past?
Void, looking very Creature. Interesting, fun, and foreboding.
Excited for another round of “Voidy underestimates regular person and gets shocked by lightning till he can’t move.”
Pretty sure that’s a rune circle
Tbh, in this fight I bet on Tess. She’s scarier than Mr. Dragon *and* we get a “I know you’re in there” fight
Happy pi day! Why is Erin more purple than usual…
TL;DR: Hello voidy
Alternative: Tess goes to see the creature feature… featuring the creature
What does yellow names mean? I could just be stupid though.
The void dragon is speaking
I like to think that the first few panels are just Tess preparing mentally for arguing with the dragon in her brother’s body
I think that she’s guarding the entrance. Voidy doesn’t get out of the cave without going through her, and she’s very much prepared to not let that happen.
The link took me to the bottom of the comments this morning and honestly it made the reveal so much better.
I fusking adore this page; just everything about it! Tess is no nonsense and furious at Walter. And his pose *chef’s kiss* Even when he keeps coming back and getting beaten, he’s still threatening and dangerous instead of being a Saturday Morning Cartoon villain. That is great writing!
Okay I was wrong about it being an Alinua scene (well played trope subversion, Red), BUT I DID CALL THE CLIFFHANGER!!
So… just spitballing hypotheticals here…
What happens if VD decides to leave the cave through alternate means? Such as boring a tunnel through the cave and deeper into the planet where his body is?
anyone else think that the first panel’s negative space resembles a mouth?
cats in the dark like
I’m worried that VD and Erin might actually escape into the jungle; afaik Tess has no good counterplay here and the others are nowhere in sight. Perhaps possessed Erin will make his way to the volcano temple as well, causing mayhem once he arrives?