2.5.23
on August 20, 2025
at 3:00 am
just imagine if this had been the friday cliffhanger! I CAN be nice sometimes
Aurora
A fantasy webcomic. Updates M-W-F.
just imagine if this had been the friday cliffhanger! I CAN be nice sometimes
For mobile readers.
Alt-text: YOU GONNA EAT THAT OR
Image source: die
tumblr text: look at the little baby! and now look at the BIG baby
Please Red, we need this as a party pet!
You’ve played D&D right, we need this, Please!
PFFT-
Red referencing asdfmovie was not on my bingo card I’ll tell you that
damn, mustve been a lot of competition for the source name “die.” glad this page got it tho, it adds ~gravitas~
Bluesky text: it is wednesday my dudes
. Alinua jerks backward, eyes wide in shock.
. “Alinua…!” Selach starts nervously from behind her, looking terrified, trying to draw her attention.
. “She…” Alinua says, staring closely at the chimera as Life magic continues to swirl along it. “…From an egg? Your whole life…”
. Behind her, in front of Selach, a dark shape looms, green eyes glowing in the dark. The spiralling shape of the Wyrm disappears into the darkness as its head looms above the duo.
. “Just to die for her?” Alinua whispers, oblivious.
The Northern Wyrm be like: “I’m right behind you, aren’t I?”
This ought to be interesting.
Next page the wyrm starts singing Daisy Bell
Hooray! TADC references comments for today’s Aurora.
QC reference? Yay, is that you???
The way I *just* read the QC page and then came here. XD
You aren’t ready for its ricochet super move
up next: Life Mum mutates Ali to give her two extra arms so she can use four guns at once
That phrase is gonna be the new “If I had two nickels” isnt it XD
Its gonna completely overthrow the proginal saying
Please don’t make me feel bad for the BBEG’s disposable mooks. That’s just mean.
That is a very effective final panel.
PTA reminder:”A pet chimera is for life, not just for Christmas”
Ha!
A tender comfort
Horror creeping up behind
Conflict of purpose
The horror of the hatchling dawns on Ali, clear as day
And from the depths rises a figure to Selach’s dismay
Finally I am on time again!
OMG! Small chimera is so cute! Can we keep it?
I think its deceased 🙁
i mean it was…but now i dont think so
The (very) big sister chimera who just showed up might have opinions about it.
I have binged so long so far only to reach here after 2 days and get so annoyed that have to stop reading
Sh*t
All the detail in the last panel! Makes me I wasn’t reading this on my phone.
WWWWAAAAit watiwatiwait.
Did she just ressurect a dead chimera?
The fish got leggies. Neat
Did she bring that thing back to life? I’m wondering if that is just a life’s champion thing, or anyone with enough time and power could do it?
Well, since it’s a chimera, I’d imagine that the rules are different. Alinua is Life’s champion, but I don’t think she has the power to bring people back from the dead. I think that she rebuilt the flesh and life of the chimera because of how it was created from life magic.
I doubt she could do the memory thing with a regular person either.
Why is this not what everyone’s talking about
Right. Necromancy has huge implications.
See, that last panel is why I get nervous going over deep water. There’s a part of me that’s going “aha, I knew it…!”
Um, Alinua, you might have gotten more than the little guy’s attention…
Ah TADC
The amazing digital circus???
…I had meant to reply to Mat
“It’s right behind me, isn’t it?”
Wyrm jumpscare
You know, Kendal might be the “main protagonist”, but I am starting to feel like Alinua is becoming the Collectors strongest opponent.
Both are touched by life, both have opposing views on chimera and the worth of life in general, and I’d wager that the elf is currently developing a very strong grudge against that smug scientist…
alinua vs the collector is the meeting that i’m looking forward to the most in the comic, they are literally complete oposites of one another
Considering how Life reacted to chimeras in the past I am hoping for a “Your work disgusts him” moment a la Castlevania
Yeah, I’m fairly certain that when Ali sees her it’s gonna be On Sight.
True to my name, i suggest mystic ze’mer from pale court as the music for alinua fighting the collector. The brass near the middle perfectly matched the “oh shit” moment that the collector is going to have, and then it gets to this beautiful string section. I interpret it as sheer focus on alinua’s part; nothing else is stopping her, it’s just her and the heretic.
Give it a listen. https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=6UNjrsbpW_c&pp=ygULemVtZXIgdGhlbWU%3D
If I recall correctly, didn’t the Collector’s discovery of Life cause the first instance of the Chimeric Plague?
Alinua when she EVENTUALLY gets to that point with the the Collector: “F**K IT! I CAST HYPERCANCER YOU CREEP!” And seeing that will in all likelihood be glorious.
i wana see alinua cast hyper cancer
Alinua: I cast, ENDOMETRIOSIS!
Why, of all the bodyparts, would you target that?
Two reasons: 1) Erin specifically mentioned how uncontrolled life magic could lead to such scenarios, he talked about trying to mend a fracture but filling it with stomach lining instead, so it’s perfectly within life magic’s capabilities.
And 2) blame Punkey Doodles’s wizard war videos, specifically this one (https://www.youtube.com/shorts/AUvbkAtumXI)
Now I’m thinking of Gideon the Ninth…
(If anyone here’s read it, I’m ~2/3 through Harrow and still supremely confused)
Alinua, now is not the time to ponder existential terror in front of you. Now’s the time to ponder the LITERAL terror behind you.
I wonder if this is why Life herself hasn’t made her opinion known about these chimeras yet; that these creatures weren’t warped by her magic against their nature, because their existence as chimeras IS their nature.
Alinua definitely hates it though, I wonder if they, living beings made to fulfil a singular purpose of their creator, remind her of how Kendal used to see himself.
They said this was a shrine for the Northern Wyrm? I wonder, if the god is still in there, that’s how it appeared so quickly; maybe the Wyrm can still sense people trespassing in locations close to them.
Now that it’s here … what now? Alinua needs to get close to heal/kill the Wyrm, but how? There are no plants in this dark cavern to restrain it, and they have no backup for a distraction (unless Valia secretly followed them). The only way I can see would be Alinua grabbing its mane and holding on tight, no matter where it takes her; if her life magic wants to give her a swimming tail, now’s the time.
it’s just a widdle tiny guy!!!!!!!!!!
look at the little fishy boy! it’s so cute! I’m gonna call him greg, and he is gonna be the cutest little guy that definitely isn’t gonna get alinua in or out of trouble at the cost of his life 🙂
I shall name him Squishy and he shall be mine; and he shall be my Squishy.
So did this page trigger Blue’s thalassophobia? CAUSE IT DID MINE
I just realised Alinua’s new eyes look like the Collector’s, with the green pupils and fainter green sclerae. Foreshadowing???
the collector’s eyes have the sclera more faded, alinua’s eyes are sekrai eyes
BIG
Since I haven’t seen anyone else do it yet, I’ll fill in for ACat-LovingStoryWriter :3
Alinua’s still-glowing eyes flew open as she recoiled from her vision. “Alinua…!” Selach warned as they swiveled around, eyes wide in terror. But Alinua was absorbed. She floated back towards the chimera. “She…” Alinua muttered, still trying to process what she had just seen. “From an egg? Your whole life… Just to die for her?” Selach stood frozen behind her. The Wyrm had come.
I’m not sure I’m as good as they are, but this is fun! I really enjoy seeing all the ways people appreciate this a m a z i n g comic, from poetry to theorizing 😀
This is really good! Yeah, I love how everyone theorizes and stuff together it’s nice 🙂
Weird little dude!!!
“It’s right behind me, isn’t it?”
-Aurora if it was good
ruh roh
THE NORTHERN WYRM GREW A CLAW??
Right side looking at it. Can’t find a matching one so it’s probably a chimeric effect.
That’s wild.
You’re probably looking at its bottom jaw, which now splits in half.
i have a feeling Kendal might wanna keep thar wierd little dude :3
So much to unpack here~
First off, are those lingering currents of magic, or did Ali accidentally revive/heal that little chimera? Because it almost looks like the latter, and while I know there’s been some debate as to whether she and/or Life would tolerate one, it occurred to me that if Life thought there might be a reason to keep a small, mostly-harmless one around, mightn’t she fix all that was wrong with it so it could be happy and healthy, and bonded to Alinua? (Although that begs the question, does this one get land-adapted later?) It also brings up interesting questions about the breadth of Alinua’s abilities, if she could bring the chimera back from the dead–granted, we don’t know how long it’s been deceased, given it’s in good shape, and decay would work differently both that deep and probably in the world as a whole.
But there’s another point that one must ponder–this wouldn’t be the only chimera Alinua’s responsible for, not really. After all, she did change Kendal, as Vash observed. He might not be a *chimera* chimera, but technically…
Also, having a little chimera around (esp if this actually is a baby) is going to cause chaos in the Flood Squad and I am admittedly here for that if it happens. And what party isn’t complete without an animal mascot?
Anyway, back to what was supposed to be my second point… Yep, Wyrm anticipatory jumpscare. We all knew it was coming, the panel is beautiful, and this is why I don’t like really deep water. I mean, it’s cool, but you’re never going to get me down in a submarine (although I might be a touch claustrophobic, which doesn’t help). But I also used to have a recurring dream/nightmare about something in the deep, and having to go down and meet it, and this panel really reminds me of it, so thanks!
The collector makes life from scratch?
Or did she manipulate eggs?
eggs, alinua just stated that
Its not clear if she built the eggs from scratch, or if they’re just some eggs she found, though.
I think that from looking at the image, the Collector shaped it from when it was an egg still *inside* the mother, which she also made a chimera.
Mama don’t want you touching her baby.
“I’m right behind you, aren’t I?”
Alinua, you might want to start swimming.
Snakes are so inherantly goofy-looking I just can’t find this scary.
I love snakes!! The first time I played Pokemon Red, I named Ekans Snek BB, and it made it really hard to dump him as soon as I got something better hahaha
One day I’ll have a real pet noodle!!
Okay, but I think we all deserve an answer to the real question here:
What was Blue’s reaction to that last panel?
Good news guys. We found the worm.
I absolutely adore how invested Alinua gets and how she consistently just straight up accidentally ignores everything else around her. It’s so endearing and hilarious to me, and it really communicates her passion and love, and I can’t get enough of it🥹
Where’s Bluefire’s tl;dr summary when we need it?
how do we know this isn’t setup for a worse Friday cliffhanger?
By the pricking of my ‘ums something wicked this way comes?
…she’s right behind me, isn’t she?
*“Forsaken drownage” by the exiled fellow starts playing*