2.5.35
on September 17, 2025
at 3:00 am
she even threw off the panel ordering for this page! the fiend!! are there no depths to which she won’t sink?!!
Aurora
A fantasy webcomic. Updates M-W-F.
she even threw off the panel ordering for this page! the fiend!! are there no depths to which she won’t sink?!!
For mobile readers.
Alt-text: what kirby’s enemies see moments before oblivion takes them
Image source: crack
tumblr text: :V
One of the stars in the site’s background lines up perfectly with the :V here and it looks super majestic lol
Bluesky text: if you think this is bad, just imagine the friday cliffhanger that’s coming
Also for mobile readers, Captain Valia blue hair confirmed.
. Alinua’s eyes widen, looking back in fear as Valia’s conch-shell helmet shatters, revealing short blue hair, like Tarren has.
. Selach quickly swims in, grabbing the Captain’s unconscious form around the chest as blood mists from the cut on her hairline. The mermaid reaches out her hand toward Alinua as the Wyrm looms beneath them, the bruised arm trembling against the Wyrm’s current. “Come on–!
. “AAAH!” Selach screams, arm falling back to clutch against her side as the fractured bone snaps.
. Alinua freezes, reaching out toward her from below helplessly.
School is horrible lol
Well that plan went down the drain
I’m out here hoping for a Deus Ex Machina
Jarvis, have you ever heard the tale of Alinua and the Wyrm?
Have you ever heard the tragedy of the Northern Wyrm?
It’s not a story the windblowers would tell you.
Alinua, her arms wide.
The Northern Wyrm when the wall fell!
Now for all the armor choices one could deride that captain, wearing a helmet is clearly not one of them
Yeah, that probably saved her life!
When I saw the blue, I was really worried at first because my first though was that sekrai had blue blood or something and it was a really bad wound that was bleeding heavily. Turns out she just has gorgeous hair! XD
I thought it was brains. Thank goodness. BLUE HAIR!!!
Don’t worry, there’s red in there too!
At least there’s not as much as the blue! It looked like her brains were coming out.
Also, is it ok if I ask the inspiration behind your name? My suspicion is probably wrong, but I wanted to check anyway xD
I’ve heard several HEMA people and martial arts historians say that if you can only have one piece of armor…it should be a shield. But if it’s not a shield, it should be a helmet.
Shields are just about the worst choice underwater, because of drag. Helmet is the best option here.
Some kind of rounded buckler could be viable. Hold it forward while swimming and it’ll give almost full protection from in front with relatively small drag. Or I wonder if a shield could be made which lets most of the water through to reduce drag to manageable levels, some kind of mesh system maybe.
In an ocean ‘sink’ is tactic number one!
Damn! What a page
I mean, considering what Alinua’s doing right now…
Me, in the past: I bet Valia’s helmet is hiding some wicked scars she got while fighting the Wyrm or some other-
(helmet breaks revealing lovely blue locks that would make Tarren jealous)
Me, now: Never mind. How silly of me for not assuming floof.
Yeah, Nessie’s messed with the panel ordering, but that only makes things better; the chaotic ordering of the panels reflects the chaotic situation on the page. Also art wise, those bruises on Selach look so raw; seems a simple drawing trick to make them, but an effective one. You know the situation is serious when Alinua doesn’t prioritise healing injuries like that.
To reply to @sundaw last page about the direction of water flow, it might be a bit of both; the Northern Wyrm drawing water down, which is what Caturus felt, before rushing it upwards to break the ice and dislodge the mer-people. N.W. controls the ocean currents, not the water itself, so having to pull water one way before making it move another way may be logical requirement for her powers.
Alinua’s not gonna make it. The Wyrm has seen her, she recognises Ali as a threat, and between Alinua’s slow swimming and Selach trying to save her with a broken arm Falst-style, the Wyrm will reach her first.
That … might be a good thing! Alinua needs to get close to the Wyrm to both understand it and work her magic, and you can’t get much closer than being literally inside the beast! Just need to avoid those teeth as she works.
Yeah, Alinua is so getting eaten.
Or maybe just mush held.
Alinua’s about to pull a Sun Wukong
@NoName:
When Caturus was using his Lightning magic to stun the Wyrm, you said something about there being two polarities of Lightning, yellow and blue, and about metal being a sub-element of Earth and having several weird interactions with other elements………HUNH!?!? Explain yourself! Meticulously! …At your discretion of course. But seriously I’m so confused.
@ purple mage
I’m so sorry, I wrote a reply and its not come through for a while! I’m going to wait a bit to see if it comes through before writing another one, so could you please check back in a bit?
I think AsTheLightFades’ comment got eaten, so if you’re still watching this:
Each of the “energetic” elements – Fire, Lightning and Life – can “sink into” the three “physical” elements – Water, Stone and Wind – except for its “opposed” element. Fire is opposed to Water (as is traditional), Lightning is opposed to Stone (a reference to grounding) and Life is opposed to Wind (I presume this is just to round it out, but it’s not completely out there). However, one of Stone’s forms is metal,which Lightning does sink into. And thus, my pet theory: While Fire doesn’t sink into Water normally, Water might have a form that allows Fire into it, and this is what we would call acid, or at least one type of acid, as Word of Red has stated some acids are compounds and others are forms of pure Water. (I also think Wind has a form that allows Life, but I’m not sure what it would be like.)
As for the polarity of Lightning, that wasn’t me, but I do know the answer. Lightning has two forms, yellow and blue. The two forms of Lightning repel themselves and attract each other, just as positive and negative charges do in our universe.
@ NoName
I am still watching! Thank *you* for still watching! <3 | As a world-building concept, that’s so cool! It makes a lot of sense given that the Primordials were a group of people that probably had this kind of internal friction as well as compatibilities, and it’s also just the mark of a very well-thought-out magic system that makes my brain go “brrr.” Thanks also for clearing up the confusion!
As to a form of Wind that allows Life might I suggest Breath.
Does Wyrm eating Alinua as Alinua uses Life magic count as victory for the Wyrm or Alinua? Tune in Friday! (Does that sentence still makes sense to type in this context?)
Depends on how it plays out. Could even be a win for both.
Life mage rules: Whoever is still alive at the end wins!
Do you really want to eat the life mage that hurts you on contact?
Just like eating a super ghost pepper.
I am VERY happy this is not a Friday cliffhanger.
Oh, yes, you’re right! Count your blessings, and all that xD
Yes, but im sure Friday’s page will be a cliffhanger anyways, with Alinua probably being eaten by the Wyrm
Look at the Bluesky text
Ah. I see.
Never been happy that it wasn’t Friday before…
Hmm, good point.
Remember kids, this is why you eat your helmet and wear a vegetables
Lol
XD
Yummy yummy helmet
RIP Shellmet. Your swirliness shall be remembered forever.
Helmets ftw! And that righthand panel! Oooh so gorgeous.
i read that as “swag” smh
ohhhh fishman is not doing good. That is some FAIRLY serious bruising going on.
Weird. Was sure she was gonna be a blonde. Y’know add into the Nice, Mean, and In-Between blondes in her life.
if I had a nickel for every right arm significantly injured in this comic, I’d have three nickels. Which still isn’t much, but…
Three? Oh, @The Penguin Cat you have at least six!
1-12-6: Tynan took of Vash’s right arm in the past.
1-15-6: The majority of Tess’s Lichtenberg scars are on her right arm, implying that took the brunt of the bolt.
1-16-26: Falst’s arm is injured from protecting Alinua from falling rocks, and only gets more injured in the dungeon arc.
1-17-34: Void-Erin gets his right arm burnt by Crucible Dainix.
1-21-20: Dainix’s right arm gets slashed by cave crawler and later by a pain stricken Falst.
2-5-32: Selach’s right side is heavily bruised and the arm likely has at least one cracked bone.
Potential additions: Alinua’s right arm bears her Life birthmark so her right arm is ‘cursed’, Erin got BOTH arms injured by Tam, and the Sekrai with the eye bandage in 2-5-9 also has a small bandage to her right arm.
Really, it’s Kria back in Windcrest, the white Merfolk, Kendal when slashed by dragon Tynan, and one member of the Vash crowd who buck the trend with injured left arms.
I think one of the merfolk is also straight up missing an arm. I forget which
That’s the white one I mentioned in my comment.
this doesn’t have much to do with the comment but what if the singular form of merfolk was merson
gonna have to fix it from the inside
Belly of the Whale o’ clock
LOL! Someone’s studied their Ancient Lit, Mythology, and Joseph Campbell.
You KNOW that had to hurt.
This is the sorta scene in those movies where everything upto this scene is a recap (“you might be wondering what that giant thing is and why is it trying to eat me”) and this is the scene where the mc/narrator goes “now you’re all caught up” or “back where we started”
There’s a saying in my country: “Šlem glavu čuva, oružje je kvari.” So use helmets.
Jonah and the whale this Alinuah!
Noooo, I’m caught up! Now what will I binge read?
There’s all the experience drawing Lovecraft monsters. Really fucking creepy… GOOD JOB!
Please tell me the helmet did it’s job.